Walnut Canyon National Monument is known for its remarkable rocks and ancient cliff dwellings but it is also a lovely canyon. Here is a quote from the National Park Service website for the National Monument.
Walnut Canyon has a long human history. Artifacts show that Archaic peoples, who traveled throughout the Southwest thousands of years ago, occupied the canyon at times.
Later came the first permanent inhabitants, who flourished in the region from about A.D. 600 until 1400. Archeologists labeled this prehistoric culture Sinagua, from the old Spanish name for the region, Sierra de Sin Agua, or “mountains without water.”
Scattered families farmed the canyon rims for centuries, growing small gardens of corn, squash, and beans. During the 1100s, many moved into limestone alcoves below the canyon rim, where they constructed the cliff dwellings we see today. The Walnut Canyon community thrived for another 150 years before the people moved on.
If you look carefully at the lower right of the photo, you can see part of the paved staircase dropping down into the canyon to the level of the cliff dwellings. Walnut Canyon is about 7000 feet above sea level and the descent to see the cliff dwelling goes down almost 200 feet into the canyon with lots of stair steps.
The Salt River Valley is home to over 4,7 million people and yet I am standing in a designated Wilderness Area. However, the development of the Valley will eventually almost completely surround the west, south, and east sides of the Wilderness. This fact always makes me wonder how I can call where I am standing, looking at a vast valley of structures, a wilderness?
Echinocactus grusonii, popularly known as the golden barrel cactus, golden ball or mother-in-law's cushion, is a well known species of cactus, and is endemic to east-central Mexico.It is rare and endangered in the wild, where it is found near Mesa de León in the state of Querétaro, and in the state of Hidalgo. The population was critically reduced in the 1990s, by the creation of the Zimapán Dam and reservoir in Hidalgo. The cactus grows in volcanic rock on slopes, at altitudes around 1,400 metres (4,600 ft).
Everything made by human hands looks terrible under magnification--crude, rough, and asymmetrical. But in nature every bit of life is lovely. And the more magnification we use, the more details are brought out, perfectly formed, like endless sets of boxes within boxes.― Roman Vishniac
A split-rail fence or log fence (also known as a zigzag fence, worm fence or snake fence historically due to its meandering layout) is a type of fence constructed in the United States and Canada, and is made out of timber logs, usually split lengthwise into rails and typically used for agricultural or decorative fencing. Such fences require much more timber than other types of fences, and so are generally only common in areas where wood is abundant. However, they are very simple in their construction, and can be assembled with few tools even on hard or rocky ground. They also can be built without using any nails or other hardware; such hardware was often scarce in frontier areas. They are particularly popular in very rocky areas where post hole digging is almost impossible. They can even be partially or wholly disassembled if the fence needs to be moved or the wood becomes more useful for other purposes. During the American Civil War, these split rail fences were a major source of firewood for both the Union and Confederate armies.Split rail fences were made of easy to split, rot-resistant wood. Traditionally American chestnut was the timber of choice until chestnut blight eliminated this tree. Currently, most split rails are made from cedar. Whether of chestnut or cedar, these logs were cut to a length of 10 to 12 feet (3.0 to 3.7 m) and split down the length of the log. Each half was then split into quarters, then eighths and so on until the rails were of a usable size. A log may produce from four rails from an 8-inch (20 cm) log to over a dozen from larger logs. The rails are stacked on top of one another. Most split rail fences have the rails stacked in an interlocking zig-zag fashion that is self-supporting, easy to create, easy to repair, and easy to disassemble.
On the Colorado Plateau where I spent some of my younger years, there were no trees except junipers and they were not tall enough or straight enough to make split-rail fences. The juniper trees were only used for fence posts.
Showing the Superstition Mountains in the summer is like snow scenes in the winter. They are lovely to look at but most people would just like to look and not be there. The temperature out there in the Arizona Sonora Desert on the date of this post is somewhere in excess of 115 degrees (about 46 degrees Celsius) It is a lovely place in the late Fall, Winter, and very early Spring.
The Basin and Range Province is a vast physiographic region covering much of the inland Western United States and northwestern Mexico. It is defined by unique basin and range topography, characterized by abrupt changes in elevation, alternating between narrow faulted mountain chains and flat arid valleys or basins. The physiography of the province is the result of tectonic extension that began around 17 million years ago in the early Miocene epoch.The numerous ranges within the province in the United States are collectively referred to as the "Great Basin Ranges", although many are not actually in the Great Basin. Major ranges include the Snake Range, the Panamint Range, the White Mountains, the Sandia Mountains, and the Tetons. The highest point fully within the province is White Mountain Peak in California, while the lowest point is the Badwater Basin in Death Valley at −282 feet (−86 m). The province's climate is arid, with numerous ecoregions. Most North American deserts are located within it.
The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region that runs from the city of Nephi on the South to Brigham City on the north. This photo is on the east side of Provo in the southern part of the Wasatch Front in Utah Valley. The mountains in the photo are part of the Wasatch Mountains and form the front as the east side of the long valleys that are the basins of the Basin and Range Province. This physiography is more pronounced to the west of Utah Valley into Utah's Western Desert.
We have had almost no rain in Utah for the entire summer of the year 2020. As a result, we have also had over a thousand fires around the state. As we walk the trails we see the evidence of the plants dying and the increasing fire danger. This past week Interstate 80, a major east-west freeway was shut down because of a fire in Parley's canyon. I thought this thistle plant was a good representative of the drought. It dried out before it could spread its seeds. 
During the middle of the summer, cottonwood trees (likely Populus fremontii) are a staple of landscapes in Utah the cotton-covered seeds of the trees form drifts that look like snow. The seeds also stick to tree branches as is demonstrated by this photo and chainlink fences. The tree is a native of the American Southwest and is found down into Mexico. We saw this amazing cottonwood cotton along the Provo River Parkway Trail in Provo, Utah. 
The Provo River Parkways Trail follows the Provo River into Provo Canyon. This is looking west down the canyon from a bridge over the river. In the background, on the cliff wall, you can see a portion of the Provo River Aqueduct called the Olmstead Flowline that provides water for a power station and for the City water supply. 
This is actually a photograph of the moon, not the sun. If you look closely, you can see a few stars scattered over the sky. The reason the moon looks as bright as the sun is that the photo was taken with an iPhone 11 Plus and the camera automatically compensates for low light situations. Of course, I could have edited out the moon but then the title to this photo would not make any sense. As it is, where is the lake? It is behind me. 
The onion plant has been grown and selectively bred in cultivation for at least 7,000 years. It is a biennial plant, but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of 15 to 45 cm (6 to 18 in). The leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side. They are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper towards a blunt tip. The base of each leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of the basal plate of a bulb. From the underside of the plate, a bundle of fibrous roots extends for a short way into the soil. As the onion matures, food reserves begin to accumulate in the leaf bases and the bulb of the onion swells.
