Scenes from Picacho Peak State Park

Earlier this week, I ventured out for a photo excursion to Picacho Peak State Park, accompanied by Alex Skoczen and Paul Staley.

Picacho Peak State Park is a state park surrounding Picacho Peak in Picacho, Arizona. Its centerpiece spire is visible from downtown Tucson, a distance of 45 miles. The summit rises to 3,374 feet above mean sea level.

It is known for the profusion of wildflowers around the base of the mountain, particularly in springtime. The purpose of our visit was to capture some colourful scenes, the harbinger of springtime in Arizona.

The first picture shows one of the shoulders of Picacho Peak, located on the peak’s northern flank. The foreground is very colourful with an abundance of brilliant yellow and green hues.

This scene shows the gap between the northern flank and the peak, with a very straight, upright Saguaro Cactus in the foreground. The Saguaro is surrounded by a bed of golden poppies.

This is a similar scene to the previous one, but I like this composition better.

The old remains of a tree caught my attention and I couldn’t resist a picture. Skeletal old trees are commonplace in the desert and make for interesting photo subjects (in my view anyway).

This scene was photographed looking eastward, with Pichaco Peak behind me. That’s Newman Peak in the background.

This is an entirely different view, facing away from the peak, in a southeasterly direction. The emphasis in this photograph is the flowers, primarily poppies but if you look carefully in the foreground you can see some purple lupine beginning to emerge. These colours are complementary hues on the colour wheel and should be much more striking as the lupines grow larger.

As you have no doubt noted, I have chosen photographs today that emphasize the brilliant colours of springtime in the desert. I’ll call it a day at this point, as not to be overly repetitive.

Please note the Pages section of my site, long overdue for an update. Have a look at the individual photographs by selecting each page separately in the border atop the title page. “Ancient Live Oak” for example.