Sky Island – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Rincon Flame: The Southwestern Paintbrush’s Desert Dance

Step into the Rincon Wilderness with me, where the Southwestern Paintbrush blooms amidst the ancient stones.

February 16, 2024December 11, 2023 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Discovery in the Rincon Wilderness

In the embrace of the Rincon Mountains, east of Tucson’s hum, lies the Rincon Wilderness, a tapestry of desert life and geological marvels. These mountains, one of the “Sky Island” ranges cradling the Tucson valley, are less rugged than their siblings, the Santa Catalinas and the Santa Ritas, offering a gentler invitation to explore their secrets.

Happy Valley Saddle’s Floral Jewel

Amidst the rugged beauty of Happy Valley, a hidden corner in the quilt of the Rincon Wilderness, a singular red-orange glow caught my eye. There, among the lichen-encrusted boulders, stood the Southwestern Paintbrush, Castilleja integra, its flamboyant bracts a fiery contrast to the muted greens and grays of its surroundings.

Portrait of a Parasite

This herbaceous perennial, with its soft downy coat, is a paradox, both painting the desert with life and leeching it from others as a hemi-parasite. Its roots, entwined with those of other desert dwellers, tell a tale of survival that’s as old as the hills themselves.

The Brushstrokes of Evolution

Each leaf, narrow and dusted with hairs, speaks to the adaptive artistry of nature, designed to conserve precious moisture. The flowers, with their extended blooming season and generous nectar, court the hummingbirds who dance between the blooms, pollinators in this ancient symbiosis.

A Symbiotic Canvas

The Southwestern Paintbrush, with its colorful allure, draws more than just winged admirers. Its presence among the rocks is a reminder of the complex ecological web of the Rincon Wilderness, a part of Saguaro National Park’s rich mosaic

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Copyright 2024 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Dragoon Ridge

Dragoon, not dragon

June 9, 2023June 8, 2023 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

Dragoon Mountains of southeastern Arizona are named, not for the resemblance of this ridge to the back of a Dragon, but for a type of soldier trained for horseback riding and infantry. These were the U.S. troops sent to “pacify” the Chiricahua Apache homeland.

Understanding location lighting is a matter of experience and luck.

Cochise Stronghold campsites are on the eastern slope of the Dragoons, sheltering them from the late afternoon sun.

One this day in April I explored the trails until sunset and was lucky enough to be setup for the 14 minutes of that day when the light was absolutely perfect.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Dragoon Spires

Lucky enough

June 8, 2023June 8, 2023 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Understanding location lighting is a matter of experience and luck.

Cochise Stronghold campsites are on the eastern slope of the Dragoons, sheltering them from the late afternoon sun.

One this day in April I explored the trails until sunset and was lucky enough to be setup for the 14 minutes of that day when the light was absolutely perfect.

“Dragoon Spires in Afternoon Light”

These photographs are from two days spent at Cochise Stronghold, a part of the U.S. Forest Service Coronado Forest managed by Arizona State Parks located off the Interstate 10 East of Tucson between Benson and Wilcox.

This rugged natural fortress was, for some 15 years, the home and base of operations for the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise. Cochise and about 1,000 of his followers, of whom some 250 were warriors, located here.

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Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans until 1861, when he became their implacable foe because of the blunder of a young U.S. Army officer, Lt. George Bascom. In that year, Cochise and several of his relatives had gone to an encampment of soldiers in order to deny the accusation that they had abducted a child from a ranch. The boy was later proved to have been kidnapped by another band of Apaches.

During the parley, Cochise and his followers were ordered held as hostages by Bascom, but Cochise managed to escape almost immediately by cutting a hole in a tent. Bascom later ordered the other Apache hostages hanged, and the embittered Cochise joined forces with Mangas Coloradas, his father-in-law, in a guerrilla struggle against the American army and settlers. The capture and murder of Mangas Coloradas in 1863 left Cochise as the Apache war chief. The U.S. Army captured him in 1871 and prepared to transfer the Chiricahua to a reservation hundreds of miles away, but he escaped again and renewed the resistance campaign. The following year after negotiating a new treaty with the help of Thomas Jeffords, the band was allowed to stay in their homeland.

