trees | kritterspix

A Walk in the Woods

Posted on July 18, 2019August 4, 2019 by kritterspaw

Sometimes life gets busy. These days, that seems like all the time!

It’s at those times it is more important than ever, to get out and smell the roses, or in our case, the pine trees, wander through the woods, and take in the nature that abounds around us.

For us, that means getting out to the Rim. We took the time to indulge in a relaxing afternoon awestruck by the beauty of nature which brings abundant ferns back to an area that still shows signs of a charred earth.

The sun comes up and the moon rises every day regardless of what goes on in our day to day lives.

We should never get so busy as to not take notice of the beauty around us.

You can check out more forest and woods pix here…. https://kritterspaw.com/2019/08/04/relaxing-in-the-woods/

Grand Canyon North Rim, Bright Angel Point

Posted on October 5, 2018 by kritterspaw

Speaking of Grand Canyon North Rim… the most popular, and accessible trail is just outside of the Grand Canyon Lodge: Bright Angel Point.

The trail is paved and an easy walk to the point at the end, overlooking the vastness that is the Grand Canyon. It’s hard not to be awestruck by it’s majestic depth and beauty.

One takes pause to take it all in.

I loved the craggy trees along the trail that grew out of moldy rocks filled with character. These trees have grown and leaned in the wind and heard tales of generations who have walked past.

Morning Light

Posted on August 21, 2018August 21, 2018 by kritterspaw

We often head out to the rim for morning animal shots. It makes for a beautiful drive, and awesome scenery. If we’re lucky we see animals… and even luckier if I get a good shot.

This particular morning we saw NO animals… but we did get some moody light, that made for some interesting shots.

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The rain and dew provided cool back light opportunities.

I just loved the way the light streamed in between the trees. It created such a picturesque scene as we drove through our forest.

Rim Trees

Posted on August 19, 2017August 19, 2017 by kritterspaw

It seems like forever since we have been to the Rim, the Mogollon Rim, that is. I used to post photos from the Rim all the time, but life has been busy and we just haven’t taken the time.

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But last night was a great exception, and reminded us that we have to go out more often. Put the shovel down and just GO!

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We camped at an awesome spot off of Milk Ranch Road. The overlook was absolutely surreal. I even managed to get a few star pix.

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Buzzard Point

Posted on April 26, 2017 by kritterspaw

I have lived in Arizona most of my adult life. While I was born in Phoenix, I have moved around quite a bit… but settled into AZ when I went to college, and never left. I now live outside the big city, away from the traffic and the crazies. The biggest drama I have these days is the elk eating my tulips… or the deer pooping in my drive way… Or where to go for our outings.

We just got back from exploring some of the back roads outside of Flagstaff in the Woody Mountain Road (FR 213) region. This area has some amazing overlooks that just continue to amaze me with their stunning beauty. As long as I have lived in Arizona, I never tire of it’s wonderful vistas, stunning ridges, and deep canyons.

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This particular trip took us to Forest Road (FR) 792 outside of Flagstaff, and in particular Buzzard Ridge Point. The end of the road yields this stunning overlook that just takes your breath away…. simply amazing.

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Where there’s smoke there are pix

Posted on October 15, 2016October 30, 2016 by kritterspaw

I am finally taking heed of all that I have been reading, learning, and experiencing in taking all these pix. Go when inclement weather rules.

For years I thought anything but a blue sky was a disaster. Now, a blue sky makes me cringe. I am finally starting to get it… ‘hey, it’s raining… let’s go take pix’. ‘It’s snowing out, let’s go take pix.’. Crazy, right?! Those interesting, moody skies, make for … wait for it… interesting, moody shots.

Case in point, we are being inundated with smoke in our neighborhood thanks to the Forest Service. Their ‘prescribed burns’ are meant to help keep the fires at bay. I’m all for that… and can put up with some smokey air now and again to assure that our fire risk is abated. And as long as we’re getting smoke… let’s get pix.

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I had thought the smoke would diffuse the light and allow me to bring out my fall colors by isolating my subject. So we left early in the morning to see what we could capture. The fall colors were unaffected by the burns… but the early low sun streaming through the trees made for some interesting shots.

Rim Pix

Posted on May 23, 2016May 23, 2016 by kritterspaw

We have been trying to capture the Mogollon Rim. While it is a drop dead gorgeous landscape, it is so vast it is hard to capture. But we’re determined to build a collection of photos that do it justice. So be prepared… this is not the first, nor will it be the last post on this topic.

It has so very many faces, both in terms of blue blue skies… and storm clouds on the horizon. It’s got gnarly trees and craggy ridge lines. It has endless personalities with tons of character.

For us, it’s our all time FAVORITE place to have dinner. I don’t know what it is, but we’ll pack up a dinner and head out to the rim… and the food always tastes better. The scenery is surreal and of course, the company always fantastic.

And when we’re lucky… we even get visitors (of the furry kind). Last week we saw a bear. Too far away to photo, but a bear nonetheless. For us… that was a thrill.

May Day Snow

Posted on May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 by kritterspaw

When I wrote about Snow showers in my kritterspaw blog (here), I thought it was our last snow storm of the year. Phoenix, 2 hours south has already seen 90F days. Well, in the week since then Phoenix has seen 100F days, the calendar has rolled over to May, and we got another snow storm. Much to the delight of our visiting San Diego friends, we were treated with a magical day on the rim of light snow, fog, and cool weather conditions. The weather made for interesting photos and a great day.

We managed to grab an opening in the snow fall to stop for a glorious picnic as we watched the snow melt off the trees like pouring rain.

As the fog rolled in, the weather just got more mysterious, and along with it the photographic opportunities.

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While you couldn’t see the rim well, it brought an otherworldly eeriness to our outing.

It truly was a magical day. So glad we were able to enjoy it, and share it with friends.

Spring comes early

Posted on February 11, 2016February 11, 2016 by kritterspaw

We’ve only lived in the mountains with the snow for a few years (4 years this year). So we are still trying to figure out the weather patterns and such. I have no idea how you know when the snow is over, and Spring is on the way. But then neither do the weather forecasters.

We got our last snow just last week, on Groundhog Day of all things.

But since that snow, the animals have been coming out of hiding. We have seen deer and elk in the community, in the forest, and on the roads.

As I type this, I’m watching this little bunny hopping around our front yard looking for food. The chipmunks and squirrels are active… and the birds are coming back. The ground is alive with blue jays and the occasional yellow bird even.

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Yesterday we saw several wasps and bees make their first appearance.

We may have another dusting of snow still this winter… but it sure seems like the animals know something the rest of us don’t… Spring is coming.

February Snow

Posted on February 6, 2016February 6, 2016 by kritterspaw

We got a nice snowfall last week. It came down heavy most of the day. Not a good day to be on the road…. but we had business in Phx, so we made the trek. We took the big truck and trudged through the blizzardy snow coming down side ways.

It took us 3-1/2 hours to take a trip that should have taken us 2 hours, as we drove slow through the heavy snowfall… stopping along the way to pull out a couple desperate cars stuck in snow drifts.

Despite being a little harrowing, it was a beautiful drive… very scenic with the new fallen snow… a great opportunity to get some nice new snow pix.

Check out my Ice Whiskers post: kritterspaw.com