Sunset Light, Antelope Hills

Early December "golden hour"  evening light on two of the old cinder cone volcanoes that are collectively called the Antelope Hills. These are on the Babbitt Ranches north of the San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff, in northern Arizona.

The summer's grasses and forbs have long since turned straw yellow, warming up nicely with the low angle of the sun. Some nice clouds accented the trademark Arizona blue sky.

Also see my Grand Canyon Photography Blog!

Down the Wash, Red Mountain

Hiking down the wash from the volcanic amphitheater at Red Mountain, Coconino National Forest (click on image for a larger version)

Red Mountain on the Coconino National Forest north of Flagstaff, Arizona is a million year old, thousand foot tall cinder cone volcano. Was, that is.

The U.S. Forest Service trail that accesses the amphitheater on the east side of the mountain drops down into the wash that drains it, on the final approach. You hike right up the wash. It's not as if you're trampling any vegetation, because desert washes are so inhospitable to vegetation. Any significant rains above become flash floods, small or large. 

Besides, the steep, loose, ever-eroding volcanic soil slopes on either side could not support a trail anyway.

SP Crater Volcano, Monsoon Green, Northern Arizona

[Photo: S P Crater Volcano, northern Arizona.
Click on picture for larger version.]

SP Crater is an 800 foot tall, 70,000 year old cinder cone volcano located about 25 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. It's located on the Babbitt Ranches land, but public access is granted. There are no signs indicating where to turn off of US Hwy 89. It's a flat dirt road that should be avoided when it's wet! Unless you enjoy being stuck out in the middle of nowhere. A beautiful nowhere, though.

I was out there recently because I enjoy the expansive views there on the very northern edge of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. There are over 600 identified cinder cones in this 50-mile wide swath of old volcanoes, but most of them to the south are much older, more eroded, and often heavily forested, somewhat disguising their origins.

This view from the south side of SP does not show one of its most amazing features: a four mile long, 80 foot tall lava flow that spreads out across the landscape. But this view does show how much older the cone to the left is in comparison to SP, which is partially covering its flank.

Our recent, and bountiful, monsoon season rains had the ranch land verdant with tall grasses and wildflowers. There were plenty of Babbitt cattle slowly wandering around, but the sheer lushness of the grasses seemed as if no amount of cattle could eat but a small amount of it. It looked like a rancher's heaven.

You might also be interested in my Grand Canyon Photography blog.

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