telepathic stuntman

Fossil Springs is a beautiful wilderness area in central Arizona, just outside the town of Strawberry. The fast running springs are located deep within a canyon and surrounded by a lush riparian habitat. As we drove north in the early evening, ominous clouds gathered and sputtered rain. Looking back, I should have realized this was [...]

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On Friday we rented a couple kayaks and headed to Goat Mountain, located in the Tonto National Forest on the north shore of Apache Lake. We were able to fit both of the twelve foot kayaks inside Big Blue! We arrived at the lake in the late afternoon, strapped our packs to the kayaks and [...]

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There’s a popular story around here about a man named Jacob Waltz, better known as “the Lost Dutchman”, who in 1891, while lying on his death bed, told a story of a gold mine that held untold riches. He had said that it laid deep within the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. Treasure hunters have [...]

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Sycamore Canyon drains a large area of the western Mogollon Rim and often floods during the spring snow melt. Our plan was to descend down to Sycamore Creek and follow it to Parsons Spring, about four  miles from the trailhead. The autumn colors were still stubbornly hanging on to their branches and provided a gorgeous [...]

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This weekend we explored Aravaipa Canyon, cutting through the Galiuro Mountains near Winkleman, Arizona. This is a classic desert riparian habitat for a wide variety of animals and plants and wow did we see them! As we entered the area, a family of Coatimundi marched across the road in front of us – members of [...]

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We have some absolutely gorgeous skies here in Arizona. Certainly lifts the spirits after a rough day!

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A couple of years ago, I walked across the Grand Canyon from rim to rim in 16 hours. We began on the South Rim at night and made our way across under a full moon, carrying only food and water and stopping only for a brief rest from time to time. It was an epic [...]

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We arrive at the Horton Creek trailhead at dusk. The plan is to hike up the side of the Mogollon Rim toward the mouth of Horton Spring, finding a suitable place to camp along the way. Conor and three of his friends are with me and Zach, one of the boy’s fathers, joins us as [...]

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“It’s going to be below freezing tonight, the trails are muddy, you need to pack out all waste including toilet paper and human waste and it’s supposed to rain today.” The Park Ranger looked across at me as though that should be sufficient to send me away. No way! This trip has been in the [...]

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I arrived at Bryce Canyon National Park late in the day after negotiating through a wild winter storm in Flagstaff and sandstorms throughout northern Arizona. It was bitter cold and icy snow flurries pelted Big Blue as I entered Red Canyon, about thirty minutes outside the park and the first view of the region’s colorful [...]

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My goal this weekend was to locate and document a wall of petroglyphs I had stumbled upon a couple years ago near Cherry Creek. My son and a couple of his friends loaded up Big Blue and we headed off toward Globe, Arizona. After about an hour of driving on a lumpy dirt road and [...]

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The latest public sculpture being erected in Phoenix, just a few blocks from my office. It will be 100 feet high and 100 feet wide and cost $2.4 million dollars. This giant floating net was imagined by artist Janet Echelman.

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On the day after Thanksgiving, Conor and I backpacked down into La Barge Canyon in the Superstition Wilderness, about an hour and a half east of Phoenix. The trail began at Canyon Lake under a sky that threatened to storm at any moment. The first hour was all uphill, leaving the panoramic view of the [...]

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Shrouded in fog and drizzle atop Castle Rock, this is one impressive and massive castle.

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When we began the hike it looked like we would be caught square in the middle of a big storm, but it moved past us on both sides, with raging rain and wind just barely touching us. Lightning and thunder in surround sound quickened our pace but the cooler temps at least spared us from [...]

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We spent three days hiking down to Tonto Creek through the Hellsgate Wilderness and man it was brutal! About fourteen miles roundtrip, but a lot of climbing and descending – about 4000 feet of elevation gain. The first day we hiked about six hours to the creek. Storms threatened and surrounded us for the entire [...]

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Just south of Page, a dramatic storm moves in.

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Sunrise this morning at approximately 5:45am.

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Woke at 4 this morning in hopes of catching the meteor shower, but it was too cloudy. Was able to capture a nice sunrise though!

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