A Sky Full of Gold

The Lemmon Rock Lookout Tower was originally erected in 1913 with the current iteration being built in 1928. Sitting at over 8700 feet in elevation it is the oldest lookout tower in the Coronado National Forest and is still active today. For over a century the tower has stood watch over the forest and the expanding city of Tucson.

Location: 32°26'25.608" N 110°46'59.154" W // https://bit.ly/mtlmnfirewtch

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Learning to Fly

A paraglider soars over the distant skyline as the sun touches the peaks of the Harqualhala Mountains.

Location: 33°44'47.256" N 112°5'42.456" W // https://bit.ly/snstflight

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Oasis

Hole In the Rock rises above a lagoon at Papago Park in Phoenix, AZ.

Location: 33°27'12.654" N 111°56'44.172" W // https://bit.ly/PPOasis

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Schnebly Hill View

If you can put up with the extensive bumps and rocking back and forth you’re going to be doing in your [high clearance off-road oriented] vehicle, Schnebly Hill Road has amazing views and plenty of areas to pull and enjoy them.

Location: 34°52'30.096" N 111°42'30.498" W // https://tinyurl.com/SchnblyHllRd

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Grayscale

The day this photo was taken was unfortunately overcast, giving the sky and ground a flat color profile. Even so, the view remained impressive, and it’s hard to comprehend the 20–30 million years it took for these buttes and spires to form. Just beyond the fence line sits the promontory known as John Ford Point. Director John Ford, famous for his Westerns, featured this overlook and Monument Valley in many of his films.

Location: 36°57'12.6" N 110°5'16.56" W // https://tinyurl.com/GryScale

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Wander

I did have a plan or a specific image in mind. I just looked out my window at home and figured it might be a decent sunset and the FOMO [fear of missing out] took it from there. We had also had a little bit of rain come through the area the day before and so far I haven’t been able to pass on a chance to get my 4Runner out and splash through some mud. I headed out to Gold Canyon again and found that one of “my spots” has been removed. I’m not sure if that is a permanent change or just for the time being but it forced me to a different trailhead then I was used to. I took a short hike down the Lost Gold Mine trail, keeping a very close eye and ear out for snakes as it was close to sunset, has been quite a bit warmer than usual lately and I know they are starting to be more active this time of year. The evening was peaceful and while clouds didn’t catch as much of the sunset as I would have liked the green of the desert from the recent rain stood well against the more muted tones of the rock face as a golden haze settled toward twilight.

Location: 33°23'32.088" N 111°21'20.172" W // https://bit.ly/GCpeaceful

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Solus

At the edge of night, and against all odds, a single tree grows through the stony ground on the edge of the Mogollon Rim, standing watch over the valley below.

Location: 34°22'45.15" N 111°4'2.886" W // https://bit.ly/soluscontramundum

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Blood Moon 2026

At 418am on Tuesday I found myself standing by the side of a road on the west side of the 202 grabbing a few frames of the total Lunar Eclipse. I worked that night and didn't have time to grab a better composition but the colors were still impressive.

Location: 33°20'2.622" N 112°11'21.438" W // https://tinyurl.com/rdmnrsing

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Apache Vista

The waters of the Salt River leave the deep waters of Roosevelt Lake, flowing through the dam and continue through steep canyons on the way to Phoenix and points west.

Location: 33°39'18.732" N 111°11'1.302" W // https://tinyurl.com/ApacheVista

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Dead Tree Point

A small dead tree stands along the edge of the Mogollon Rim with rolling waves of hills and mountains in the background.

Location: 34°22'47.676" N 111°3'57.684" W // https://bit.ly/deadtreeview

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Monument Valley

I took a roadtrip through northern Arizona with a friend from Wisconsin recently. Our northern most stop took us to the Utah/Arizona border and the giant stone statues of Monument Valley. We had planned to drive through the park close to sunset but missed the end of day cut off to do so. The weather wasn’t cooperating either with overcast skies providing very flat lighting conditions. As sunset approached, however, we noticed a small change in the clouds and decided to make a run to Forrest Gump point and were rewarded with just enough sunlight to add some depth to the scene.

Location: 37°06'02.15"N 109°59'31.51"W // https://bit.ly/FGPoint

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Blue

The blue hour fade stands in contrast to the dark branches of a tree in Papago Park.

Location: 33°27'19.254" N 111°56'37.512" W // https://bit.ly/bluhrpapago

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Airport View

I had the opportunity to get together with a friend I haven’t seen since high school. She was staying in Sedona and I love Sedona so I made the drive up to hang out, catch up and eat some good food. My friend wanted to watch the sunset from Airport View. I normally head to a different spot because the overlook near the airport tends to be crowded but this was her vacation not mine. As it turns out it was crowded at the top and we were a little behind the peak of sunset but Sedona, as always, did not disappoint.

Location: 34°51'12.102" N 111°47'24.204" W // https://bit.ly/apview

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Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot

This is the Apache Trail. It is a rugged 45 mile route stretching from Apache Junction to the Roosevelt Dam. Some of it is paved…much of it is not and it is not a journey for those with recent spinal fusions. This is not a technical trail, OnXOffroad rates it a 2…but that doesn’t apply to all vehicles as was learned by the driver of a semi-truck who attempted to follow his GPS down the washboard and across the narrow bridge that is out of sight just behind my 4Runner in this photo. Hopefully a lesson learned.

————————————— COMMENT ON RECENT EVENTS————————————-

Like most of the country, I was horrified at the recent killing of a fellow critical care nurse in Minnesota. To my fellow nurses. Try not to let despair and anguish over this event sap you of the strength you bring to every day. It took 6-7 armed agents to stop one Nurse from protecting a fellow human. There are 22,000 ICE Agents in this country…………………..there are over 4 Million of us. We will never stop caring for others.

Location: 33°31'29.27" N 111°18'23.89" W // https://bit.ly/ApacheTrailBridge

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Wide Open Spaces

It’s always good to try new things especially if you aren’t particularly good at them. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s going to go to plan. I thought I could focus blend this image to keep the cactus, the foreground, the mid-ground and the mountains all in focus. In theory the practice is relatively straightforward and Lightroom and Photoshop have some pretty powerful tools to help you out. In the end I wasn’t happy with the outcome and fell back on this frame taken with an extremely high f-stop, allowing for a very deep depth of field. Not as good from a technical standpoint as it could be but better than my fumblings with layers and masking would allow.

Location: 33°27'59.562" N 111°32'44.904" W // https://bit.ly/WideOSpaces

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9.5 Hours

So I was going to title this post Wolf Moon but apparently I was 9.5 hours early for the peak of this super moon event. According to the research I did the moon was essentially indestinguishable from a complete full super moon but I like to at least try and be accurate so here we are. I’ll call it SuperMoon adjacent.

Location: 33°27'10.524" N 111°56'43.02" W // https://bit.ly/almostsupermoon

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2025

"It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... let's go exploring!" 

- Bill Watterson [Calvin and Hobbes]

Happy New Year to you all and an enormous thank you to all who have supported me over the past year and beyond. I’m looking forward to all the frames fired and new adventures in 2026.

Location: 33°20'57.852" N 111°24'47.502" W //https://bit.ly/NYEPHX2025

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Petals of Winter

A towering saguaro cactus stands in the background as the petals of a brittlebush hang over the trail in Gold Canyon outside of Phoenix, AZ.

Location: 33°23'58.29" N 111°20'43.194" W // https://bit.ly/WinterPetals

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Days End

Above the valley floor a cactus sits in the post sunset glow just off the Peralta Trail in the Superstition wilderness. .

Location: 33°23'57.756" N 111°20'43.386" W // https://bit.ly/w1ldworld

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Sonoran Sunset

The setting sun highlights the stone walls of the Superstition Mountains and the cacti of nearby Gold Canyon.

Location: 33°20'57.918" N 111°24'47.814" W

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