Fall is Coming Fast

OK, so it is still over 100 degrees in Mesa. It is still the middle of the summer. But, guess what? Some of my grandchildren are already starting school in the next week or so. I just thought a little reminder of when it was that we used to start school would be appropriate. Now they spend those long summer days sweating in the heat and attending class. Of course, the leaves don't fall off the trees in the desert until December, but that has nothing to do with the real Fall.

Small, even in cactus, can be beatiful

Some of the largest cactus flowers are more than a foot across, huge and showy. Cholla are not known for their flowers. They are known for their abundance of sharp and dangerous spines. The cholla are so covered with spines, it is easy to overlook the small delicate flowers, especially when those flowers are almost the same color as the rest of the plant. But here is an exception, a bright and cheerful cholla flower only about an inch or so across.

A Triple Treat from the Arizona-Sonora Desert

There are some colors that cannot be duplicated. One reason is that the flowers' petals are not all the same color but a gradient. These flowers are so beautiful, they defy description. There is no way to comprehend the feeling that you get walking through the desert and seeing flowers of such superb color. One time I was driving at about 65 mph on the Plateau and saw a cactus flower. My wife was surprised (but only for about two seconds) when I slammed on the brakes and took off across the desert to take pictures of the flowers. Those flowers were not these ones, but they were just as spectacular.

Gold in the Desert

Much of the early development and exploration of Arizona came from miners looking for gold. They did find a lot of gold in the ground, but ultimately the real gold of Arizona grows in the desert and not under it. This purple variety of prickly pear grow profusely just south of Tucson and the flowers are truly the gold of Arizona.

A Light in the Desert

I was once riding a bus from Salt Lake City, Utah to Phoenix, Arizona. I was much, much younger then but traveling by myself. I happened to sit next to an older lady. When you are that young, everyone is older. She began to comment on how dreary and uninviting the desert looked. I remember the conversation, because I began to defend the desert as a beautiful and inviting place. I guess I realized for the first time that every place in the world has its beauty. Cactus flowers are one of those superb benefits of living in a desert. They are truly a light in the desert, like the sun coming trough a thick covering of clouds and revealing the brightness in the sky beyond.

A Self Sufficient Plant

Cactus are the epitome of self sufficiency. All they require is some sunlight and a little bit of water. They grow on gravel, rocks, dirt, almost anything in the desert. Surprisingly, they do adapt to a very narrow niche however. If you try to transplant a cactus from one country to another, they do need approximately the same conditions they had originally. So they do have limited adaptability. But once they are established and growing, they need almost no attention at all. No pruning, no fertilizing, nothing but a little water and sometimes some shade.

The Cholla Flower

No one goes out of their way to search out cholla flowers. The plants themselves are so covered with thorns that their danger to the casual desert hiker is unmistakable. The flowers are not at all showy like the Prickly Pear, but have a waxy beauty all their own. Unless you look carefully, you might miss the flowers altogether because they are almost the same color as the rest of the plant. I guess they are like some people I know.

I never get tired of flowers

No matter how many flower pictures I take, I cannot resist taking more when I see another beautiful specimen. I am amazed at the variety of colors in Prickly Pear flowers. I have seen a huge variation in color on the same plant. The flowers also change colors during the day and over the time they are open. If you are wondering, the season is from the middle of May into June in the lower deserts, however some plants have been known to flower both earlier and later.

A Prickly Treat

The Prickly Pear (Opuntia) flowers are just the beginning. Beneath the flowers are seed pods with thousands of hard black seeds, but the seed pod or prickly pear fruit, when ripe, is a deep red color and makes the most delicious syrup and jelly imaginable. The optimal day for picking the fruit is Labor Day, a convenient holiday. You have to have the technique down to avoid ending up with a handful of prickles but it is worth the effort.

Sometimes in Summer

Phoenix is exactly the opposite of most of the world, we are most active outside in the Winter, Spring and Fall. It is sort of like moving from the Northern to the Southern Hemisphere or whatever. Summer is the time to be inside and reading a good book in the air conditioning. This is a reminder that Fall, Winter and Spring are just around the corner. We have some of our local schools starting up for the "Fall" next week in July, with temperatures still well over 100 degrees.

If you like flowers, you will like my series of posts

This is one of the reasons I love Arizona. Spring flowers. Cactus blooms are the most gorgeous and the most prolific. No matter how dry or hot, the flowers do not fail to appear. These are the most beautiful of them all. Prickly Pear flowers.

An Afternoon Storm

Fire and rain both move chaotically across the land. You can stand in a heavy rain and see where it is not raining at all. You can also stand in the rain and have blue sky and sunshine. During the summer, the clouds form magically during the late morning and by afternoon, the showers start over the the hills and sometimes move into the valleys. If I think of the mountains in Arizona, this picture is what I am thinking about.

Like Deposits in a Depleted Bank Account

One reason the forest fires can spread so far is the fact that the ground is almost always covered in a think blanket of pine needles. If you have ever fed a campfire with pine needles, you know they burn fast and very hot. This photo shows how the fire spreads along the ground, but also shows the effects of the fire do not last long on a geological scale. You can already see another layer of pine needles starting to be dropped from the trees.

A Bigger Problem from the Wallow Fire

 

The effect of the Wallow Fire and all of the other recent fires in Arizona, is only starting to be felt. One of the most dramatic problems is the flooding and erosion the occurs as a result of the lack of vegetation on the hillsides. Here are a couple of photos of the effects of the fire.  

