Bryce Canyon

It is time to venture outside of Arizona. Remember, the Colorado Plateau includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. In walking around Arizona, I do wander over the border into foreign territory once and while. Bryce Canyon is a fabulous place to visit. It is highly accessible, in most places you can drive right up to the overlooks and walk less than 100 feet from your car. On the other hand, it is also mysterious and inaccessible. The trailheads for almost all of the trails, start at the rim and go down, so it is a canyon experience. You have to walk back up after hiking. On the average day it is entirely overrun with tourists from all over the world with a lot of Japanese and Europeans. I am certain that a lot of the time there are more foreign tourists than there are U.S. citizens. 

There is almost no where in Bryce that you cannot find something to photograph. 

Where the skies are not cloudy all day?

When I came back to the U.S. after two years in Panama, I almost turned around and went back when I saw how smoky and yucky the air quality was on the East Coast. The only thing that kept me going was the thought that when I got out West, I could see blue skies and clean air again. Hmmm. Good thing that was many years ago. Today, the air quality in the lovely skies of Arizona is not that great. If I had arrived with today's skies, I might be writing in Spanish from Panama. This shot is across the Grand Canyon from the North Rim looking south towards the San Francisco Peaks. Like the air quality? I don't. The last time I went to the North Rim the air was even worse and I took almost no pictures of the Canyon. What use is it having a world class scenic attraction if you can't see it?

Saguaro Blooms

The saguaro cactus has become synonymous with the desert Southwest. The standard cartoon saguaro has two arms and a few random spines. There is even a website to teach you how to draw a saguaro cactus complete with the obligatory two arms. Even though they may appear as simple objects when stylized, they are very complex organisms. In addition, their growing range is rather restricted to a relatively small geographic area almost exclusively in southern and central Arizona. John Ford movies to the contrary, there aren't any saguaro cactus in Monument Valley or anywhere above about 3000 feet.

The saguaro blooms in late June or early July and the major pollinators are bats. They are protected in Arizona by laws imposing heavy fines for removing one from the desert. But they are not rare, we have two of them growing in our front yard.

Big Lake-- best for Arizona fishermen

On the eastern edge of the state, up on the Colorado Plateau, there is a range of rounded mountains referred to as the White Mountains. Because the Plateau is already at about 6000 feet, the mountains do not appear very high, but the peaks are over 10,000 feet and Mount Baldy which is considered to be the second highest mountain in Arizona, however it is really about the seventh since several of the named peaks around the Kachina Wilderness in the San Francisco Peaks are higher.

The White Mountains give the impression of a gently rolling landscape alternating between dense pine and fir forests and open grasslands. Dotting the area are several lakes, some of reasonably large size. Almost all of these "lakes" are really catchment basins or reservoirs. Big Lake is the largest and best known of the lakes. It is located in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest about 30 miles south of Springerville/Eager. It is also about an hour's drive from Pinetop/Lakeside. Big Lake is situated at an altitude of over 9000 feet and so the summers are short and cool and the winters are long and very cold. The lake freezes over, usually by November.

If you like to fish, of which I am not overly fond, it is one of the best trout fishing lakes in Arizona. It is one of the nicest places to camp in the state with very nice campgrounds by Arizona standards that include showers and running water. Both of these amenities are at a premium in Arizona campgrounds in general. 

The above photo shows a small portion of the lake but illustrates the nature of the surrounding country.

The highest point in Arizona -- Humphreys Peak

The view from Humphrey's Peak looking towards the north and the Grand Canyon. Of course, you can't see the canyon because it goes down and nothing sticks up. In addition, the air quality in northern Arizona is not what it used to be. Smoke from the large coal burning power plants create a haze that obscures most of the distant mountains and cliffs. The climb to the top of Humphrey's follows a zig-zag steep trail that is very rocky near the top of the ridge. I always consider "the wall" to be about 11,000 feet, that is where I usually begin to feel the effects of the altitude. There does not seem to be a consensus on the actual elevation of the highest point but it is approximately 12,666 feet according to a the sign at the top. However, other sources put the elevation somewhat lower at 12,637 feet.

Humphrey's Peak is one of several high peaks that surround a huge volcanic caldera. The peaks form a ridge semi-circling the caldera. The trail reaches the ridge well below the summit and the trail follows the  ridge line for a mile or so. As you climb along the ridge, you see several false summits before you finally walk far enough to see the final switchbacks up to the real one. 

Going down is definitely easier than climbing. The trail is supposed to be 4.7 miles, but you usually have to hike about two miles to the gate where the trail actually begins, so the round trip is closer to 12 miles than 9. Some claim that this is the "best hike in Arizona." I wouldn't dispute that it is one of the best, but I would place several other hikes above this, including the North Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail.

Yes, there is a Fall, Virginia...

Yes, there is a Fall and a winter also, just not so much in the low desert. I remember distinctly having leaves fall off the pecan trees about Christmas time. In Arizona, the leaves turn when it gets cold, just like it does every place else, but in some years it never gets cold and  I guess they have to get together and vote on when to turn some sort of color and fall off the trees. Usually, the trees are budding out or flowering before the last of the leaves have fallen.

Things change dramatically as you drive into higher elevations, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at over 9000 feet, the leave were not only turned by mid-October, but some trees were already bare. In less than a day, actually in a matter of a few hours, you can drive from late Fall back into summer heat of over 100 degrees. This dramatic contrast is what makes Arizona (and Utah and most of the other Western States) such an interesting place to live and visit.

Ok, now I have an admission to make. The above photo was not taken in Arizona. It is really in Utah. I have seen colors like that in Arizona, but mostly the leaves on the Rim or further north are yellow Aspen trees.

Agatha Peak

Just south of the northern border of Arizona with Utah, near Monument Valley, is Agatha Peak (also known as El Capitan), the core of an ancient volcano. It is said by the Navajos that she is a story teller mother with her children sitting around her feet in rapt attention. Arizona has several of these volcanic cores, one famous one is Weaver's Needle.