On the way home from a recent trip to western New Mexico and the White Mountains of Arizona, I stopped near the Gila River Bird area to spend the night. I stayed in this same spot about a year and a half ago (see Things that go bump in the night). At that time, the […]
Nighttime visitors Read More »
The monsoon season in southeastern Arizona extends from early July to late September, and usually means hot and humid weather with frequent thunderstorms. The thunderstorms seem to be the definition of chaotic systems, so you never quite know where they will appear or how much rain they will produce. This rainy season, an extension of
Monsoon Rearrangements Read More »
On my return trip from northern Nevada this summer, I made a stop in Yankee Meadow, just north of Brian Head Ski Area in Utah. From Parowan, we headed east, winding up a lovely canyon and passing some beautiful and dramatic red cliffs, which were sitting on a thick layer of blue-gray rock that looked
Dawn at Yankee Meadow Read More »
On my recent trip to Nevada, I spent a few quiet mornings along the Carson River, just outside of Carson City. The river was pretty low for this time of year, reflecting the low snowfall in the Sierras last winter. But during the hot spell that hit the area in July, the mornings on the
Lazy morning on the Carson River Read More »
It whispers, gurgles, laughs and chortles, this sliver of a creek flowing north from Mexico toward the Gila River. On this lovely day in April, the San Pedro River still flows through the sandy banks, but within a month or so it will begin to dry up, except for isolated pools and stretches near the
San Pedro River Soliloquy Read More »
River speech is a concatenation of murmurs and burbles, hisses and humming, snarls, chokes, whispered asides, and violent coughs. The voice of mountain water is always many voices, blended like the roar of the crowd, and although even before you think about it you know you can never tease those myriad elements apart, you keen
The dead-end river Read More »
The effects of the atmosphere on sound transmission can be quite profound. I found this out recently when I was recording along the Carson River, near Carson City, NV. I first set up my recorder along the river on December 28, 2012. It was lightly overcast, the temperature was in the mid-20s, and the ground
Bouncing off the sky Read More »
In mid May of this year, I headed over to the north end of the Gila Wilderness to do some camping and recording. A small column of smoke was visible in the general direction of the center of the wilderness, but I had read on the USFS website that some controlled burns were planned for
Before the Whitewater-Baldy Fire Read More »
On a recent trip to New Mexico, to do some recording and get out of the southern Arizona heat, I stopped by the Gila River to camp. I set up camp in a grove of large cottonwood trees, about 100 yards from the river. My dog, Shadow, and I spent the afternoon playing in the
Things that go bump in the night Read More »
In late May, 2011, I headed out to Apache Creek, New Mexico, to see out some petroglyphs (a hobby of mine). With me was a one-year-old English Shepherd that I adopted from a rescue agency just 2 months before, and this was his first camping trip. We arrived at the campground at Apache Creek in
Grey squirrel love song Read More »
