Ice on the Trail

I guess it says something about living in the desert if ice is a novelty. I so seldom see frozen water in Arizona that it is an occasion when I do. I love the way the light shines on the surface of the ice and the reflections of surrounding objects.

More Erosion

It is hard to imagine that the entire huge Grand Canyon is the product of running, dripping and freezing water. This small side canyon emptying into the main Colorado River channel shows how erosion forms the canyons and their walls.

Rivers of Clouds

The Grand Canyon is so large that every part can have its own weather. You can see the layers of clouds with some of them streaming down the side canyons. Everywhere along the Rim there are vistas such as this on days when there is real weather.

Wading on the Shore

In the Spring and Fall, Arizona's small ponds and lakes become a temporary home to flocks of migratory birds. Some of the birds in this photo fall into that category but the egrets and herons are permanent residents.

Floating

If you look at this image for a while, you might be able to figure out what it is. It is a whole mass of the white seeds from the Baccharis sarothroides or desert broom. If you look closely, you can see a green leaf resting on the mat of seeds.

Desert Broom

The plant known as Desert Broom or Baccharis sarothroides is a very persistent and invasive weed. These are the seeds being blown across a pond. It will grow anywhere that there is enough moisture to get a start.

Evening in the Desert

This iconic image is something we see regularly. It is easy to show spectacular sunsets with the sky full of color, but normally this is more like what we see since clouds are not the norm in the Arizona Sonora Desert.

Chihuly at Night Number Two

It is difficult to get a sense of perspective at night, but given the size of the plants, you can get some idea of the size of the cluster of glass spheres. The color and variety are truly astonishing.

Chihuly at Night Number One

The Desert Botanical Garden is the site of the Chihuly glass exhibit 2013-2014. Although they glass sculptures are impressive in the daytime, they are even more impressive at night. The lighting comes from spotlights but also, in some instances, from the sculptures themselves.

The Canyon Rim

The distant mesa in the background of this photo is really the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I am taking this photo from inside the Canyon looking east up the river. If you click on the image, you can see the Canyon falling off to the right of the point of view.

The Approaching Storm

The sky show is about to begin. The lights go down and the lightning and rain start. This is an especially dramatic sight on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You can see for over fifty miles and can watch the storms come across the Plateau and begin to fill the Canyon.

Reflections of the Storm

One of the most impressive of the natural phenomenon are storms. Most pass us by without any severe consequences, but every so often there is a huge one that changes our lives and our perspective. It is the same with many of life's experiences. We have the dat-to-day ones that seem to make little or not difference and then the huge, life changing ones that we remember forever.

Standing at the Edge of Space

The rock and tree in the foreground are about fifty feet away. The cliff on the other side of the Colorado River is about a mile away with a 3000 foot chasm in between where I am standing and the cliff on the other side of the Colorado River. This is Toroweap.

Looking down to the River far below

I know I have mentioned before that there are few places where you can get a 3000 foot view straight down while standing on level ground or rock. Guess what? No guard railings and no signs saying be careful of the cliff edge. That is the Colorado River down there at the bottom about 3/5ths of mile away.

A Canyon Road - North Rim

Except for a few very touristy spots on the South Rim, the Grand Canyon is mostly the epitome of solitude and silence. It is gloriously open and colorful with formations of wonder in every direction. The bad news is that most of these fantastic views are at the end of horribly rocky dirt and rock roads passible only part of the time even in 4-wheel drive vehicles. Did I mention that these roads eat tires for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Please Keep on the Road

Arizona is full of very interesting signs. This one says "Please Keep on the Road." I am not sure to whom this charge is levied. We were not at all interested in driving off the road, although I am well aware that there are people who are and do. This sign was about 50+ miles from the nearest paved road and the one we were on soon disappeared into a maze of rocks.

Contrast Two

The pattern on this rock is very unusual. It looks like it was in an area of high rainfall which contradicts its present location. It is also very unlikely that this boulder came from the sandstone cliffs visible in the background. I was wondering where it might have come from.

