Shakespeare Arch

I have no idea why this arch is called Shakespeare Arch. It is located at the end of a moderate hike around a sandstone promontory in the Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah. There was a moderate trail and a difficult trail. We elected to take the moderate trail since it was getting late in the day.

Goblins escaping from the rock

If you look closely at this photo, you can see the goblin faces as they try to liberate themselves from the cliff. These are exactly the same type of rock formations found in Goblin Valley, quite a few miles away across the state of Utah.

Another very strange landscape

Unless you have been there, you would not believe that this place exists. I have to be careful because I have been around this kind of rock formations all my life and so I see this as normal. But when I get a photo like this, I begin to see how unusual this landscape really is. This is part of Kodachrome Basin and is known as Chimney Rock. This not a very original name as I know of more than ten or so other rocks with the same name.

A Very Strange Landscape

No, I did not create this in Photoshop. This is a real place, not something out of the magic of CGI. Some places on the Colorado Plateau are so remarkable, you don't even believe them when you are there. This is one of those places: Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah.

Red Cow in a Green Desert

Who could pass up the opportunity of taking a picture of this red and white cow standing in the middle of patch of green sagebrush? I couldn't.

Storm over the Sandstone

Some of the most remarkable sandstone formations are isolated outcrops that seem to rise directly from the flat, sagebrush covered desert floor. These formations are particularly dramatic when the skies cooperate and there is a storm. The good news is that the skies are dramatic. The bad news is you have to worry about getting stuck with water running down a wash.

The Colorado River from the Rim

There are few places along the Rim of the Grand Canyon where you can look directly down on the Colorado River. This is Toroweap. Located at the end of a long, arduous and poorly maintained dirt road, this is not a trip for the faint of heart. If you decide to go, head the warnings of the National Park Service that 70% of the people who drive this road have at least one flat tire in the process.

A House Built on a Rock

This is a long view of the house built by Colonel William Boyce Thompson. This venerable mansion called the Pickett Post House is perched on volcanic cliffs overlooking his namesake Arboretum. The house is seldom open to tours but can be seen from the trails in the Arboretum.

A Double Arch

This is Grosvenor Arch located about a mile or so off of the Cottonwood Canyon Road in Southern Utah. When I first visited the Arch, it was extremely remote and the road was almost impassible. But as the years have past the road has gotten better but still requires a high clearance vehicle and a strong constitution to drive.

Reflections on Sunset at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon

Right off the center of this photo is part of a rainbow. The clouds behind are dark and menacing but the rainbow light was dancing in the air and I am glad that the camera caught the faint play of light on the rain falling on the South Rim, miles away from where I was standing. Within a few seconds the light had faded and the scene went too dark to take pictures.

Curving Cliff Face

Even though the top of the Grand Canyon walls and the Colorado Plateau are both even and almost form a straight line, the cliffs below the Rim are convoluted and bent by the tremendous tectonic forces that raised the North Rim to over 8000 feet in some places. Just as the sun was going down, I walked by this overlook into the Canyon and saw the curved walls of stone off into the distance. It is a wonderful sight.

By Sunset's Glow

One of the best times to view the Grand Canyon is right during the sunset. The majesty of the Canyon is slowly obscured by the fading light and the colors go from vibrant to subdued. Depending on the clouds and general weather conditions, you might also be treated to a spectacular sunset with colors stretching across the sky over the Canyon.

Ready to Strkie

This young Diamond Back Rattlesnake or Crotalus atrox has its tail and body ready to strike forward. It is commonly thought that the snakes have to be coiled to strike. This is an unfortunate fable. If you were within six feet of this snake you would be in danger of being bitten. If you look closely, you will see that it has just eaten a rather large meal, probably a mouse.

Purple Sage

This is a flowering sagebrush of the Atemisia family. But there are about 39 different species of sagebrush. It is flowering next to a yucca plant. Most of the sagebrush out in the desert does not have such large purple blossoms. I would assume this is not a common variety.

Edible Date Palm

This is an Edible Date Palm or Phoenix dactylifera. Not all palm trees bear fruit. Some have hard seeds instead of the soft date fruit. I think dates are an acquired taste. I didn't care for them as a child, but I love them as an adult. I also like them in smoothies.

Ornate Tree Lizard

This cute little guy is an ornate tree lizard or Urosaurus ornatus. He looks a little malnourished. If you look closely, you can see his ribs sticking out. We were concerned but didn't know how to diagnose physical ailments in lizards. The first time I went to take photos of lizards, I tried hand-holding my 500mm lens, but this time I took my tripod and got a lot better results.

