Winter Rains and High Water Over The Sabino Dam — Image by kenne
Now you see it, now you don’t is a good way of describing water in the desert. Just three weeks ago there was no water coming over the dam in Sabino Canyon. We had about an inch over the weekend with much more up in the mountains that will continue to cause flow over the dam for a while now.
Hooker’s Evening Primrose (December 12, 2016) — Image by kenne
It has been warmer than average for this time of year.
Except for a few small pools of water, Sabino Creek is dry.
Yet, above the Sabino Dam, a bee and I found this lone
Hooker’s Evening Primrose — a very pleasant surprise.
— kenne
Father and Sons — Computer Art by kenne
— Charles F. Kettering
Bluff Trail, Sabino Canyon Panorama (November 3, 2011) — Image by kenne
The Bluff trail is a short (.2 mile) easy hike from the Sabino Canyon creekside above the dam to the Canyon tram road. The trail winds down along the ridge west of lower canyon riparian area, a result of the stream running through the canyon.
“The stream is the mountain’s gift to the desert, but the mountain is a fickle gift-giver,” David Wentworth Lazaroff writes in his book, Sabino Canyon: The Life of a Southwestern Oasis. Calling the Sabino Creek a fickle gift-giver is a perfect metaphor for describing the flow variations from a daily surface flow to dry, created by an unpredictable desert climate. Still, the diversity of plant and animal live along the canyon stream is perfect for Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalists to provide educational experiences for children and adults.
More often than not, when I’m in the canyon area, I have a camera. Over the last five years, I have produced many canyon panoramas. The above image was one of my early ones, created in Photoshop by merging three images, which is sometimes tricky since I’m usually not carrying a tripod to make alinement much easier.
— kenne
— David Wentworth Lazaroff
This time of year if you are going to spend time in Sabino Canyon, it needs to be early in the morning. It doesn’t take long before the temperature can be in the triple digits — yes, this is Tucson, Arizona.
For a lot of us who love spending time outdoors and hiking, this time of year most of our time is spent up on Mt. Lemmon. Couple that with my trying to spend more time with Joy, except for checking the mail and an occasional meeting, I haven’t been in the canyon lately.
So, this morning after a little jog in the neighborhood, I headed over to Sabino Canyon where I went on an hour and a half hike in and effort to relieve my guilt.
We are still early in the desert monsoon season, so signs of the heat and dry air are everywhere. (Barrel cactus)
Sabino creek is dry . . .
. . . and the area above the dam looks like a beach.
Down stream from the dam rocks minis water flowing over and around them have taken on different colors.
Even so, there is still plenty of live in the canyon, here two squirrels are cooling themselves in the shade at the creek dam.
Here a busy ground squirrel checking me out before retreating into his cool den.
A late-blooming Saguaro can occasionally be found.
Desert Marigolds . . .
. . . attracting butterflies.
A gall produced by flies that inhabit creosote bushes.
An ocotillo leafed out from an early July rain.
Another ocotillo surrounded by prickly pear cactus whose fruit is beginning to turn red.
Prickly pear fruit.
Still, often under austere conditions, life goes on. (White–winged Dove)
The harshness of this land causes many to see the Sonoran desert to be a wasteland.
Those who have experienced the beauty of this amazing desert know it is not, but if left unprotected, it can become a man-made wasteland.
— kenne
— Marshall Trimble, Arizona: A Panoramic History of a Frontier State, 1977
Sabino Canyon Dam at Christmas Time — Computer Painting by kenne
Christmas time is when it’s the riparian zone of the Lower Sabino Canyon’s turn to display colorful leaves long since fallen at the higher elevations. Soon the colder night temperatures will hasten leaves departing their home for the last nine months. Officially, the desert winter has begun now hosting many species of migrating birds, which attract many nature lovers such as photographer and blogger, Henry Johnson. A few days ago he posted, “Sabino Canyon in December: Part I, Birds.”
kenne
Above Sabino Creek Dam (August 3, 2015) — Image by kenne
— kenne
