To the Top of Mt. Lemmon

Beginning Ascent of Mt. Lemmon - Tucson in Background

City of Tucson in Background © 2011 Bo Mackison

Another one of my challenges was checked off the list yesterday–a drive to the top of Mt Lemmon in the heart of Tucson. At 9,157 feet high, it is the tallest mountain surrounding Tucson. It also offers a totally different climate experience compared to Tucson. Tuscon gets 15″ or less of precipitation annually; Mt. Lemmon gets 180″ of snow.

I began the ascent of the mountain in the Sonoran Desert habitat and as I climbed out of the foothills of Tucson, I passed habitats ranging from desert to aspen forest, an experience one duplicates by traveling from the US/Mexico border to the US/Canada border. And I did it driving on the Catalina Highway, ascending over 7ooo’ while driving about an hour.

Molina Canyon Vista - Mt. Lemmon

Molina Canyon Vista © 2011 Bo Mackison

The drive begins in the desert, then climbs into an area that has pinon and juniper trees, eventually reaching fir trees, and finally, at the top, there is an aspen forest. The road is now designated as the Sky Island Parkway, part of the US Scenic Highway system and is in the National Coronado Forest.

There are dozens of trails that criss-cross the mountain, many picnic areas, several campgrounds, even a lake for the fisherman in the group. If you are there when there is a good snow base, there is skiing at Ski Valley.

Hoodoos on Mt. Lemmon

Hoodoos on Mt. Lemmon © 2011 Bo Mackison

Mt Lemmon is one of the Sky Islands, regions of isolated, forested mountains surrounded by seas of grassland found mostly in southern Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Sonora, Mexico. These series of mountains, 40 in total, are unparalleled for their biological diversity, as they combine four different geographic zones in each sky mountain area.

The Sonoran Desert’s most eastern range ends in these mountains; the Chihuahuan Deserts most western range does likewise. The Rocky Mountain geological zone extends this far to the south; The Sierra Madran zone extends this far to the North. Four geographic zones intersect in the land of sky mountains.

84˚ in Tucson, 52˚ on Mt. Lemmon

84˚ in Tucson, 52˚ on Mt. Lemmon © 2011 Bo Mackison

I left the  city of Tucson and it was 84˚ and sunny. An hour later, I reached the town of Summerhaven near the summit of Mt Lemmon and it was 52˚F and cloudy. After driving another hour,  descending the mountain, it was 86˚ F and mostly sunny.

Bear Crossing

Bear Crossing © 2011 Bo Mackison

Oh, there were warning signs for bear crossings, but I didn’t see any bear. There were lots of humans hiking the trails, a few deer watching from the forest, some folks I spoke to as we photographed the scenery from a pullout swore they saw a bobcat or an ocelot, but their eyes must have been younger than mine for I saw nothing.

It was a lovely drive, I successfully fulfilled my mountain drive challenge, and I discovered another sky island–this one in the middle of a city.

I love sky islands — I have hiked several including Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona, Patagonia in southern Arizona,  and Madera Canyon south of Tucson.

They are magical places, a chance to see many habitats, and the plants and creatures that live in those habitats, in a day’s vertical drive. Places worth protecting.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  And I discovered that I love sky islands.

In the Desert – A Journal Writing Discovery

Florals and Cactus

Desert Marigold © 2011 Bo Mackison

The spring flowers are showing a few blossoms. It’s been a quiet season for spring flowers–first there wasn’t enough moisture last autumn and winter and then there was a hard freeze in late January. So these are the first of the flowers I’ve seen. I’ve tentatively identified them as Desert Marigolds. The background is a saguaro cactus.

Now that I’ve been in Arizona a month, I am slowing down my pace a bit. At first, everything I saw was new to me and I carried my camera everywhere. I took hundreds of photos a day. That’s not unusual for me to take that many photos on a shoot, but it’s hard to process that many shots when I’m doing it every day. Plus it makes life too hectic. Still,  I want to capture as much of this experience as I can.

I’ve discovered a solution. I add a half hour of quiet observation and nature writing to my day. Today after I took photographs near Saguaro National Park, I pulled into a picnic area that was quite deserted. The picnic sites were built by the CCC in the 1930s; the tables and benches were made of stone and concrete, probably the sturdiest picnic site I’ve ever seen.

I sat on one of the benches and just watched and listened. After awhile I wrote some notes in my journal.

Noon. 84˚F. Sus Picnic Area, Saguaro National Park, Tucson Mountain Unit west of the city.

Bright blue skies, no clouds, slight breeze. Hawks are circling the tops of the mountains, flying from peak to peak. They don’t appear to be hunting, even though they are on the look out for movement in the desert below them. Indeed, it looks like they are riding the wind currents, more like play than work. Dipping, soaring, then they flap their wings, strong strokes. Then they dip, soar, repeat.

I recognize none of the sounds I hear, except, of course, the wind whistling. There’s a persistent yip yip yipping. Occasionally a chee-chee-cheerup-ing. Birds are singing, but they hide in the underbrush. I don’t see any movement on the desert floor. Nothing. Quiet mid-day. The critters are resting, hidden from the heat and the strong sunlight.

More hawks. I recognize the red tailed hawk. Still soaring, except now they are dipping side to side. Several are soaring from the peak of the highest mountain. They dip to the left, glide, dip to the right. Swoosh, right. Swoosh, left. Are they playing? Practicing? Are they hunting and have yet to spy anything interesting?