Hanging Garden

I have often heard the desert referred to as a barren wilderness. I used to wonder how people could think that the desert was barren. I think the desert is filled with life, in fact, sometimes too much life. Like when we are fighting the Scorpion Wars with the not so cute desert scorpions. But the desert does have it beautiful places even if you could point to some of it as barren.

A Desert Oasis

There are very few places in the desert where there are sizable bodies of water in a natural setting. This is not one of them. But regardless of the fact that this is a man-made reservoir, it has a sizable natural habitat for birds and other animals. I love the curvature of the cattails and the reflections on the water. You can probably see similar pictures I have taken before.

Warming in the Morning Sun

This is an Empress Leilia or Asterocampa leilia. The males perch most of the day to watch for females which is probably the reason why I could get a clear photograph. Its eggs are laid in groups of 10-15 on the top of host plant leaves. The third-stage caterpillars hibernate and it is found all year in South Texas, and from April to November in Arizona.

House Finch in a Boojum Tree

This is a house finch or Haemorhous mexicanus sitting on a branch at the top of a tall Boojum Tree or Fouquieria columnaris. 

Red Rock Skimmer

This is a Red Rock Skimmer or Paltothemis lineatipes perched on a palo verde twig. You will have to click on the image to see the detail of its wings and the pattern on its tail. It seems incongruous to find dragonflies in the desert.

Yellow Eucalyptus Tree Flowers

This is a rare sight in Arizona. There are a lot of Eucalyptus trees, but very few with these unusual yellow flowers. The plant also has opposing leaves on the same stem with no leaf stem. I will keep looking and see if I can identify this plant by scientific name.

A Perfectly Formed Anthill

It is rare to see such a perfectly formed anthill. There were several of these in one small area, but this was the most perfect. The anthills can take this perfect form when the soil is slightly damp. But the first wind storm or rain will quickly destroy their handiwork. They literally build on the sand and with sand.

Getting Ready to Migrate

The Turkey Vulture or Cathartes aura is the most widespread of the New World Vultures. Every year these large birds migrate from central Arizona to Mexico for the Winter and then back again in the Spring. I took this picture just as the birds were beginning their annual migration. Most of them will be gone within two weeks or so. They do not fly but use the thermal air currents to glide most of the way.

Lucious Fruit

These exceptionally beautiful Prickly Pear fruit are ripe and ready to be made into a sweet syrup or jelly. I love the deep red color and the contrasting gray green of the pads.

Biznaga Dulce

This is a Biznaga Dulce or sweet barrel cactus also known as Echinocactus
platyacanthus. It can be processed into a sweet food called citron. But the cutting of these cactus and the manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the cactus candy is now a federal crime in Mexico.

A Spiny Option

This is a Hatpin cactus or Ferocactus Emoryi. It is related to the more common barrel cactus. These cactus can grow to from six to eight feet high and are native to Baja California. We get to see a lot of varieties of cactus by living in the low desert.

Shaking Hands with a Lizard

No animals were harmed in this photo. This was an expert herptologist and he knew exactly what he was doing. The lizard was released and ran away without injury. The lizard was probably a zebra-tailed lizard or Callisaurus draconoides Blainville, 1835.

Cardinal Meadowhawk

After searching around for a while, I decided this was the Cardinal Meadowhawk or Sympetrum illotum. These are native to Arizona and not uncommon. It was a windy day and I didn't think I would get any shots of dragonflies so this was a bonus.

Pomegranate

These bushes grow into trees eventually and depending how they are trimmed. Pomegranate is very tart and juicy when they are ripe. The juice will also stain anything it touches. We grew pomegranates for years, but seldom got any fruit because of the spade-foot bugs that spoiled the fruit before it was ripe.

A View from the Rim

Since cliff dwellings are on cliffs, you have to climb and hike down to see them up close. This is what you might see when you start your hike down into the canyon to get to the building. The National Park service has a rather long lecture to prospective tourists about the danger of the ladders and the physical requirements of the hike down and up again.

Double Deck Cliff Dwelling

Taking advantage of the rocks, this cliff dwelling ended up having a double deck. It is likely that the construction of the houses reached up to the upper deck. This one is in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

A Single Dahlia

Dahlias were grown by my wife's mother for years. Now my own children grow dahlias. We live in the desert and can't grow flowers like these, they live in the mountains. They are gorgeous flowers but require ants to have blooms.

On the Ridgeline

These hoodos are caused by differential weathering of the softer material on the bottom and the cap of harder rock on tip. It is a mystery to me, why all the surrounding rocks have weathered away and left just one rock with a cap. This rock is high in the Rocky Mountains over 12,000 feet.

