wild flower – Page 12 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

A Time for Rest

Enter the family name “Peralta”

August 25, 2022August 23, 2022 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Our eleven-mile trek from Apache Junction ended here between Black Top Mesa and Palamino Mountain. Peralta trail winds up the ridge to right with Weaver’s Needle beyond in the setting sun.

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Deep shade combined with the distant sunlit needle made for a difficult photographic capture. In fact, this picture needed significant work in Photoshop. I wore the 8 megapixel Sony F828 to capture the handheld shots of this series. A few days later I dropped the camera while riding Colorado, rendering it inoperable. This was when I acquired my Sony Alpha 700 during downtime in Phoenix. Later, the F828 was repaired at Sony and is still operable.

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Gold Dust Found

Desert Riches

August 24, 2022July 13, 2024 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

A few minutes after photographing this Stressed Mesquite I looked across the creek to the slope of volcanic rock fallen from the cliff of Black Top Mesa where clumps of dark yellow, in the following photograph of that cliff, mark clusters of flowering Mexican Poppies.

Mesquite, of the genus Prosopis, is a widespread, successful desert shrub that sometimes grows into a tree forms, as you see here. A mesquite tap root can extend 190 feet down to draw on the water table. East Boulder Creek was flowing, in this season, a few feet away. Still, this mesquite is stressed, with a loss of over half of its bark. Dutchman Trail between Black Top Mesa and Palamino Mountain, Superstition Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona

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Plentiful winter rains of 2008 trigged a profusion of Mexican Poppies throughout the Superstition Wilderness. Here is a photograph captured after our expedition.

Look carefully for a scattering of color, like gold dust, at the foot of the volcanic cliffs. That is spring blooms of Mexican Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica). This gold wonder is plentiful from the month of late February through April, varying with the rains.

Stressed Mesquite

Superstition Wilderness

August 23, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills1 Comment

Mesquite, of the genus Prosopis, is a widespread, successful desert shrub that sometimes grows into tree form, as you see here. A mesquite tap root can extend 190 feet down to draw on the water table.

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East Boulder Creek was flowing, in this season, a few feet away. Still, this mesquite is stressed, with a loss of over half of its bark. The ever-present Prickly Pear is in the middle distance. I prefer the image with the distant Weavers Needle, a neck of eroded volcanic rock, is brightened by the setting sun. To the left, the light-colored rock of Black Top Mesa is also of volcanic origin.

I am here on the Dutchman Trail between Black Top Mesa and Palamino Mountain, Superstition Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona.

Here is a gallery of post images, making comparison easier. All were taken with a handheld Sony F828. Walking without a pack make it possible for me to wear the camera.

Two Bar Mountain from trail 122 with corral made from mesquite trunks and barbed wire. Yucca and prickly pear in foreground.

References:

Black Top Mesa

Superstition Wilderness

August 22, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

The black basalt of the mesa, for which it is named, is just visible above the lighter colored alternating layers of ash and tuff all remnants of volcanic eruptions 15 to 29 million years ago. We are on the Dutchman trail with the slopes of Palamino Mountain on the right. Ahead, other members of the expedition are just visible.

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In this view the late afternoon shadow of Palamino Mountain reveals the defile to which we are headed. Poles of young Saguaro Cactus (Carnegiea gigantean), poke from the black basalt capping Black Top Mesa. Foreground left is Stag Horn Cholla (Cylindropuntia), on the right is Prickly Pear (Optuna).

Look carefully for a scattering of color, like gold dust, at the foot of the volcanic cliffs. That is spring blooms of Mexican Poppy (Eschscholtzia californica).

References:

Ridge

Superstition Wilderness

August 21, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Starting from the First Water Trailhead, the Dutchman trail leads over Parker Pass into a large basin at which the branches, East and West and Little, of Boulder Canyon meet.

