Santa Catalina Mountains Panorama: Western View from Wasson Peak– Image by kenne
“The day warmed and on the margins of a steep ravine splitting the side of the mesa I found dry rocks to scramble up. I liked that about the desert. Morning snow and afternoon warmth, the winter equivalent of a spring freshet, but for which I had no word. In some ways, words were superfluous. They didn’t help—no words came to mind—as I pulled on a loose boulder and leaped awkwardly out of the way of its crashing descent, its delicate angle of repose inadvertently re-reposed. All the rocks in this ravine were similarly precarious, and I continued with greater care as the ravine steepened near the top of the mesa. I had lost sight of the ravens, and they of me. I had not spotted a bighorn sheep the entire day. I was pleased the boulder did not take me with it.”
— from 1/21/21 by David Jenkins
(Anthropologist David Jenkins is the author of Nature and Bureaucracy: The Wildness of Managed Landscapes (Routledge 2022). He has taught at MIT and Bates College and worked in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona. For the last dozen years, he has worked in public lands management, where he tries to do some good for the planet.
Cochise Stronghold is located west of Sunsites, Arizona, in the Dragoon Mountains at an elevation of 5,000 ft. This beautiful woodland area lies in a protective rampart of granite domes and sheer cliffs, once the refuge of the great Apache Chief, Cochise, and his people. Located within the Coronado National Forest, it is managed by the Douglas Ranger District. — Source: https://cochisestronghold.com/
I walk alone in the early morning heading up a canyon trail toward the mountains; the dust rises from my steps better defining the trail for hikers to follow. The saguaros along the trail reach the sky from the basin floor as hikers pass by soon to return to avoid the midday heat — what were you expecting? For the day does not hover, not even for a moment as the sun rises overhead, the scars of my hiking remain embedded in my thoughts refusing to grow feeble, just old.
The Tucson Mountains separate the Avra Valley and the Tucson Basin, which contain natural aquifers. Recharge basins have been placed in the Avra Valley, where Colorado River water is blended with the groundwater, providing water to the Tucson area. This panorama is at the west edge of the Tucson Mountains where the recharge basins can be seen in the distance.
Wild Burro Canyon In The Tortolita Mountains (March 12, 2012) — Panorama Created By Merging Three Photos By kenne
These mountains were home to the Hohokam (550 to 1540 A.D.) as evidenced by the amazing petroglyphs carved into rocks throughout the range. We also know that Spanish explorers sought mineral riches for their crown in the 1540s, and there was a short-lived mining boom in the 1860s.
Inland Empire (A metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California.) — Image by kenne
This image was created in June of 2009 by combining four images without using Photoshop photomerge, which is what I would do to create a panorama today.
Becoming is Superior to Being 