From the highest peak in the Tucson Mountains

I've been back in the classroom for a couple of days now...

Last Thursday, though, on a clear cold morning, I went for a hike in the Tucson Mountains. On the western edge of the city, this the lowest mountain range in the area, but from its highest point, Wasson Peak, you get 360-degree views over the entire area: city, wilderness and more peaks on the far horizons.

Water, sunscreen, and iphone...

it's a 7-mile round-trip desert hike with about a two-thousand-foot elevation gain.

(Do NOT do this hike in the summer; there is NO shade...but perfect from late fall through early spring.)

About 2/3 of the way up, this is the view toward the SW,

across the agricultural land of the Tohono O'odham nation,

toward Baboquivari Peak,

the 'navel of the world' in their native cosmology:

No shortage of cholla cactus along the rocky trail...

Here, looking south down the mountain range

toward the distant Santa Rita Mountains.

I played with the 'dark 1' option in the 'drama' filters for the scene above,

then with the black-and-white filter for the version below,

adjusting the white balance in the 'tune image' filter;

I like the imperfection of the flare, shooting

directly into the low sun...

...approaching the summit on the left:

(seven photos fused together with the AutoStitch app)

 Finally, at the peak--4687ft/1429m...

looking off to the NNW toward Picacho Peak...

Not as lofty as the 9000+ ft. peaks in the Santa Catalinas and the Rincons, but still high enough to feel on top of the world...

Below,
--looking NORTH toward the Tortolita Mtns
--looking from the NE to the E toward the Santa Catalina Mtns, across Oro Valley & Tucson
--looking SOUTH down the Tucson Mtns toward the distant Santa Rita Mtns
--looking toward the WEST across the Avra Valley

(made with PicFrame app)

And finally, one more saguaro-studded scene,

using 'tilt-shift' & one of the relatively new 'retrolux' filters:

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Incidentally, in the January NIK software newsletter,

in the "Spotlight on Snapseed" section

THIS blog is featured...

Thanks, NIK!

2013, day one: deer and snowcapped mountains

The first of the year dawned bright and cold here in southern Arizona. With yesterday's clouds lifting overnight, we woke up to freshly snowcapped Santa Catalina Mountains on the horizon; a perfect winter morning in the desert...a perfect day for my wife and I to take a hike. 

We weren't on the trail for five minutes yet, when:

...and then the deer practically pranced across our trail: 

...stopped to pick a fruit from a barrel cactus: 

 ...a bit of chewing:

...and finally, off to graze elsewhere:

A perfect winter day:

snowcapped Thimble Peak

above the cottonwoods in Sabino Canyon,

still hanging on to the last of last autumn's color:

Hiking boots, a bottle of water, some sunscreen...and the iPhone--all you need...

Pacific NW--city and mountain scenes

Got back five days ago from a visit to Seattle; also spent some time hiking in the Cascades...Here are some snapseeded iPhone shots of city and mountain:

--breakfast scene at The Crumpet Shop: 

 --iconic Pike Place Market scene:

 --summer in the Pacific NW means cherries:

--eat breakfast under a boat, Portage Bay Café:

--kayaking in Portage Bay, dodging boat draft, darting under bridges, being a polite voyeur around houseboats:

--Phnom Penh, my favorite Cambodian restaurant in the Chinatown/International District:

(above and below, using the "PicFrame" app)

--are those hashtags on this totemic headpiece in front of the Burke Museum?

Now...

out of the city...

--hiking the trail along Elliott Creek up to Goat Lake in the Central Cascades:

--Cadet Peak, reflected in Goat Lake:

Below, the 'before-shot' really shows what the snapseed app can do in order to mimic correcting the exposure in an iPhone shot:

--three iPhone photos stitched together (using the AutoStitch app) for a panorama of Goat Lake:

 --playing with the reflection in the clear lake, when the breeze died down, for an almost-mirror-like scene:

--Big Four Mountain and the Stillaguamish River:

Another 'before'-scene--this showing Mt. Stuart from the trail up to Lake Colchuck:

Too dark.

Below--'extreme' snapseeding of the same scene: 

--back to less extreme editing,
Aasgard Pass above Lake Colchuck:

--facing Dragontail Peak above the glaciallly-colored lake:

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Flying from Arizona to Washington, your plane is most likely going to go over the Grand Canyon;

get a window seat if at all possible;

even from thirty-some-thousand feet above,

the chasms seem endless:

...and finally, back to Tucson. Driving around town earlier today, this house caught my eye--so, adobe doesn't have to be earth-toned: