Category: National Parks

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Saguaro National Park — Christmas Eve

15-12-24 Saguaro NP (West) Signal Hill -003
A stroll to Signal Hill through an amazing Saguaro cactus forest. And what a fascinating sky to complete the picture.
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These saguaros are so interesting – they seem to have such individual personality.
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Oh look up there – on those rocks! This is the only angle you can see these carvings. So glad the light was just right!
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What are the meanings of these petroglyphs?
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Really a fun rock outcropping to experience.
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Changing shadows on the hike down. This is near a CCC camp and they built the picnic shelters using dead saguaro stems.
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Ho Ho Ho. This dead saguaro is setting the mood for tonight’s full moon concert. The rangers had hot chocolate and cookies for us – how nice is that!
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The back patio had solo guitar music while the sun was setting.
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And it was a very peaceful sunset – had to leave our chairs to wander around to the front to capture this image.
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A ranger played a Native American wooden flute while the full moon rose. It was so haunting and moving. Quite a memorable experience. Truly a unique way to experience a national park. We saw the first full moon of 2015 rise in Organ Pipe and the last here.
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Winter Solstice Sunset/Moonrise Hike — Saguaro NP

15-12-21 Saguaro NP (West) Wasson Peak Ranger Led Moonlight Hike -003 Pam
Ready for a 4 mile ranger led hike to the summit of Wasson Peak for sunset. It is a very comfortable 60 degrees for the 2-pm start time.
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The Saguaros have so much personality – as does the sky. I am the only photographer in the group so they are not wanting to wait for pictures – locals with too many pictures?
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This is the flavor of the day.
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Views of the distant mountains – Santa Catalinas North of Tucson.
15-12-21 Saguaro NP (West) Wasson Peak Ranger Led Moonlight Hike -010 Henry
Our hiking group. Freddie, the ranger on the right, was our leader with volunteer Don and Tim. Two women joined us making a party of The Magnificent Seven.
15-12-21 Saguaro NP (West) Wasson Peak Ranger Led Moonlight Hike -012 Henry
The moon is a few days from full but can be seen rising over the mountain. It will light our descent hike.
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Another picturesque view looking south.
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Northwest view from Wasson Peak of the setting sun hitting the landscape.
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Unbelievable! A toast to Winter Solstice and the beauty of the start of the longest night of the year.
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The cholla gives a sense of place to this Wasson Peak sunset shot.
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Hiking down the colors kept coming keeping us entertained for the first mile. The moon lit rest of the hike was so quiet and peaceful. Really special experience!

Last year’s sunset hike http://tealsky.com/2014/12/18/saguaro-national-park-west/

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Cochise Stronghold, Arizona

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Not sure if the weather will hold for us, we left the mountains and higher elevations for this nice dispersed location for two nights.
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We were rewarded with a nice sunset and good star gazing on the first night.
15-12-12 Cochise Stronghold Divide Hike -003 Henry
A little snow on the ground after an overnight storm but skies are clearing and it is looking like a promising day.
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Picturesque yucca with a dusting of snow.
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The “tank” at the 2 mile mark. A little bit more snow…
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Well maybe a lot more sow. This little agave’s architecture is so highlighted with the snow – really beautiful.
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Na-Na Na-Na Na-Na Na-Na BATMAN!
15-12-12 Cochise Stronghold Divide Hike -009 Pam
Da-DAh, We made our destination before the snow cloud socked us in and created a memorable, not pleasantly, afternoon and evening. Lots of pages read in our book but we were so glad we had gotten out for a hike!
15-12-13 Cochise Stronghold Sunrise -001
After that second night we woke up to bright skies and this water fall in the rocks behind our campsite. We are ready to take the back roads to our casita.

Our last visit to Cochise earlier this  year http://tealsky.com/2015/01/05/cochise-stronghold-national-forest/

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Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, New Mexico

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Leaving the Organ Mountains in the rear view mirror, we headed to El Paso, then Pancho Villa State Park museum for a history lesson, Rock City for a picnic lunch, and up the next mountain range to another National Monument.
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A late afternoon stroll to the Cliff Dwellings was the perfect time of day to experience the hike and the sunlight.
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The architecture is so fascinating. A volunteer guide was present to make sure we did not miss some of the details.
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Amazing stone work. This dwelling was not lived in for very long.
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A panorama of the setting sun over the wilderness. We spent the night in the campground and hiked another canyon in the morning.
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White Sands, New Mexico

