Random Hiking in Arizona

This image and the next two are from Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca mountains in southern Arizona. This is a famous birding spot and is also one of the best places in southern Arizona to see fall colors. When we were there, most of the canyon had water but there were some dry sections.

Another nice pool.

Some impressive agaves and some Mount Lemmon Marigolds (tagetes lemmonii) on a hillside above the canyon.

This is the view from my backyard. At one point this was a triple rainbow. Possibly the brighest rainbow I have ever seen.

This image and the next two were taken in Wood Canyon which is in the Chiricahua Mountains. We had heard that some of the best fall colors in southern Arizona existed in this canyon due to the abundance of bigtooth maples (genus acer, species possibly grandidentatum - if this is wrong let me know). We were in the canyon a bit past peak color but you can see how red the leaves can be in this image.

More leaves.

And still more leaves.

This image and the next three were taken at Council Rocks. This is a well-known pictograph site on the west side of the Dragoon Mountains. The light wasn't ideal when I was there. In better conditions, you could definitely get better photos.

If I didn't know better I would think this guy had his hand on a Van der Graaf generator.

I don't think I have ever seen pictographs with fingers/toes visible.

And here were two grinding holes (metates) used to grind mesquite beans and other native plants.

This image and the remaining ones were all taken in Aravaipa Canyon. This is one of the crown jewels of southern Arizona - a perennial stream providing fantastic riparian habitat. As the link states, permits are required to enter the canyon. We had 13 of us with six traveling east and seven traveling west. Then we traded car keys when we passed each other. You have to continuously cross the stream which made it a pretty cold hike at the beginning since there was ice on stagnant pools.

My camera bag actually fell into the water here... Fortunately I had plastic bags around everything.

I have seen quite a few photos of this Cottonwood taken by other people. It is obviously in just the right spot so that it can catch the sunlight.

And a second view of the same tree.

Doesn't that look peaceful?

One of the amazing things about Aravaipa is that it is in the Sonoran desert. Note the saguaros at the extreme top of this image!

And lastly a nice composition on the ground.