Granite Mountain Reflection, Prescott National Forest

Granite Mountain reflection on Granite Basin Lake

Morning light. Mountain light. Clear air after a spring snow storm. Synergy.

I drove west out of Prescott up into Granite Basin Recreation Area on the Prescott National Forest. It can be a very busy area on the weekend, being that close to town, but this wasn't the weekend. Ha.

A perfect early April morning in the Central Arizona Highlands. A mountain lake, Granite Lake, slowly undulating the mirror image of Granite Mountain and the clear blue Arizona sky.

Granite Mountain and Granite Basin Lake

Photo location: Granite Basin Recreation Area, Prescott National Forest, just west of Prescott, Arizona.

© Stephen J. Krieg | www.NaturalMoment.com

January Full Moonrise

Moonrise over Watson Lake and the Granite Dells, north of Prescott, Arizona

Another gorgeous Central Arizona Highlands evening, this time on the evening of the Full Moon.

Several miles north of Prescott along Highway 89 lies Watson Lake, a waterfowl rich reservoir formed by a dam on Granite Creek. Bordering the lake are the weird and beautiful rock formations known as the Granite Dells. To the east (upper right in this photo) lies Glassford Hill, an ancient volcano.

A warm January day (unseasonably warm, but so comfortable), calm winds. Using The Photographer's Ephemeris application, I could find out exactly when and in what compass direction (azimuth) the full moon would rise. This month it rose in the northeast at 70 degrees, which is 20 degrees north of straight East. The information allowed me to pick a spot with an enticing landscape, since tonight the moon would rise after sunset but before full dark.

Finally the moon peeked over Glassford Hill and, as the light faded, reflected off the surface of Watson Lake.

Clouds Make the Sunset

Photo: Sunset beams, Chino Valley, Arizona. [Click on image for larger version]

Sunset time. Always beautiful if there aren't too many clouds obscuring the western horizon. For the scenic photographer, though, no clouds at all makes for a relatively boring sunset. Why? Because the right kind of clouds, in the right location above the setting sun, reflect and intensify the colors. Too many  clouds, or too low on the horizon, cut off the sun's rays. At the other extreme, no clouds at all and it's merely a little yellow ball sinking out of sight. 

As this photo shows, it doesn't take many of the right kind of clouds to dramatically enhance the sunset colors. A few puffy clouds above the horizon and there you have it. The moisture in the sky made the sun's rays stream out into sunset beams, and the clouds acted as reflectors of the warm yellow colors.

Photo Location: Little Chino Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona.

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May Moonrise, Lonesome Valley

Today was full moon Friday, time for May's Full Moon. It would be "100% illuminated", as the scientists say, at about 9:30 PM. After dark, that is.

So, the time to make moonrise shots was around sunset time, before it got too dark. The moon would rise early enough to make it happen. Who cares, or could tell, that it would only be 99.999% illuminated at that time?

Lonesome Valley basalt butte and Granite Mountain (far horizon).

I was in place at the north end of Lonesome Valley, in the central highlands of Yavapai County, Arizona. The basalt buttes and the distant skyline of Granite Mountain provided a nice sunset light scenic to the southwest. 

Then, my attention was to the southeast, toward Mingus Mountain and the Black Hills, where the moon would appear. 

It was a calm, peaceful late spring evening, and nobody was around. The Earth's shadow made its familiar gradation from blue to pink. Then the moon began edging over the horizon of the mountains. Perfect. 

And it was. I made several exposures from wide angle, which showed the Earth's shadow colors better, to medium telephoto, with the mountains larger within the frame. 

Then it was time to go back to my studio and see how I did. Now you can see, too. 

High Desert Reading Room

A perfect May afternoon in the Central Arizona Highlands of Yavapai County: not just the trademark Arizona blue sky, but also featuring perfect cumulus clouds for an added, slowly changing treat. 

I pulled over at one my my favorite spots at the north end of Lonesome Valley. Time to kick back, drink some water, eat a snack, watch the afternoon go peacefully by. Savor and savor some more until the sunset hour arrived.

I was reading Ellsworth Kolb's Through the Grand Canyon From Wyoming to Mexico, the first person account of he and his brother Emery's famous river expedition that captured the first motion pictures of running the wild river, way back in 1911-12. Being professional photographers, their equipment was their life, especially on that hazardous trip.

Meanwhile, here I was about a hundred years later, with my jewel of a digital camera to photograph with on a lazy spring Saturday, about 80 miles south of Grand Canyon. I was in such a perfect spot that I actually took some of my photos from the cab of my pickup truck, while reading the book. Not exactly an expedition. Just incredibly satisfying.

Then I got the idea of shooting a panoramic image from inside the truck, using it as the frame to the scenery I was reveling in. Even a clip of video. To document my mobile reading room.

The Kolb brothers would have appreciated it, I'm sure. Get the shot, no matter how hard, or how easy.

Lonesome Valley Basalt Buttes

From the town of Chino Valley in the Central Arizona Highlands I drove east on Perkinsville Road for another sojourn into the hills at the north end of Lonesome Valley. 

A dry early spring. Little rain. Some of the high desert shrubs and forbs and wildflowers appearing, but overall the grasses seem to be waiting for some real moisture. Meanwhile, the blonde prairie grasses, dead since last summer, provided the soft straw yellow coverings to the land. 