Cochise is reputed to have been a master strategist and leader who was never conquered in battle. He died peacefully on the newly formed Chiricahua reservation in 1874. His son, Taza succeeded him as chief. Upon his death, he was secretly buried somewhere in or near his impregnable fortress. The exact location has never been revealed or determined.

The town of Cochise, Cochise County, the renowned geological feature known as Cochise’s Head in the Chiricahua Mountains, and the Stronghold are all named in tribute to him.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Cochise Stronghold Introduction

Campground is closed in June, July, and August due to the often-extreme heat

June 7, 2023June 6, 2023 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

“Idyllic Desert Landscape with Boulders”

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“Generations”

Here is the Cochise Stronghold information sign from the Douglas Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest.

The Dragoon Mountains are a low range that barely rises above the surrounding desert floor. Nevertheless, the granite boulders are spectacular and well worth visiting for the scenery alone. This mountain range is remote from cities or even any large towns, so visitation is light. Late fall, winter, and early spring are the best times to visit. Temperatures exceeding 100 degrees are common even in spring and fall. Cochise Stronghold Campground is closed in June, July, and August due to the often-extreme heat.

Safety First: Heat and low humidity are real hazards for people unfamiliar with desert climates. A person can loose up to 5 quarts of fluid a day and it is easy to become seriously dehydrated without realizing it, so drink plenty of fluids even if you do not feel very thirsty. Always carry extra water in your car. When going on a hike, even if a short one, take a day pack with water, snack foods, protective clothing, flashlight, first aid kit, compass, and map. To avoid sun in

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Cochise Spring

ancestral Apache land

June 5, 2023June 4, 2023 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Interstate 10 between Benson and Wilcox ascends through a field of enormous, eroded granite boulders. Off to the west are the Dragoon Mountains, otherwise known as “Cochise Stronghold.”

Starting from the campsite is the “Sky Islands Traverse” hiking trail, leading up into the mountains. I wandered from the trail to follow a dry streambed to this residual pool of water, the time being early spring, and this is what remained from the winter rains.

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A single butterfly of the genus Anthocharis generally called “Orangetip” for the colorful upper wing tips. These exist throughout the world, here in Arizona they migrate across the desert, obtaining refuge and nourishment from “Sky Islands” such as the Dragoon Mountains

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Cottonwood Shade in Pima Canyon

The cottonwood’s deep roots draw water from a mountain stream.

May 27, 2023May 26, 2023 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

Looking back down Pima Canyon on a spring morning plenty of green under the unrelenting sun.

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A large Fremont’s Cottonwood Offers shade and protection along the Pima Canyon Trail.

In the shade, a grapevine, offers a vain promise of grapes.

The cottonwood’s deep roots draw water from a mountain stream.

Native Americans in the Western United States and Mexico used parts of Frémont’s cottonwood variously for a medicine, in basket weaving, for tool making, and for musical instruments. The inner bark of Frémont’s cottonwood contains vitamin C and was chewed as an antiscorbutic – treatment for vitamin C deficiency. The bark and leaves could be used to make poultices to reduce inflammation or to treat wounds.

The Pima people of southern Arizona and northern Mexico lived along Sonoran Desert watercourses and used twigs from the tree in the fine and intricate baskets they wove. The Cahuilla people of southern California used the tree’s wood for tool making, the Pueblo peoples for drums, and the Lower Colorado River Quechan people in ritual cremations. The Hopi of Northeastern Arizona carve the root of the cottonwood to create kachina dolls.

Reference: Wikipedia “Fremont’s Cottonwood.”

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills

Cactus Blossoms in Pima Canyon

Delicate buds develop into a flower, and then, into a cactus tuna

May 26, 2023May 25, 2023 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

A set of photographs of buds and blossoms of the Prickly Pear Cactus taken in Pima Canyon of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness of the Catalina Mountains.

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Eight New Blossoms

Here are 8 flower bud growing from one cladode (pad). There is a 9th bud on a second cladode. What is interesting about these pads are the needle shadows. Although thin, each provides some protection from the sun.

Cactus Closeup

This delicate bud will develop into a flower and, then, into a cactus fruit (in spanish, tuna). The fruit retains those tiny spines, called glochids, which detach on the smallest contact. The pads are also covered with them.

