When I drive north out of Phoenix I always keep my eyes out for Mt. Humphrys. You can usually begin to see it well south of Flagstaff. Tuesday was no exception. The skies were blue and the mountain was white. I knew exactly what I wanted. The drawback, I saw the clouds moving in from the west. I needed to reach my spot before the clouds hit the mountain. As I got closer to Flagstaff I could see the snow being blown from the top of the mountain. The wind was pushing my Jeep all over the road. But my sense of urgency was growing. I really wanted this shot.
When I finally got to my meadow. If you are a regular reader/viewer then you know the one I mean. You have seen it at different seasons this year. Anyway, when I got there, stopped and opened my car door it was almost ripped from my hand. Winds gusts over 50 miles per hour. And cold! Very cold! Oh! And the meadow was covered with snow. Bonus shot. I opened the back door much more carefully and put on my heavy winter jacket. (Yes I do own a heavy winter jacket. That is a long story for another day.) Changed into my hiking boots. Made a quick decision about lens choice and tripod. And took off running across the snow covered meadow.
I could hear the laughter from the tourists who had stopped at the same point in the road as I had stopped. I could only imagine what I must have looked like to them. A man running in 18 inches of snow, against the wind, wearing a big sail, all while trying to attach my camera to the tripod. Tip: It's very important to remember to look up every once in a while in this situation. There are trees scattered around this meadow.
After everything, I managed to get exactly what I wanted. Plus so much more. This effort was going to be a big win.
The wind blowing the snow off the mountain and creating that cloud was beautiful. I did have to firmly hold the tripod in place. Although keeping from being blown away by the wind was a constant battle. After I had the shot that I wanted I started to play around with things like jacket zippers and boot laces. All the while wondering why my hat was still in the car.
And the wind kept the cloud on top of the mountain interesting.
I really wanted to stay and watch this develop more. But as I have mentioned I have a day job and I needed to get to it. So I got back on the highway and drove east. There isn't a lot to see between Flagstaff and west Tennessee on Interstate 40. But one of the things you really have to see is the Painted Desert. I took a few minutes and explored a spot I hadn't seen before. I found this old trail leading into the desert. I believe the sign said the trail was closed for repairs. The sign also needed repairs so it was difficult to read. I decided that if you can't read the warning that it must not be too terrible, so I went down it, just a little.
On the way home from Gallup yesterday I drove through freezing rain, a blizzard and the most beautiful fog. I watched a spot for about 20 miles looking for a place to exit the highway and head south. The fog kept getting more thick but I wanted this photo bad enough that I took the exit and turned down a dirt road. The road looked more like an unimproved driveway but I was determined. Through slushy mud and snow I continued closer to the rock formation I could no longer see. I finally grabbed my camera and tripod and ran out into a field. Too late! The fog had covered the rocks. All I managed to capture was a lot of mud, both outside and inside of my new car. A big lose. But the Jeep is now broke in.
