I made plans months ago and received a permit to hike down the Grandview Trail to New Hance Rapids and on up the Red Canyon Trail. I had hiked this same route about 11 years ago, yet many things seemed unfamiliar and new. We were a group of 10 and spent two nights at the river. As  always, words can’t …

My wife and I try not to miss seeing the fall colors at West Fork just north of Sedona. Today, was the day we had open to make the trip. We arrived just after 9am to a full parking lot, so we drove another 1/2 mile up the highway to park on the shoulder. No big deal. I expected a …

It was a perfect day, warm, sunny, cool breezes, vivid fall colors…. and hiking with my beautiful wife! Need I say more? Here are some of my favorite photos. I can’t wait to get started on painting from some of these photos! trail framed by Aspens crunchy floor, earthy smells long morning shadows bright blue skies tall beauties enchanted forest Inner …

Here are some brand new paintings from the last couple months. Having art shows to exhibit in really is a good motivator to get new work done. I will be part of the Sedona Arts Festival on October 13-14, 2012 at the Sedona High School. The hours of operation both days are 9:00am to 4:00pm. Find me at booth B19 …

Our plan was to hike to Fossil Springs today. On the way, we saw a big sign that said Fossil Springs is closed. Denise called the hotline and found out that the AZ game and fish is removing non-native fish for most of the month. Our plan B became Horton Springs. Just 17 miles east of Payson, is an exit …

I wouldn’t normally pick Labor Day weekend to go camping because everyone else in the world has the same idea. I thought we could go near Williams being further away from Phoenix than Flagstaff or the Mogollon Rim. We drove to White Horse Lake, not wanting to camp there, and continued all the way to Sycamore Point to catch the sunset. We …

Oak Creek is full of life! This Sunday, it was teaming with people escaping the summer heat and cooling off in the chilly waters of Oak Creek. I particularly like finding abstracts in nature here. I found myself picking out these abstracts because I have recently started teaching Photo 1 at Yavapai College, which means I am lecturing on principles …

The day was overcast, rain threatened but it only sprinked briefly. The trailhead is via Sunset Trail off of Schultz Pass Road northwest of Flagstaff. The trail looped to the left through a couple year old burnout area and back up a steep hillside to descend back down through a lush forest. We experienced a 1,200 ft elevation change for …

Hurricane Ridge is just over 5,000 ft in elevation, about the same as Prescott. Hurricane Ridge had 36 feet of snow last winter, Prescott had (I guess) 12 inches. The flowers were plentiful, the air clear and blue. We were lucky to be able to see the entire range of mountains without the usual cloud cover. After wandering on Hurricane Hill, …

After a beautiful afternoon hiking in the rainforest, we drove to Rialto Beach to barbeque hotdogs and hike to the “hole in the rock”. It was a longer walk on the beach than it looked. It must have been one mile each way from the parking lot. Too bad, the tide was too high to walk through the hole in …