An Autumn Sunrise On Mt. Lemmon — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
Apache Beggarticks Wildflowers On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
As fall comes to Mt. Lemmon
The mixed conifer forest begins
To show its autumn colors as
Mountain wildflowers will remain
Until the winter snows start to fall
And Mt. Lemmon becomes a house
Without beams and walls.
— kenne
Aspen Trail On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
– Albert Camus
Monkeyflowers On Mt. Lemmon (June 11, 2021) — Image by kenne
— kenne
Marshall Gulch Parking Area
Aspen Trail (June 15, 2015)
Last year’s fires were followed by the driest year
On record, delaying the reclamation process
And trail clearing to provide for safe hiking
On the grayest powder covering the trails.
Images by kenne
Golden Columbine — Image by kenne
Nothing Gold Can Stay
— Robert Frost
Sunset — Image by kenne
Aspen Loop On Mt. Lemmon (08/02/13) — Image by kenne
— John Ashbery
“Written in 1948 when Ashbery was only 21 and a senior at Harvard College, this brief lyric has everything that his later, much longer, poems will advance. It is a love poem that never mentions love directly, but a feeling of being in love infuses the way the speaker sees, feels, and thinks about everything. It makes him feel both small and big, a tiny piece of a greater universe, but nonetheless connected to a world full of mystery and grandeur. A sense of the universe comes from gazing up at those huge trees from the ground while in love and remembering the immensity of that experience of feeling and thinking.” Source: Publishers Weekley
The SCVN Friday Nature Hike was Aspen Trail, Marshall Gulch Trail loop,
which would provide an opportunity to see the beautiful fall colors on Mt. Lemmon.
The Aspen Trail has a grove of aspens, which I blogged in a previous posting.
After hiking through the aspen grove, I began to get out in front of the nature hikers.
With less fall color on the remaining part of the Aspen Trail I decided to pick-up my pace.
I knew from past experience there would be plenty of fall color on the Marshall Gulch Trail.
I was aware that my buddies, Jim Thompson and Tom Markey, were hiking the trail;
hence, I might be able to catch up with them.
I first began hiking with Jim and Tom nine years ago. They were part of the Monday Morning Milers (MMM),
the first hiking group with which I started hiking.
Most of the MMM were lifetime hikers in southeast Arizona, many of whom were in their 80’s.
Jim recently celebrated his 90th birthday.
While Tom is a youngster like me, he’s 79.
Images by kenne
It seems, as one becomes older,
That the past has another pattern,
And ceases to be a mere sequence —
Or even development: the latter a partial fallacy
Encouraged by superficial notions of evolution,
Which becomes, in the popular mind,
A means of disowning the past.
The moments of happiness — not the sense of well-being,
Fruition, fulfillment, security or affection,
Or even a very good dinner, but the sudden illumination —
We had the experience but missed the meaning,
And approach to the meaning restores the experience
In a different form, beyond any meaning
We can assign to happiness.
— from “Four Quartets” by T. S. Eliot
Mt. Lemmon Fall Colors — Images by kenne
In June of 2003 for the Aspen Fire destroyed 85,000 acres on Mt. Lemmon,
located in the Santa Catalina Mountains.
Last Friday, we hiked the Aspen Trail,
part of which goes through some of the burned areas.
The aspens were among some of the first vegetation to return,
making these trees now about 15 years old.
Our hike was almost too late in the fall
since many of the aspens have already lost their leaves.
Quaking Aspens On Aspen Trail, Mt. Lemmon — Images by kenne
Swirling leaves,
Like erratic wings of butterflies,
shimmered, shook, slapped,
Simultaneously clapping as we passed.
Grace in the grove, the ticking,
whispering clatter of the breeze
Passing back and forth between worlds,
Spirit and sound merged together.
— from “Riding Through a Grove of Aspens” by Emily Dickinson
Late Blooming Wildflower On Mt. Lemmon — Image by kenne
While on Mt. Lemmon photographing fall colors over the weekend,
I spotted this beautiful blooming plant.
— kenne
Cooper’s Hawk Fledging In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
— kenne
Image by kenne
I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.
― Edna St. Vincent Millay
Grunge Art by kenne
— from Llanto by Philip Levine
Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly — Images by kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 