White Thistles

I remember thistles from my childhood when I used to think they were giant dandelions. They are easily avoided in most circumstances. If they get too thick, they can become a real deterrent for entering as area. They are not like cactus and are not nearly so hardly.

Mica

The black mineral in this rock is mica. It looks a little like silver but it is a sheet silicate (phyllosilicate) mineral. Mica glitters in the sun and is very attractive and often confused with more valuable minerals. The formula is

 X₂Y_4–6Z₈O₂₀(OH,F)₄

in which X is K, Na, or Ca or less commonly Ba, Rb, or Cs;

Y is Al, Mg, or Fe or less commonly Mn, Cr, Ti, Li, etc.;

Z is chiefly Si or Al, but also may include Fe³⁺ or Ti.

Usually, there is an abundance of this type of mineral near where gold or other mineralizations are found.

Heart of the Rockies

The peak in the center of the photo, back inside the canyon, is Hayden Spire, 12,480 feet or 3804 meters. The big mountain to the left of the canyon is Stone Peak, 12,922 feet or 3939 meters. The mountains in the distance to the left of the canyon and left of Stones Peak are all over 13,000 feet high. The area at the top of the canyon, near the Hayden Spire is a glacial cirque or the head of historic glacier. There is very little snow left at this time of year and of course, no glacier. The peak at the extreme right of the photo is Terra Tomah Mountain at 12,718 feet or 3877 meters.

Quite a Surprise

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are. They were quite a surprise because they were growing on long trailing stems that hung down from the vine-like plant. They are unique and I can't find them in my searches on the Web. Some plants are quite rare and I would assume this is one of the rare ones.

Leaf Patterns

Some plants are grown for the patterns of their leaves and not just for flowers. I like cactus, but I am always impressed with the variety and patterns of the leaves of the plants in the jungles of the world. We have a few plants that grow down here in the low desert that also have variegated leaf patterns but these are particularly striking.

Twins

There are so many varieties of orchids, some are different species, but others are hybrids and only have color or shape variations. There are between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species, found in 880 genera. See Wikipedia: Orchidaceae. All of them are not a colorful and showy as this pair, but all are really interesting in their own way.

War of the Worlds Hovering

This flower bears a striking resemblance to the invading space ships in War of the Worlds. I wonder if this is where they got the idea for the design? I really doubt it. but it is certainly a striking flower and appears to be hovering.

Shapes in the sun and shade

This was a wall decoration at the Denver Botanical Gardens in Colorado. It is one of the most impressive gardens I have ever visited and we would go back in a heartbeat if it wasn't so far away. I know what we will stop to see anytime we end up near Denver.

Dancing Orchids

These little orchid ballerinas were dancing in the breeze and I caught them as the twirled. I am pleasantly amazed at the varied forms of flowers in the world and can probably find new ones to photograph for the rest of my life.

A Quartet of Orchids

Orchids are pretty impressive flowers. We have tried to grow them from time to time, without success. I suppose it would help if we lived somewhere with some humidity, since they seem to need more than we have in the desert. I like them even if they are hard to grow.

Storm over Colorado Springs

The day we decided to drive up onto Cheyenne Mountain there was a storm moving across Colorado Springs. Later that same week, there was a huge flood down the canyon in Manitou Springs. We missed the flood but had an exciting time with the lightning from the storm.

Overlooking the City

This is another in my series of window pictures. This one was taken from near the top of the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. This is a stone tower on Cheyenne Mountain and view is of Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is made entirely of stone without the use of wood or nails. It is named for the American humorist who died in a plane crash in Alaska in 1935.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

This mountain high pile of sand is located in Central Colorado in the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The dunes are piles of wind blown sand agains the high Rocky Mountains and are the tallest dunes in North America at 750 feet. The National Park was created in 1932 and expanded in the 1990s. The Sand Dunes are located at over 8200 feet above sea level.

Proud as a Peacock

A peacock is a really just a turkey with bright feathers. They are domesticated birds in the U.S. and wander around in parks and zoos. If they don't have their wings clipped, they will inhabit quite a large area. This is probably an Indian Peacock or Pavo cristatus. The scientific name would translate to crowned or crested turkey. They come from Africa or India and are found all around the world.

Bright Orange

Desert birds, as a rule, are not usually noted for their brilliant plumage. I guess this is the reason I am so attracted to brightly colored birds. This is either an Orange Bishop or Euplectes franciscanus or a Southern Red Bishop or Euplectes orix. Birds with brilliant feathers are more easily identified than those that are gray or brown.

Framed

Supposedly, we have moose in Arizona, but I have never seen one. The biggest animals we have are elk. I have seen moose in the wild, but not too many. I am not usually around areas where there is a lot of water and moose love water. This one appears to be quite content to sit in the shade.