Rio de Flag Tour: explore the natural and human history of our streams 

Explore Flagstaff’s streams & springs on your smartphone or computer! Most Flagstaff streams are “ephemeral” which means they are dry most of the year, but they support many unique Tour the Rio plants, flowers, and birds, and our very best local trails. Flagstaff’s early settlers depended on our springs and farmed our local floodplains. Many streams have been disturbed, but we can fix them. The Rio Tour app is the best way to learn about them!

This self-guided tour (created by Friends of the Rio in 2024, and updated regularly) lets you explore the natural and human history of Flagstaff’s ephemeral streams on your phone or computer. Use the app to enjoy and learn about these gems. Share it with your friends. It’s free. Use the app for a virtual tour at home, to select a location for a hike, or (best of all) to walk to any Points of Interest you choose. The tour resides online at ArcGIS, and takes no disk space on your phone or computer. Almost all photographs were taken by professional photographer Tom Bean. Paul Beier wrote the text.

To open the app on your phone or on your computer, simply click

https://arcg.is/SyfyC0

((If you want, you can open top-line menus until you can “install the page as an app” on your computer or on your phone. But you already have WAY TOO MANY APPS cluttering your phone and computer home screen. Someday you will be on a stream, and think “I want to open the Rio Tour. But where the heck is “the tour” among the 2 zillion apps on my screen?” Bah! All you have to do is remember “Friends of the Rio de Flag wrote the app. So all I have to do is have the browser (on your phone or computer) go to Friends of the Rio de Flag website, and then click “Tour the Rio” in the main menu to get here.))