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Gorgeous Panorama of beautiful White Sands National Monument.
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The undulating and shadowing was very picturesque.
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We hiked 6-miles or so and enjoyed the rippling pattern on the dunes.
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An Angle of Repose…
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So sculptural! This reminded us of a Henry Moore Reclining Figure.
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A Minion has landed. Always on the lookout for UFO’s in NM – ha!
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From one Minion to Another: Thinking of my great nephew and wishing him a very Happy Birthday!
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More Aliens on the horizon.
15-12-08 White Sands Missle Range -002 Henry
A full criminal back ground check allowed us access to the White Sand Missle Range museum – can you see our campsite in the distant mountains?
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Can you just catapult this into the air? They also had a V2 rocket inside of a building with explanations – building on some of the knowledge we gained in Los Alamos.
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A gorgeous sky. It was fun to photograph the Final Frontier.
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Organ Mountains, New Mexico

15-12-09 Aguirre CG Henry -001 Henry
We motored South with a stop at Bosque De Apache NWS for lunch with the cranes before setting up this campsite east of Las Cruces.
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Wine O’clock with a sunset view!
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A picturesque plateau for our tent that overlooks the White Sands in the distance.
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A morning sunrise – we were three nights/mornings in this camp.
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Morning sunrise – I’m Photographer while Barista is fixing the java.
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Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument, the hike to the historic camp from the visitor center.
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Some rugged and beautiful country. Our camp is on the other side of these Organ Mountains. We also explored the museum in Las Cruces to see the Permian Seacoast fossil castings from Prehistoric Trackways National Monument.
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Northern New Mexico

15-12-05 Los Alamos Mark's remodel Pam Henry
What a way to start our trip! We met up with Henry’s college buddy in Las Alamos to help with some remodeling. We did explore some of LA and spent the night reminiscing by the wood stove.
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A peaceful morning hike at Valles Caldera – a new addition to the National Park System as a Preserve from a ranch.
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Bandelier National Monument on a gorgeous winter afternoon
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A family of deer joined us on the hike – the littlest one the most curious.
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After a very welcoming night in Santa Fe with an nice dinner and morning frittata, we stopped for a hike at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.
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The rock formations were very fascinating.
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The Slot Canyons were a great place to greet the morning sun.
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Hiking the Lakes at Grand Teton NP

15-09 Grand Teton NP -111 - Taggart & Bradley Lakes
The hike to Taggart Lake – Friday afternoon after cheering up Jim in the morning – was short by all the previous hikes. We were not very energetic but it felt good to have a destination on what felt like a beautiful summer day.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -105 - Taggart & Bradley Lakes
The high temp today was 84 degrees with those fluffy summer clouds really fun to laze around and watch.
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We continued on the trail to Bradley Lake which looked the same but different. There was only one other quiet couple sharing this lake with us.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -102 - Henry Menors Ferry Snake River
Earlier at Snake River by the Menors Ferry for lunch rock.
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A pronghorn in Antelope Flats. Apparently there have never been antelope in N. America so this valley was mis-named and should have been called Pronghorn Flats. We came here in the morning for coffee and breakfast – we saw a herd of buffalo through the binoculars as well as a few deer.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -119 - Moonrise Mormon Row
Full moon rising at Mormon Row – the barn is being re-roofed so we looked for other creative shots that Ansel Adams would have appreciated.. The moon has been so bright this week – it has been shining on us like a friend.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -115 - Henry Jackson, WY
Saturday we spent the day in Jackson, WY.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -120 - Sunrise Grand Teton
Sunday morning we woke to much weather personality and wondered if our luck had run out. This is the sunrise view from the car as we enjoyed our coffee and breakfast.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -121 - Moose Visitor Center
We saw this Moose a lot at the Moose Visitor Center. The weather forecast didn’t seem too bad – and we had Joan’s dinner to look forward to –  their company and the lunar eclipse –  so decided that of course we would stay!
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We started hiking String Lake at the String Lake Picnic Area. It was calm and nicely a bit cooler as we were tiring of the hot days. Incredible reflections.
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String Lake in Autumn splendor.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -129 - Pam Leigh Lake
We went on to Leigh lake and enjoyed the tranquility of having the entire lake to ourselves!
15-09 Grand Teton NP -128 - Henry Leigh Lake
It was mostly cloudy with some sunshine – quick take the picture – and some very gentle rain drops to keep a quiet serenity around us.
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Kayakers adding a new dimension to the shadows of the reflections of String Lake.
15-09 Grand Teton NP -135 - Full Moon Setting Antelope Flats
We watched the super moon lunar eclipse Sunday night peak in and out of clouds, while comfortably appointed in J&J’s RV with an amazing cordon bleu variation for dinner. This was the moon on our early morning departure the next morning – our lasting memory of our experience in the Tetons.