Tonto Exploration Day

Tonto National Forest has just so much to explore and enjoy. Pick a random spot on the map, go there, and prepare to be amazed.
Just don't forget your Tonto Pass! (which can really be a pain for motorcycles...)

Arriving at today hiking area.

 Nothing beats a nice cool autumn ride to your destination out in the wilderness. Out from the congested roads filled with traffic, and crazy city drivers. Once I got out of the main city, happiness soon set in. I think Rose enjoyed the winding roads, and the hilly climbs a bit to much today. She seemed to want to keep going, but we arrived at our destination. And today, it's hill exploring day!

One of my favorite movies as a child, strange as it probably sounds, was The Sound of Music, and like that one song says, climb every mountain. Have you ever looked at a mountain and wonder what laid beyond it's peaks? I wound up hiking up, trail blazing a few deer trails up surrounding hills I had been wondering that very question for quite some time. I was not disappointed.

 The weather wasn't quite as moody as I'd hoped it would have been, we had some remnants of a hurricane to the far south just the other day. This trip was more of a scouting adventure for me. Some spots I plan to return to someday when weather and mood open an opportunity for something a bit more dramatic.
Much to my surprise, I did not run into a single snake! Not sure if that was a good or bad thing, as rattle snakes are very common in this area. They may be done for the year though. Spring time you can always bet to find at least two lurking under some bush. The views sure were impressive. The more you get out and the more you learn, I find if fun, seeing a new mountain I recognize off in the distance. Roll back a few years and I'd have just been, neat, another mountain off in the distance.

Up another hill!

After a few hills I found myself thinking I was in a pretty remote place. Relaxing on the side of a large rock. I noticed some old glass bottles and cans scattered around. Further down, ammo shells, and more signs up human activity.
To me, this is always a sad discovery. Finding signs of trash is just sad. If you can bring it all the way out there, surely, one can be responsible and bring what was brought with, all the way back, right? Yet another sad thing when common sense just is ignored. Anyway, my garbage rant weighted a bit upon me. And to spare the reader a longer novel here, I began my hike back after an enjoyable stay up in the hills.
I'm already planning my next visit with some photographic inspiration I got from this adventurous trip.

Sedona Monsoon

Nothing quite like a hiking adventure in Sedona, what could possibly be better? How about a Monsoon storm that's rolling through.

Courthouse Rock

After getting my "Red Rock Parking Pass" for the day. I headed over to Bell Rock, where I met up with Val. All set and ready for an amazing hiking time in Sedona. Light drizzles showered us, when suddenly, Val said, "I hear water!" off we went to find where the roaring sound of water was coming from. Prior to the hike the area received some serious heavy rains that flooded out part of the area.
To our amazement, one of the washes was flowing with a lot of water.

 
Later in the day, we were rocked by some crazy humidity that seemed to have a personal grudge, to make this hike the most miserable ever, with no wind to cool anything down in the least. Except for a most welcome occasional breeze that lasted for but a second, making life good once again. The sound of thunder would crack every once in a while, far off in the distance.

Muddy Waters

Once more we found ourselves at some running water, that looked more like a mud slurry from one of my rock tumblers after it's been tumbling for a week. Still a beauty to behold, the colors of red and greens from the local plants all seemed to dance in a nice harmonious fashion.
 

Sun starting to go down in the area.

 
Eventually, we wound up at Midgley Bridge, doing a bit of exploring around some of the many trails to be found in this area. The Midgley Bridge loop is a pretty quick trail 30 minutes at the most? I actually lost track of time it was so quick. Offering some amazing views of the canyon below, Hiking back to check the other side while there was still some day light left, just in time to watch a rather blueish-pink sunset. Seemed like the perfect way to end such an amazing day.

Sunset!

Already can't wait for my next trip to Sedona!

Arizona Monsoon Hike

Welcome, and thank you for taking the time to stop by and check out my newly created blog! Pretty excited about this. I plan on writing about my journeys and adventures throughout Arizona, and in those rare cases, beyond!
Every adventure has to start somewhere though. Road trips, hiking, and random outings, is anything truly planned? Not here! When ever I plan, things never seem to take off as planned. I hope to display some of the amazing beauty that can be found with in Arizona, spend time out in the wild reflecting on life, or just taking that road trip with good friends to some random place.
So, thanks again for stopping by! Without readers like you, this type of project is lost.

On to the main events! So to speak.

Earlier this week, I managed to be quite lucky and get a day off from work during a storm that was blowing through the state. Grabbing my camera and packing up, I hit the road north of Phoenix. Looked good, not a single speck of blue sky to be seen in all directions. It don't get much better then this I thought to myself.

No rain, but a few scattered thunderous booms and some daytime lightning spattered the sky with brilliant shades of gray. I decided to challenge myself to shooting primarily in black and white on today's adventure. Something a bit different perhaps for me. I find black and white forces me to take a little more time in setting up my shots, then my colored variations. Getting those nice shadows and white contrasts framed up into something of some interest is part of the fun.

Later on, during my 8 mile hike around northern Phoenix area I encountered an abundance of wildlife, that had either been rained out from the rain that started around 1p and did not  start to let up till 4p. A lot of rain! And a lot of wet critters.

Perhaps, not a happy camper with rain.

Encountered one rattlesnake in particular that grabbed my attention. He was coiled up covered in drops of rain. Very little seemed to phase the guy as he allowed me to snap his photo. After a brief chat together, we both departed on our ways. Safe travels to you little snake!

Not further then soon after, I encountered another snake!

Gopher Snake

 This time it was a little young gopher snake, and boy, was he camera shy. Hiding his head for a bit, then he decided, nope! And bolted under a rock shortly after I snapped this photo. He sure moved like the wind, gone in a flash.
The nice thing about snake encounters, is that they're more afraid of you, then you probably are of them. They won't hesitate to flee away. Give them their space, and life is good.

The sun was slowly setting on this hike, and as will most days, the sad part of wandering back began to set in. As if perfect timing the sky actually began to open up off in the west, and low clouds began to roll in. Blanketing the mountain sides like fuzzy cotton puffs.  I usually don't see clouds this low, except for during winter season. This being probably one of the last rainy storms of the monsoon season, seemed to be a nice beautiful fitting end.

Sky breaks!

 On my ride home, during the last of light a really nice vibrant rainbow appeared. Sadly, my luck as usual, I was unable to pull over to really frame anything up to shoot it with. It sure didn't stick around long, and twilight began to settle in shortly after. Ending such a wonderful day.

The hike back didn't disappoint!