Maybe they are taking Sunday afternoon off. Ha! It is a lovely Sunday afternoon to appreciate the quiet time.

I myself soar to different places in my mind.

It is a calming activity–this sitting quietly, observing, taking a few notes. I know I look at my surrounding more carefully when I have my camera in my hands, but the camera captures the scenes for me, wordlessly. It is an added plus to document a few words about the places I visit, too. It makes me think about what I am seeing in a new way, and adds another dimension to my discoveries.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.”  Today she is grateful for all the gifts she has received this past month.

Opening to the Sky – Studying Light and Shadow

Opening to the Sky

Opening to the Sky © 2011 Bo Mackison

I love Arizona.

I can almost always count on blue skies and sunshine. I just did some research and discovered that Tucson has 350 days of sunshine per year. In comparison, Madison, Wisconsin has 89 really sunny days and 96 partly sunny days (approximately half the sky or less is cloudy) for a total of 185 sunny days.  I knew there was a difference, just didn’t know there was THAT much difference.

With this in mind–all these sunny day opportunities–I have been doing a lot of light/shadow studies with my camera. Lots of exploration, comparing light sources at different times of the day. I’m having more fun than anything, not really keeping too many of the photographs. And it provides a great reason to be outside in the sun instead of working inside.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is living in Tucson for two months – exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo”. Oh, she is also having lots of fun in the sun.

Sticking Points – Facing Challenges in the Face of Fear

Sticking Points

Sticking Points © 2011 Bo Mackison

There are sticking points in life. Places where you can’t see the beauty of the cactus plant because you are focused on the thorny spines. Places where it becomes hard to focus on the whole because there is a part that is strange and unknown. I am at a sticking point.

I achieved a huge goal in my “art show plan” this past week. And, as is sometimes true in life, achieving a big goal added new challenges to my life. It also brought the gremlins out in full force. The gremlins are showing up as fear. FEAR — in giant, capital letters.

Last year–my first year doing an entire year of art fairs–I did smaller shows, regional shows. When it came time to send in the applications last autumn, I made the decision to apply to big shows, to the nationally ranked shows that drew artists from all over the country. Five months ago, it seemed like a great idea.

When the notifications began showing up in my email box, there were quite a few rejections. There were some wonderful acceptances, too, for really good shows in the Midwest. I was thrilled. There were also several shows where I was wait-listed – my art was good enough to meet the show’s requirements, but there was not space available. Yet.

Last week I got a phone call from the Tempe Festival of the Arts, one of my wait listed shows. There was a space available. Did I want it? Yes, of course I wanted it. I made some arrangements for an assistant, and I accepted the space at Tempe. And all was good for a few days. And then…the inner critic started blathering.

Yep. The inner critic focused on FEAR.

One of the biggest life challenges I am working to overcome is my fear of the unknown. It is one of the reasons I came to Tucson. I had visited Tucson several times and I was deeply attracted to the region, but I had no connections. When I made the choice to live in Tucson for a couple of months — alone — I knew I would be living in a place whose daily special was a serving of the unknown. I also knew that I would have to come up with the resources to deal with all the fears that ride piggy-back on those unknowns.

When I agreed to do the show in Tempe, I achieved one of my art goals – doing a nationally ranked show. Coupled with that acceptance was  taking on one of my huge fears — doing a show in a city that I had never visited before, and well outside my comfort zone. I also chose to  face my fears, meet them head on, continue to move forward.

Then suddenly, I saw only the thorns in the cactus, not the whole plant. I let fear speak. And I began to listen.

Global Pattern

Global Pattern © 2011 Bo Mackison

It took me a few days to realize that if I listened to my fears, it would interfere with a big life goal – showing up as the artist I want to be. I gradually realized that it was okay to have fears, but that I did not want to allow fear to govern my decisions and my life.

I really am pleased to be in the Tempe show, and I am stepping up to the challenge. I am choosing to be the artist I want to be.  I am choosing to be a person who does not let fear get in the way of her dreams.

Living in the desert offers many life lessons. I choose to see the cactus, aware of its thorns, but focused on the beauty of it as a whole. That cactus has a lot of similarities to living a full, meaningful life.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She is living in Tucson for two months – exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo”.  She will be exhibiting her photography at the Tempe Festival of the Arts in Tempe, Arizona, March 25-27, 2011.

Knowing One Saguaro

Saguaro Spines

Saguaro Spines © 2011 Bo Mackison

The Tucson area has had very little rain this winter. Add a freezing spell colder than average, and the result is little to nothing blooming in the desert I’ve been hiking. Rather than come home empty-handed with no photographs of flowering cacti, I have been concentrating on patterns and colors in tiny landscapes in the desert. This is a macro-photograph of the spines on a saguaro.

I’ve also been reading A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert by the staff of Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and edited by Steven J. Phillips and Patricia Wentworth Comus (a fascinatingly informative book). So I was beginning to feel like I had been well introduced to the mighty saguaro.

Patience in the Desert

Patience in the Desert © 2011 Bo Mackison

Then I hiked in a desert garden filled with rocks inscribed with quotes about the desert.

And I realized that my gathering of information about the saguaro has been only that — an introduction.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is living in Tucson for two months, exhibiting her photography in art shows, taking photographs, and blogging about photography, art fairs, and living life “solo.” She spends a little time each day exploring the desert. There is so much to see, so much to learn–about the Sonoran desert, about creating art, and about living a full life.