Flagstaff, Arizona

Six spots above 7,000 feet — volcanic crater rims, snowmelt swimming holes, and two ridges where the San Francisco Peaks fill the horizon.

Flagstaff is the state's coolest-by-twenty-degrees city, and most of Arizona's visitors pass through it on the way to somewhere else. The hiking community uses that gap. The ponderosa belt holds forest roads without pull-outs, social trails the Coconino politely ignores, and one crater rim that looks directly down into a three-thousand-foot volcanic bowl. Summer thunderstorms build fast; morning is the only time.

This guide is what the local field team reports back after weekday dawns — the quiet hours before the Grand Canyon traffic wakes up and starts honking its way through town.