Just a few Arizona ones to start with...a few rays of sun on some local landscapes.
This is Four Peaks, a mountain that walls in one side of my town. Sometimes in winter it is covered with snow. (The desert gets cold. I froze for an hour for this shot, just for a few seconds of crimson light on the snow.) A lot of people don't know it, but on the summit there is an amethyst mine that produces some of the best stone in the world. The mine (a tiny spec on the mountain from this view) is privately owned, and the miners brave helicopter rides to the talus slope then over boulders and rattlesnakes to do their job. Don't be fooled by the apparent closeness of the mountain. The Tonto Natl Forest boundary, of which Four Peaks Wilderness is included, is the size of Connecticut.
Sabino Canyon is one of Tucson's favorite hiking areas. It is a dramatic box canyon that leads to Pusch Ridge wilderness area. It is very rugged and beautiful. I have hiked it by sun and moon. It is really cool how the moonlight as well crawls down the sides of the box canyon walls. However, these days I would hike in groups, as mountain lions do live in this canyon.
Palm Canyon is located in one of my favorite mountain ranges, the Kofa. Kofa stands for King of Arizona Mine. The Kofa Range is nothing short of mind-blowing in its remoteness and jagged, forbidding landscape. When driving up to the Kofa, it is sometimes hard for me to conceive of the vastness. It looks deceptively smaller from far away, but then upon driving one of the dirt roads to approach the mountain range, the cliffs become towering monoliths. A Jeep looks like a grain of sand against the range. The soft light of sunset helps illustrate mountain features and the late hour provides an opportunity for hikers to experience real, total silence, aside from the occasional sound of wind (I recommend bringing an Indian flute to this place!) This is just one little canyon in the Kofa, named Palm Canyon because back in there about half mile there is a natural fan palm grove growing up a crevasse in the canyon wall. On one visit, I looked a bighorn sheep in the eye. The huge animals are natural for the area.
The sawtooth peaks of Palm Canyon again, turning a citrine color for a few brief moments at sunset. This was a different day when there were no clouds. The Kofa Range is located south of Quartzite, in western Arizona backcountry. On a topo map, many contour lines of the area will be jammed together, indicating the steepness of the canyon walls.
