Visit to Winslow Arizona

A few days ago, Barry Stewart and I traveled to the area of Winslow, Arizona, located an hour east of Flagstaff along I-40. We had two main goals; the Grand Falls of Arizona and the Milky Way.

The Grand Falls are situated near the community of Leupp, northeast of Flagstaff. They are unique in two ways. The water is very muddy and flows only a few days every year, mostly in the spring. Before going there, we monitor the water flow in the Little Colorado River, measured upstream near Winslow. This information is available on the website of the US Geological Survey. The transit time for the water to reach the falls is about two days. When we see the flow peaking, we know we have two days to get onsite to capture the pictures.

In this instance, we planned two visits, one en route to Winslow and one on our return home. We arrived at Winslow a day after seeing a measured peak flow. The following photograph was captured at that time, a little ahead of when we expected to see the surge reach the falls. Here’s how it looked.

This is how it looked the next day on our return home. It would appear from these two photos that the flow has increased a day later, although a comparison to other photos would suggest it’s not that different. In any event, we had good conditions on both days and we were pleased with the photographs we were able to get.

I also took this side view for a different perspective, including the canyon carrying the Little Colorado’s flow westward to where it joins the Colorado River at the Grand Canyon.

Before leaving the area on our second day, I couldn’t resist this vista looking west. The snow clad mountain is Humphrey’s Peak

While we were in Winslow, we also took the opportunity to do a little tourism, visiting the corner celebrated in the Eagles’ hit single from 1972, Take It Easy.

🎶Well, I’m a standing on a corner 
in Winslow, Arizona 
and such a fine sight to see 
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed 
Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me.🎶

This photograph captures the “Standin’ on the Corner Park” and features two sculptures, possibly representing the song’s writers (although it is not so stated).

Parked nearby is a flatbed Ford, vintage 1960.

My final image for today is my favourite of the photographs we took of the Milky Way from a location called “Mushroom Village”, just south of Winslow. Presumably this interesting moniker refers to the rocks scattered around the immediate area.

This photograph was taken just after 5:00 am and shortly before we left for our night’s lodging. It was cold, 27 deg F (-3 deg C) and after being outside for most of 2-1/2 hours, it was good to return to the warmth of Barry’s car.