Camping

I love to camp out. There is something very grounding about being in the outdoors. It also offers the oppurtunity to take pictures which is often not possible in my work a day world. I met several friends and we camped on the Portal side of the Chirachua Mountains. Our recent rains have been very good for the forest, and although it was quite warm it was very green. We camped right beside Cave Creek and I was lulled to sleep every night by the sound of running water. No bad thing in my book. It is already begining to get chilly in the high country and the leaves are just starting to drop. This shot saya it all for me.

JPG Magazine

So I have entered another picture in the jpg magazine. You never know some one might think it is worth looking at

Summer Rain

I see in the news locations in the US where people are being overwhelmed by the amount of rain they are getting. We are getting some very significant amounts of rain here in Southeastern Arizona as well but it is not such a big problem for us - at least those of us lucky enough to live in Bisbee.

Bisbee was plagued with flooding from summer storms so in the early 1900's the city fathers build a huge ditch through town to cary off the flood waters. Bisbee is build down in a canyon which was already very flood prone and by creating a concrete walled channel to direct the runoff most of our flood problems became managable. We still have some areas that are problematic during heavy rains but for the most part they are related to newer construction.

One day last week I got caught up in one of those problems. US 80 which is the main road into town from the west suffered from a rock and mud slide during a brief but heavy summer storm. I personally had never seen that amount of rain 'over the divide'. I was stuck having to wait it out because I did not have enough gas to double back to Sierra Vista. Banning Creek which runs alongside US 80 was flowing at about 8 feet of depth and in some areas over 200 feet across of boiling muddy water full of tree limbs and rocks. I happened to be in the area two days after the event and the creek was back to its usual 1 foot of depth and 5 to 7 feet of width.

Rain in the desert is a blessing, even too much rain is a blessing and it never stays around too long. We are blessed with sandy soil that allows the water to soak in and here in the mountains it all runs off to lower deserts which usually don't get the same amount of rain as the higher elevations do. Its win-win.

It is also beautiful.