Snow in the Desert

It snowed here in February. That isn't necessarily a surprising statement in other parts of the country (or world), but here in Tucson, snow at all is a rare occurrence, never mind snow that actually accumulates beyond the uppermost peaks of the mountain ranges. Here are some photos, mostly from Sabino Canyon, the day after the snowfall.

The snow retreated visibly up the mountain slopes as the morning wore on.

The saguaros look particularly incongruous with the snow.

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus)

The entire Catalina range. I wish this happened more often. It was so beautiful.

Petroglyphs!

One of the most interesting things about living in the Southwest--especially compared to other parts of the United States--is the visible prehistory. Petroglyphs are just one example; ruins such as Casa Grande or Montezuma Castle are just a few of the more famous sites in the region. Here are two less famous local petroglyphs sites within an hour of Tucson.

The first is Picture Rocks, on the grounds of the Redemptorist Renewal Center. Luckily, they don't mind visitors and will even point you in the right direction.

The petroglyphs are on a small hill and seem to cover most of the visible rock faces. Apparently, there are well over a hundred panels containing rock art, with the majority on the west-facing side of the hill.

 How many do you see?

It probably comes as no surprise that I have a particular soft spot for the zoomorphic ones.

The second site is just a little ways to the south in Saguaro National Park, on the Tucson Mountains (west) side, at a site called Signal Hill. It is an easy walk from a picnic area, but you can make it part of a longer hike if you wish.

This is the iconic spiral often pictured in association with Signal Hill. The spiral is a common petroglyph form, and actually even more broadly, it's a common motif in prehistoric art globally.

I think the hominoid-looking petroglyphs at Signal Hill are often overlooked because they're slightly separate from most of the others and best seen from a few hundred feet down the wash.

While the petroglyphs were, of course, spectacular, this flower also caught my eye. It's beautiful, slightly odd looking, and quite distinctive.

It was an easy one to identify: a lyreleaf jewelflower (Streptanthus carinatus), a member of the brassica family. And what a great name, huh?

Olympic National Park: Ruby Beach

Last December I got to spend a little time in Olympic National Park. I had been once before, but only up Hurricane Ridge; this time, we drove out to the coast. But first, we stopped briefly at Lake Crescent.

Then we headed out to Ruby Beach. A storm had just torn through the region, leaving much of the area without power for several hours to days. Although there was less debris washed up than we expected, it was still a bit chilly and blustery, with some fun waves.

We couldn't quite believe our eyes as we walked down onto the beach and saw...

A bald eagle pair!

I was particularly excited, as I hadn't seen a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in several years, and probably not more than one at the same time since a family trip to Alaska more than a decade ago.

 

This impressive whale bone was sitting on the beach.

While these birds were too far away to see clearly, they were presumably some type of cormorant (Phalacrocorax), given the wing-spreading, which is generally considered a wing-drying behavior, although it may have additional purposes.

The iconic view of the arch.

And to cap off a wonderful day, on the drive back, we had a nice surprise as we drove through Forks: a large herd of elk (Cervus canadensis) on the tiny airstrip. Unfortunately the late was fading, but I got a few shots that weren't too terribly blurry.