The first photo shows how recent rains immediately start carrying away the topsoil, while the next picture shows what happens to the sediment from the fire. Both of these pictures were taken just south of Alpine, near one of the larger burn areas.

Lakes, Mountains and Reflections

Arizona does have some very rugged and steep mountains. It just happens that the highest mountains in the state are mostly volcanic in origin and have the smooth outlines of the angle of repose. When you are at a location, such as Hawley Lake, you see only slightly higher mountains because you are standing at over 8000 feet. To give some perspective, Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeastern United States, is "only" 6,288 feet high. It is sometimes hard to get a decent perspective when you are standing on flat ground and not seeing the entire picture.

An Icon of the Old West

The wooden corral for loading cattle is almost an icon of the Old West. This example is on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation near the Sunrise Ski Resort. Even though many of these structures look like they are abandoned, they are still in current use. The cattle or the ranchers don't seem to care how they look, as long as they still do their job.

Bracken ferns regrow in the Wallow Fire Burn

A huge fire like the Wallow fire seems almost catastrophic in its destructive power, but it is the little things that remind us that fire is a natural occurrence and the forest will be rejuvenated. If you would like to see what the forest looks like around this new growth of grass and bracken ferns, check out the Wallow Burn on PhotoArizona360.  We were amazed at the contrast of the bright green new growth and the black burn of the fire.

A Gentle Little Stream

This is the Little Colorado River. When they use the term "little" they mean little. It is not even a faint shadow of the huge Colorado River, the one in the Grand Canyon. But this small stream has had an outsized impact on the history of Arizona. The communities along the river stretch from Greer, high in the White Mountains, to Cameron out on the dry Plateau. I went to Greer looking for evidence of the Wallow Fire and found this lovely green spot along the river instead.

A GraveMarker for the Burn

One phenomenon of the Wallow Fire burn and others like it, is that the fire burns out existing stumps and their root system. When the fire travels underground and burns the roots, subsequent rains can cause the ground to collapse. This photo was taken just south of Alpine, Arizona and is a fitting gravemarker for all the trees that were destroyed in the burn.

Wallow Fire Burn in Nutrioso, Arizona

This is a composite panorama of Nutrioso, Arizona from the east side looking south and west. If you click on the photo, you can get a larger image. If you would like a full size image file, you can contact me on Facebook and I will send it to you by DropBox. The file is huge, over 30 MB.

Now to the picture. Starting on the left side, you can see part of the burn almost down to the houses, it looks like to me that this was a back-burn to try and protect the structures, but the fire was burning close to some of the structures in the area, although not as close as Alpine or Greer. If you look at the full-size image, you can see the fire burn on the mountains in the background all the way around the horizon. However, a picture taken before the fire would not be much different in superficial appearance. I have a couple of 360 degree panoramas that will be published on 360Cities and Google Earth that will show the burn more graphically. The worst part of the destruction is yet to come. The rains are coming and huge amounts of black sediment are pouring into the watercourses. There was a flash flood down the Little Colorado River on Juth 4th in the evening due to the lack of vegetation to stop the water. Check out my links to PhotoArizona360.

A Visit to Hawley Lake

There are a few well-known locations in Arizona that I have yet to see. But I have my list and keep checking off the places one by one. For some reason, I had never taken the drive out to Hawley Lake. Located on the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation, it is about an hour from Show Low. It is supposed to be the coldest spot in Arizona. The lowest temperature in Arizona, -40°, was recorded on January 7, 1971 at Hawley Lake. It wasn't very cold the day we went there, it was about 80 degrees. Arizona is certainly full of contrasts. The forest around Hawley Lake is some of the wettest part of the state also with ferns and lots of green. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you are tired of my photos) I did a lot of my traveling in Arizona before digital cameras. If I had to buy film, there wouldn't be nearly so many pictures.

Elk Herd from the Wallow Fire

The huge Wallow Fire is still not contained as of the date of this post, July 3, 2011. The total acreage burned stays at 538,049. One of the effects of the fire was to drive the elk down from the mountains into the meadows. There were two huge herds of elk in this meadow, just north of the small town of Nutrioso. I would guess that the elk will start to starve unless they are able to live at the lower elevations.

Where the Fire Stops - Wallow Fire 2011

As of the date of this post, the Wallow fire is still burning and not fully contained. On the left side of this picture is where the fire burned. The road was used as a fire break and stopped the fire before it could move any further north. It is possible that the burnt area to the left is the result of an intentional back-burn to stop the fire from coming any further north towards the cabins and homes. There is a lot of evidence of tire and tread marks on the road and off the road to the right in the picture.

Nutrioso and the Wallow Fire - Part Three

This picture is taken near one of the northern edges of the fire. The pine needles and ground cover are burned but most of the trees are intact. The colored ribbon on the tree was used by the fire fighters to mark various locations or to mark the way to turn on a road. The brown trees had branches close to the ground and therefore the fire and got burned and killed. Once the fire got to this part of the forest, it was easier to stop because of the lack of fuel. In many places where the fire fighters claim "containment" what they really mean is the fire has run out of fuel. Many years ago, it was common to burn the ditches to clear them of weeds every spring while the plants were still brown from Winter, but they always grew back in the summer. It is unlikely that in this type of burnt area, that the fire has killed the grass.