Four Corners - Summer 1992. The author doesn't know it yet, but he's about to "find" an extra hour. Want to borrow this image for your website or blog? Please read Terms & Conditions.

The time in Arizona is not a simple question and it varies by location.

In the summer of 1992 a group of friends took a trip across the United States to visit the crown jewels of the National Park system. They arrived at the north rim of the Grand Canyon to relax awhile, and they camped, hiked and toured. On the second day they stopped at the Grand Canyon Lodge saloon to swap stories and wind down with a couple of drinks, after a long day negotiating difficult terrain. Closing time approached and they found themselves wishing for one more beer. Last call didn't happen as expected. The saloon remained open and people kept buying drinks. The guys were perplexed. They eventually learned that they had run afoul of an unusual time zone anomaly.

Arizona does not recognize Daylight Saving Time. When the rest of the Mountain states move their clocks forward an hour in the spring, Arizona remains on Standard Time. The guys had been using the wrong time for two days. I was one of those guys. While this is a little embarrassing to admit, I have to add that we were elated and grateful to "find" that hour. How often does one wish for more time and actually get it?

Since then I've learned that the situation in Arizona is even stranger. A large section of northeastern Arizona is occupied by the Navajo Nation, which unlike the rest of Arizona does indeed recognize Daylight Saving Time. This makes sense. The Navajo Nation crosses into Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, and it's useful to have a uniform time throughout the Nation. But it gets more complicated. The Hopi Nation is an enclave lying wholly within the territory of the Navajo Nation. The Hopi Nation, like Arizona and unlike the Navajo Nation, does not recognize Daylight Saving Time. And wholly within the Hopi Nation is a tiny sliver of an enclave of the Navajo Nation, which presumably does recognize Daylight Savings Time. In the winter everything is fine. All of Arizona has the same time. In the summer, especially in northeastern Arizona, I suppose the "proper" time depends on who you talk to.

Theoretically, there would be four time changes involved if one were to drive from that little Navajo enclave to Phoenix during the summer: Navajo Nation enclave on Mountain Daylight Saving Time to Hopi Nation on Mountain Standard Time to Navajo Nation proper on Mountain Daylight Saving Time to Arizona on Mountain Standard Time.

More Strange Geography

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Resources for Planning your Visit

• Arizona Travel and Vacation Guide
• The Navajo Nation
• The Hopi Tribe