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!