High Desert

I will be flipping back and forth between wintery Maine and wintery Arizona for the next few days, just to provide some variety. This is from Agau Caliente Park at the extreme east edge of Tucson, looking north toward Mt. Lemon. Agua Caliente is a natural spring which forms a mountain pond and attracts a rich variety of wildlife. Cropped off at the bottom is the dry bed of the second pond, which is normally filled by the overflow from the first. An exceptionally dry decade, and other undetermined factors have cut the flow of the spring to about half its normal. The spring and ponds have gone through such cycles before and recovered, so there is hope here as well.

Sony DSC H50 at about 60mm equivalent. F5.6 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. Programmed auto.

Cropped in Lightroom to eliminate the white glare of the dry pond bed. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen Landscape preset.

From Desert Botanical Garden 09 (misplaced, but I had only two images from Tucson, so they got into this gallery).