The Arizona Strip

That part of Arizona that is north of the Grand Canyon is called the Arizona Strip. There are few roads and access to rest of Arizona is very limited. Most of the towns in the Strip are closer to cities in Utah and Nevada than they are to towns in Arizona. I have estimated that some of the residents would have to drive over 300 miles to visit the county seat in Kingman. This photo gives you a good idea of what the Arizona Strip is all about.

A very unusual cactus

I couldn't resist this strange growth of cactus spines at the base of a very large cactus.

Cactus Fruit

You might think twice before trying to pick this lovely little green fruit. I guess that is the idea of the spines. This is an unusual tree climbing creeping cactus that spreads over quite a large area. Not a very good landscape plant, unless you need the protection from intruders.

Chihuly Number Six

Even though the Chihuly glass is fantastic, it still cannot compete with the variety of natural shapes of the cactus plants. Here you see the contrast between the natural shape and coloration of the cactus and the lovely forms of the glass sculptures.

Papago Butte -- Where are the people?

There are two climbers in this shot of Papago Butte. If you click on the photo and look around you might be able to see them. This is right between Phoenix and Tempe and Papago Park is very visible if you fly into Sky Harbor Airport.

Growing Shadows at the Grand Canyon

One of the benefits of sitting and watching the sun set and the shadows grow up the walls of the Grand Canyon is that you begin to see things that are invisible in the harsh daylight. The whole Canyon takes on an entirely different aspect with deep canyons and hidden wonders. It is a magical time of day.

The End of a Day at the Canyon

It is interesting to visit one of the Grand Canyon overlooks in the evening as the sun is going down. There are always clusters of people watching the sun as it sets and the changing colors of the Canyon. I am running around trying to get good shots and making comments about how lovely it all is.

A Cloudy Day at the Canyon

Many of the standard tourist shots of the Grand Canyon would lead you to believe that there was always beautiful weather and the sun was always shining. In fact, the Grand Canyon Rims are at a very high altitude. The average elevation of the South Rim is about 6800 feet or 2,072 meters. The North Rim is much higher at over 8000 feet or 2438 meters. The weather can change from hour to hour and the light can change from minute to minute. You get an entirely different impression of the Canyon when there are thick clouds. 

Before the Frost

 During my recent travels in the Midwest, I took a series of photos of beautiful flowers and gardens right before weather predictions indicated snow and cold weather. I assume that the gardens were entirely frostbitten within a couple of days of these photos, but I was glad to get the photos while I could.

Fluorite on Quartz

This is yet another example of a fluorite mineral associated with a quartz substrate. It is hard for me to imagine the work involved in finding these minerals and mining them from the solid rock where they are located. I am certain that the miners involved in this process receive very, very little of the profit made from these extremely valuable minerals.

Fluorite on Quartz Number One

The fluorite minerals have a wide variety of colors and forms. Their large crystalline structure makes them very attractive mineral for shows. Some of the fluoride minerals fluoresce in blacklight. When the minerals appear in conjunction with other minerals such quartz,  they make very attractive displays.

Quartz on Hematite

 Quartz is one of the hardest minerals in it forms beautiful crystals. In this case the quartz crystals were growing up on a substrate of hematite. The pictures could have come out better but the minerals were behind glass.

Cow Tongue Prickly Pear

This is Cow Tongue Prickly Pear or Opuntia egnelmannii var. linguiformis. This particular variety of prickly pear is critically imperiled in the wild. One thing I've noticed recently is that due to the extreme drought in the Southwest many of the prickly pear plants are collapsing from lack of water. It is strange to see a cactus die because it is too dry.

Chihuly Number Five

 The brick structure in the background is a shade structure to protect sensitive cactus from the hot Arizona sun. The Chihuly reeds highlight the differences between the natural cactus and the glass. The color of the reeds highlights the difference in color but not in form.

Chihuly Number Four

These are red reeds. It would be nice if they were real plants instead of glass, but the class is nice. The cactus don't look quite as nice in the bright sunlight as the glass does.

Chihuly Number Three

Not all of the Chihuly glass structures are obvious. They are scattered in among the desert plants and only visible from some angles. They are reminders of the structure of the plants of the desert although it is plain to see that they are not exactly desert colored.