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This southeast view is from the widest portion of the basin. You are looking toward Palamino Mountain and the top of Weavers Needle. There’s a path in there up to that Palamino Mountain ridge, note the hoodoos on right.

References:

Learn More About Hoodoos

Named For A Horse

with Aylor’s Arch

August 20, 2022April 13, 2024 MichaelStephenWills

Dutchman Trail turns right up ahead to proceed between Palamino Mountain and Black Top Mesa, both shown in this photograph. The ridge of the mountain reminds some of a horse and there is an arch, Aylor Arch, on the southern side: here was approach the north side. Aylor is the family name of gold prospectors who set up camp on that south side close to where we will spend the night below Weavers Needle.

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View of Palamino Mountain and Black Top Mesa from Dutchman’s trail.

Black Top Mesa is named for a layer of black basalt. Look closely to see the crags on the mesa (the flat-topped mountain) are black. Gold prospectors who combed Black Top Mesa over the years found not one speck of gold.

References:

Explore Aylor’s Arch

Looming

a deadly quest

August 14, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

O’Grady Canyon widens at the meeting with Little Boulder Canyon.

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Prickly Pear cactus is in foreground. In season these produce magnificent flowers, see below.

Prickly Pear flowers at the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum outside of Tucson, Arizona

East by Southeast a low ridge forms the west side of the canyons above which Weaver’s Needle looms. “Weavers Needle has played a significant role in the stories of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine. The Needle’s shadow reportedly indicates the location of a rich vein of gold, and many treasure hunters have searched for it. The hunt for gold around Weavers Needle has been pursued by hundreds (possibly thousands) of people. Weavers Needle has a large split in the side that makes it look like it has two tops, not one. This can only be viewed from the side.” — wikipedia

To the far left is Palamino Mountain.

Reference: wikipedia “Weavers Needle”

On The Dutchman Trail

to Parker Pass

August 7, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

Our expedition party on Dutchman Trail. Ahead is Parker Pass. Look carefully to pick out two horsemen and three horses packing equipment and supplies. They travelled much faster than my 3 – 4 miles per hour on foot.

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Ahead is Parker Pass, the opening between the two hills in the middle distance. Weaver’s Needle, 3.7 miles distant, at left above the Parker Pass ridge. You can still see my party, ahead. I “zoomed” in for a better view of the party, rapidly pulling ahead and out of sight.

As I top a rise my party is out of sight, more of Weaver’s Needle is visible on the right. The trail falls here before rising again to achieve Parker Pass. Distances on the Lost Dutchman trail are difficult to estimate, visible objectives are much farther then they appear. Constant sun, clear air, difficult terrain conspires against the unprepared leading many into overextending their luck. As a case in point, 37 minutes transpired between the second and third photographs.

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Headed Out

The Beginning

August 6, 2022August 21, 2022 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Dutchman’s trail, starting from First Water Trailhead, meanders through Sonoran Desert hills and washes, gradually climbing about 400 feet before descending into Boulder canyon.

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We were a party of three with five horses: two mounts and three pack. I was on foot, unencumbered by the usual backpack loaded with 80+ pounds of equipment and supplies for an extended wilderness expedition. I used the opportunity to wear a Sony F828 camera, used for the handheld photographs of this series.

The following photograph is our expedition party on First Water Trail. That is Parker Pass, the opening between the two hills in the middle distance. Look carefully to pick out two horsemen and three horses packing equipment and supplied. They travelled much faster than my 3 – 4 miles per hour on foot.

Foregrounds are the “jumping” Cholla, cactus with sharp spines that seem to reach out and grab the unwary. During out trek from Apache Junction to First Water trail head we negotiated forests of this nasty plants.

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Desert Chicory

Macro work on Peter’s Trail

August 1, 2022July 24, 2022 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

This is a type of daisy, formal name Rafinesquia neomexicana. This season, March 2008, it grew throughout the wilderness. You might know it as Plumeseed or New Mexico Plumeseed.

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