The basalt lava buttes here have no names, so I have to make up my own. The double hump on the left is called Was A Pair, since the one hump is much more eroded than its twin. Behind them to the right is Nipple Butte, though it doesn't look like its namesake from this viewpoint. 

Photo location: Lonesome Valley, east of Chino Valley and north of Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona.

Moon Over the Black Hills

The Black Hills in Yavapai County form the eastern edge of the Prescott valley basin.

Here, from the northern end of Lonesome Valley, the Black Hills darken in the Earth's shadow just after sunset.

Yavapai County, near Chino Valley, Arizona.

Canyons Sunset Color Palette, Yavapai County

Cruising the back roads of northern Yavapai County, north of Prescott, Arizona. It’s early spring in the mile-high desert, that time of year between intermittent winter snows and the first plant growth of the season. 

East from Chino Valley on Perkinsville Road. A stop at the Verde River near the ghost town of Perkinsville (inaccessible to the public except by riding the Verde Canyon Railroad), then more wandering on the public National Forest roads. Lots of open country. Dry and dusty, but high and wide, too.
 
The photographers’ Golden Hour has arrived. I find a turnout on a ridge along the Perkinsville-Jerome Road. Clear views all around, but especially to the northeast, where the red rock cliffs west of Sedona are prominent. In the far distance the snow-capped San Francisco Peaks, about 80 miles away up at Flagstaff.

As the sun nears the horizon behind me, the color temperature warms the light on the scenery. The reds and pinks of the various rock layers, the dark greens of the juniper and pinon pine trees, the hazy blues and purples of the distant hills and mountains.

All is well. Sun below the horizon, warm colors extinguished. Cool dusk.

A bit more lingering, then the return drive home.

[Click on the photo to see a much larger, more detailed version]

From Chino

Mid March in mile high Yavapai County in the central Arizona highlands. Waiting for spring to arrive. Cruising the back roads, enjoying nature, open vistas, and freedom. 

South of Chino Valley I stopped at a scene partially overlooking a solar panel power generating station. Some storm clouds provided a beautiful palette of blues, grays, and whites against the sky, and bands of sunlight and shadow on the ground. 

On the far skyline is the lumpy silhouette of Bill Williams Mountain, up on the Coconino Plateau at Williams, Arizona.

Chino Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona

Another Moonrise

The nearly full moon rises above the winter-bare grasslands of Williamson Valley north of Prescott in late February 2013. The Earth's shadow just after sunset provides the blue-to-violet color gradation.

Williamson Valley, Yavapai County, Arizona.

February Foray, Arizona Desert Highlands

[Photo: US 89 from Desert Viewpoint on Yarnell Hill]

I decided to go on a little Saturday drive.

So I headed out of charming Prescott, Arizona's Mile High City*, on US 89. Up over the Ponderosa pine forested mountains south of town, and down the winding switchback highway into tiny Wilhoit. 

Not much there at all, but I liked it anyway, maybe just to be out of the snowy highlands for a while. I sure did like the view from the stone walled roadside overlook on the way down the mountain. There was enough haze to make the blue and purple desert mountain ranges to the west appear even more far off and mystical.

Continuing south and steadily lower in elevation, I enjoyed passing through the beautiful horse heaven of Peeples Valley, and down through quirky little old mining and ranching town of Yarnell, to Congress. I was down in the desert, with prickly pear, cholla, and even some saguaro cacti around. The relative warmth in late February felt and smelled especially spring-like. Sweet and relaxing.

[Photo: US Hwy 93 north of Congress, Arizona]

At that point I swung back north through the desert via US 93. This section of road is named the "Joshua Tree Forest Parkway of Arizona". Properly spelled Joshua-Tree because it's a large member of the yucca family rather than a true tree, there were plenty of these fascinating desert plants along both sides of the road.

[Photo: Moon and Joshua-Tree along US 93]

It was two days before the February Full Moon, which means it would rise over the eastern mountains well before sunset. And it did. 

[Photo: Moon over the desert mountains, about 5:15 PM]

I stopped along the highway to make some compositions with the mountains and the Joshua-Trees, along with an interesting ranch gateway. 

[Photo: Moon and DG Ranch Gate, US 93]

[Photo: Windmill and nearly full moon at sunset, State Route 97]

Leaving Highway 93 north onto State Route 97, I stopped just before the sun dipped behind the western mountains to pair the moon with a windmill pumping water into a water tank for cattle. 

[Photo: Dusk at the Santa Maria River]

Driving east in the dusk on S.R. 96, I crossed the Santa Maria River for the last photo of the day. After driving across the bridge, I parked so I could walk onto the bridge for my intended shot. A heron in silhouette flew south along the river toward wherever its roosting place was for the night.

Finally, it was more desert and canyon driving in the dark, then up over the mountains through the Prescott National Forest via Skull Valley, and back down into Prescott.

So my little drive had turned into a ten hour, 180 mile foray; not unusual for me. Have Camera, Will Travel.

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* That must make Flagstaff, 90 miles to the north and about 2,000 feet higher in elevation, Arizona's "Heck of a Lot Higher Than Prescott" City.

(Click on any photo to see a larger version.)

Locations: Yavapai County, central Arizona.