Chihuly Number Two

The Chihuly glass structures are scattered around the Desert Botanical Garden. This is a high class exhibit. There is really no way in a simple photograph to convey the color and impact of these huge glass sculptures. This is a really remarkable experience.

Chihuly Number One

The last Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden was extremely impressive but this one is much better. We like to speculate about what kind of effort it takes to blow the glass for such large structures and then hang them in the air on huge supports. We will be glad to return quite a few times during the exhibit.

Green Snow?

This is the first time I have seen duckweed accumulate to the point where it looked like banks of snow. I was aware that the Native American population used duckweed in their diet, but didn't appreciate how they could have eaten the plant. This shows how much they could have gathered from even a very small area.

Fall Color on the Mississippi River

Fall comes to the Mississippi River and the trees along the shore start turning golden in the afternoon sun. I rarely get the opportunity to see the interaction between water sky and the Fall leaves because we live in the desert and none of these things happen in any kind of order.

An Interesting Pattern

If you don't know what this photo shows right off the bat, you probably will not be able to figure it out. This was taken along the shore of a lake on the Mississippi River. The brown objects are seed pods from the waterlilies. The green mass are duckweed blown in from the lake to the shore.

A Wood Stove

Throughout most of the United States, this type of wood stove was common before electricity and natural gas became available for heating. My Grandfather's house was built with chimney openings in every one of the rooms. I understand that many people removed the stoves in warm weather to get more room.

A Pleasant View

This is another in my never-ending series of window photos. I am entirely fascinated by the idea of a photograph of a window when the window is already a framed view of the outside world.

An Old McCormick Deering Heavy Duty Farm Wagon

This is wagon is very similar to a McCormick Deering Heavy Duty Farm Wagon from around 1901. There are a very few variations but it is either a McCormick Deering or a very good copy. I found this one in Nauvoo, Illinois.

The Flooded Quarry

This quarry is located just outside of old historic Nauvoo, Illinois. It is the quarry where much of the stone for the original Nauvoo Temple was quarried. Since a dam was built on the Mississippi River below Nauvoo, the lake that was created has flooded the quarry. 

Beginning the cut

I probably have lots of company in being fascinated by large machines. But since most of my travels are in areas where there are almost no roads, seeing a combine at work is a novelty. I probably won't see another one like this for years, if ever.

Making the turn

The wind was blowing very hard and the dust was billowing off of the combine as it got to the corner of the field and made a turn for a new cut. I was taking photos as fast as I could with people yelling at me to get in the car so we could go.

Coming down the field

I stood and watched this combine come down the field. I was wondering what the driver was thinking as he saw me standing in the way with my camera in hand taking photos. We don't see a lot of combines in Mesa, Arizona, especially in my neighborhood.

Brugmansia arborea

Yes, these very interesting white flowers have a name. They are Brugmansia arborea. They come from South America and are not that common in the United States. I had never seen them until recently and then saw them in two different states. These are in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Saguaro Bird Hotel No. 6

 This is the last in a series of the Saguaro Bird Hotel shots that I took recently at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona. This same scenario could be replayed at thousands of locations throughout the desert where these cactus live in association with their surrounding community of animals including bats and birds.

Saguaro Bird Hotel No. 5

 The series of photos show different birds using large excavated holes in the saguaro cactus for protection and living quarters. In many cases, the abundant spines on the sides of the cactus aren't effective protection against predators. There are of course bird predators so the spines are not a complete protection against danger.

Saguaro Bird Hotel No. 4

 The Saguaro cactus Is not only an icon of the entire Southwest but has become intimately associated with the state of Arizona. However, saguaro cactus are more than an icon. They are a complex ecological community. Not only do many animals rely on their flowers and fruit for sustenance, these giant cactus also provide safe living conditions for a variety of birds.

Saguaro Bird Hotel No. 3

The huge holes in the saguaros do not seem to make any difference to the growth of the plant. But, as this series of photos show, the holes do become very useful refuges for the birds in the desert community.