Arizona

Saguaro National Park, Tucson

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

A.R.S. 2019  §§ 13-3821 through 13-3829, 13-3727

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Visitors must register if staying for more than 72 hours excluding weekends & holidays. §13-3821(A). SOR office refused to answer whether return visits allowed per month or year. “That’s determined by local sheriff.” Updated Aug 2022.

Initial reg. required “within 72 hours excluding weekends & holidays of entering and remaining in any county.”  §13-3821. Updated 8/2022.  Registrants working in state must report in any county where present for 14 consecutive days or an aggregate of 30 days/yr.  Address change etc. required w/in 72 hours (business days only).  §13-3822.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  1,000 ft. restriction applies to Level 3 offenders. §13-3727. Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements. §13-3727.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life. Transients report every 90 days.  All others annually.

 

Petrified Forest National Park

Most recent visit: October 2023

Grand Canyon visitors beware – Arizona has recently revised its statutes to be much tougher on visiting registrants. Visitors now must register if staying for more than 72 hours (excluding weekends and holidays). This requirement can be found in A.R.S.§13-3821(A). Arizona’s SOR office refused to answer whether return visits allowed per month or year, saying, “That’s determined by local sheriff.”

One silver lining is that not only does Arizona’s 1000 foot residency restriction apply only to Level 3 offenders, it is also one of seven states that statutorily pre-empt local governments from adopting any ordinance or regulation more restrictive than state law. So like New Mexico which I had just left on my trip to attend the October 2023 ACSOL Conference, you can travel in Arizona without fear of unknowingly tripping over some local land mine.

It so happened that I entered Arizona from the Zuni Nation at about 12:00 noon on Indigenous Peoples Day.  Question: Is that a “holiday” in Arizona as it pertains to the registry?  I don’t know yet, but since I planned to be in this state just short of 72 hours in any case I could safely err on the side of caution and count my first 12 hours here towards the total.  I’ll need to call the SOR office anyway when I update all my research in 2024, so I’ll ask them then and let you know.

That first day I was able to squeeze in both Petrified Forest, which is a national park with its own exit on I-40, and Meteor Crater which is a private attraction.  With the Petrified Forest you also get the Painted Desert all on the same auto tour.  Meteor Crater also has its own I-40 exit so it’s easy to get to.

Days 2 & 3 in Arizona (hours 13-60) consisted of a brief side trip into the Navaho and Hopi reservations (see my Navaho, Hopi & Zuni Nations blog post) and the Grand Canyon (which I will also describe in a separate post).  At the end of Day 3 I camped at Lake Mead National Recreation Area – specifically Katherine Campground just outside Bullhead City, which was nearly empty, it being off-season and mid-week.

Bullhead City is also right on Arizona’s western state line, so when I got started the next morning, drove thru breakfast and crossed into California it was about 8:30 am.  I had spent exactly 68.5 hours in this state if you include Indigenous Peoples Day, or 56.5 hours if you don’t.

Meteor Crater

Previous visit: October 2021

In October 2021 I entered Arizona on I-10 in early afternoon, which left plenty of time that day to see Saguaro National Park, which is quite literally in Tucson. One minute you’re driving through the city’s eastern suburbs, the next minute you’re entering a national park – so in that way it’s a bit like entering Great Smokey Mountains National Park from Gatlinburg, TN.   Saguaro has an auto loop road, so it’s pretty easy to go tour the whole park, enjoy all the saguaro cactus trees, and be on your way. 

But Saguaro has no campgrounds. I thought I would overnight at a state park, but even though it was midweek and slightly off-season I was met with a “campground full” sign. So I found an inexpensive motel in town.

My main objective for the next day was to get as close to California as possible so I could enter the following morning. I got to Buckskin Mountain State Park, which is right on the Colorado River, early in the afternoon which left enough time for a side trip to Lake Havasu City to get my car serviced (it was due for an oil change & tire rotation).

London Bridge, Lake Havasu City

While there I visited the town’s big tourist attraction – London Bridge! I vaguely remembered that some town in Arizona had bought London Bridge some years ago, but didn’t know it was right there! Due to the stupidity of the International Megan’s Law, Great Britain refuses to let registered Americans in. I suppose this was as close to London as I’ll ever get.