Clif's Arizona Photoblog

I took these pictures of the Superstition Mountains and saguaro cactus using a Hoya (R72) infrared filter.

During the 1840s, the Peralta family of northern Mexico supposedly developed a rich gold mine in the Superstitions. According to legend, an Apache ambush ended the family’s last expedition. In the 1870s, Jacob Waltz (”the Dutchman”) was said to have located and worked the mine with his partner, Jacob Weiser. They allegedly hid caches of gold in the vicinity.

Many people have unsuccessfully attempted to find the Lost Dutchman’s Mine. Some searchers have met with foul play, injury and even death, their misfortune further enhancing the legend.

This Earth sculpture resides at the entrance of the Phoenix Zoo.

The mild Sonoran Desert winter is great. But to fully appreciate it, one should go where it’s cold every now and then. It was 15 degrees Fahrenheit when I took these pictures and 75 degrees Fahrenheit when I stepped off the plane in Phoenix later that day.

Last Sunday was a beautiful day in Phoenix. To document it, I drove to South Mountain Park, the largest municipal park in the United States, and snapped this shot. It looks north toward downtown Phoenix.

Built around 1350, the Casa Grande Ruins are the remains of an ancient Hohokam farming village and great house. Four stories high and 60 feet long, the great house is the largest known structure from Hohokam times. Its walls face the four cardinal points of the compass and a circular hole in the upper west wall aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice.

The steel and concrete canopy was built in 1932.