Bear Canyon - Seven Falls

[Dennis Ernst]

Creeks with fast running water are a rarity in dry southern Arizona. This year has been colder with normal rainfall. This made for some appreciable snow in the higher elevations feeding the creeks with more water than usual for this time of year.

Here are a few shots from a hike I did on Wednesday:









Enjoy!

Dennis

 

[Pete Askew]

Lovely stuff Dennis. I especially like the third shot, it has a great sense of scale.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

What a stunning location Dennis - loving the light you've captured, especially the final image with the cacti and falls

That's a clear air day you had - wonderful blue skies

 

[Dennis Ernst]

This is a place where we have over 300 clear days a year! It make it very tough to photo such contrasting light without having to resort to HDR. That was a perfect day with some clouds and even in the "blue sky pictures there were some high clouds near the sun, taking the harsh glare down a bit.

There are many wonderful canyon here but trying to be there for the right light is the essence of the game. Without some sun, the rocks loose their red-orange color and look rather bland but too much wash out very quickly.

This was the best day I've seen at that location where there was good flow in the creek, sun, but not too bright and before swarms of people show up.

 

[Paul Lange]

What a wonderful place and the photos have captured it well IMO. By the looks of it it seems like a place where you could walk for miles and see no one. I was surprised by the last post where you said swarms of people show up.

 

[Dennis Ernst]

Sabino and Bear Canyon's are some of the most popular hiking places in Tucson, AZ. I shot around the 10 or 15 people ahead of me. Going out we met 20 or 30 more going in. The water is quite warm and kids go up there to swim and the deeper holes. The weather this time of year is 40-85 for the most part so is rather nice. It won't be long before the snakes are out and then you could see one of 5-8 species of rattlesnakes.

There were a few wild flowers starting to bloom but it's a unusually cold year and they are running about two weeks behind. Attached are a couple shots of some of them

 

[Pete Askew]

Nice update Dennis, thanks.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Love the set. I especially like the lenticular clouds reflected in the pool in the first photo. Must be some big winds somewhere.

 

[Dennis Ernst]

Ralph,
You're right about the wind and the cloud. We usually don't get clouds at all unless the jet stream dips far to the south. The colliding warm/cold air mass can spawn some unusual formations that are driven by the jet stream winds.

I try to take advantage of every cloudy day as there is always the opportunity to get some unusual light.