Prickly pears are known for growing into thickets. The Cuban government created a “cactus curtain” of prickly pears around the Guantanamo naval base in the 1960’s, to prevent Cubans from escaping to refuge in the United States.

Cactus Flowers

Look closely at the anthers of these flowers. Each curls over when touched, depositing its pollen. The habit of prickly pears to grow together in thickets mean there are clusters of blossoms in springtime.

Copyright 2023 Michael Stephen Wills

Flowering Saguaros in Finger Rock Canyon

Some Fallen, Some Blessed

April 5, 2023April 4, 2023 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

My visit to Finger Rock Canyon of the Santa Catalina Mountains filled two mornings. On the first morning, the subject was the lower canyon as morning light filtered over the eastern ridge.

Early morning to the north / northwest looking over a 20-foot fallen Saguaro Cactus (Carnegiea gigantean), toward lower ridges of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The saguaro is among a stand of healthy fellows, some with new growth and flowers on the tips of arms and main columns. This giant must have grown over rock through 60 years. It was brought down when the roots weakened. Specimens that are more reliably rooted can live to 200 years.

A clump of brittlebush shrub (Encelia farinosa) grows from the same rock.

Pima Canyon is the next over, behind that near ridge which provides similar shade. Unlike Finger Rock Canyon, the Pima Canyon trail follows the western cliff and loses the shade much sooner. During our three-week trip, my wife, Pam, and I visited Pima in our first week.

These photos were taken between 6:20 and 7:00 am.

Along the trail I noticed a multitude of buds on the tip of selected saguaro arms. In a previous blog, there’s a photo of this same saguaro in the shade. The following series captures the one blossoming top just as the sun passes over the eastern, shadowing, ridge.

The same saguaro, two minutes later…….

Here is a portion of the saguaro forest, around 7 am with the lower canyon filled with light. There are a few foothill homes with west and southwest Tucson. The Tucson Mountains are in the distance.

Saguaro Flowers in Finger Rock Canyon

April Perfection

April 4, 2023April 3, 2023 MichaelStephenWills6 Comments

These photographs are a continuation of blogs from two days’ exploration of Finger Rock Canyon of the Santa Catalina Mountains, southern Arizona. Here we explore the nature of the Saguaro blossom.

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Saguaro flowers start as buds on the tip of the cactus body or arm. The specimen in the photograph below, growing in the yard of a foothills home on the border of federal land, is over 30 feet tall and, at the end of April 2011, buds are sprouting from every tip. Look closely for opening buds and full saguaro blossoms.

Flower buds grow only from some tips and around the center, along the sides, not from the point at the very end of the tip, from which the limb grows.

These buds first appeared mid-April and are here shown in the latter stages of maturity, prior to opening. Sometimes, the base of an arm weakens and the arm lowers close to the ground while remaining healthy. While descending the canyon I noticed this had happened to the arm of a particularly large specimen, an arm in full flower. This and the following photographs are from that arm.

I have read that each flower opens in the cool of the night and lasts only until the following afternoon. Here is a fully blossomed flower with a pair of opening buds.

And more, from a different view of the same arm.

A saguaro flower in full bloom, having opened the previous night. This flower will last a single day. It will wilt in the heat of a single afternoon and close. In this brief time, flying animals will pollinate it. You can see numerous honey bees on the flowers, in a previous blog, “Saguaro Flowers in Finger Rock Canyon.”

Cochise Stronghold and Moon

at dawn

March 29, 2023March 30, 2023 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

Interstate 10 between Benson and Wilcox ascends through a field of enormous, eroded granite boulders. Off to the west are the Dragoon Mountains, otherwise known as “Cochise Stronghold.” This rugged area served as a natural fortress and hideout for Apache Indians of the Chiricahua clan led by Cochise. He was born in this Dragoon Mountains about 1815. From 1869 to 1872 the Cochise band battled the U.S. Calvary because of the handling of an incident at Apache Pass about 30 miles east of here. It is believed that Cochise was buried somewhere in the Stronghold.

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One April morning, very early, on the road to Cochise Stronghold. We stopped everything for me to unload the equipment to capture a gibbous moon low in the west, grazing a hoodoo ridge of Cochise Stronghold of the Dragoon Mountains. Near Dragoon, Cochise County, Arizona