SPRING

THE COMPONENT PARTS OF A PRETTY PICTURE may not in themselves possess attraction enough to halt the wandering glance. Fitted together, each of the parts adds its shred of beauty to the whole with the resulting composition pleasing and handsome.

Our desert is not essentially beautiful. It bristles with sharp points. Its plant forms are grotesque. Its colors are not bright. It has a harsh appearance that it has acquired by virtue of centuries of heat and aridity. Life is not easy on the desert. All living things therein, simply to survive, have had to develop rough exteriors and there is little graciousness in that very roughness.

Yet the desert, particularly in spring, can offer most attractive views. It responds gratefully to moisture, and if there have been rains in the early spring, the desert will carpet itself with lavish colors of spring flowers, and even the staid cactus and the other permanent plants will turn from gray-green to a brighter green, responding to the miracle of water.

The hills and mountains, purple and dreamy in the distance, add beauty to the picture as if painted in by an inspired artist. When billowy cloud castles form in the sky they dominate the scene, adding buoyancy and a joyous lightheartedness to the time and the place.

The bright sun plays tricks with the shadows, so that light itself is a vibrant quality adding depth to the scene and etching in sharp relief the intimate details which form the finished picture. Light is the adhesive which binds all parts of the scene together, giving pleasure to the beholder, exalting both the mind and spirit. On such a day as this, and in such a place, it is good to be alive, good to be able to be part of the happy land.

JACK DYKINGA

Lupines bursting with flowers surround aspen trunks on Mount Davis, which at 7,897 feet is the second-highest peak (after Mount Union) in Central Arizona's Bradshaw Mountains. In addition to natural beauty, the Bradshaws are known for their mining history, evidenced today by the range's numerous ghost towns.

Elk splash across the shallow water of Mormon Lake, an intermittent body of water southeast of Flagstaff. When full, Mormon Lake has a surface area of about 12 square miles, but with an average depth of only 10 feet, the lake fluctuates seasonally and sometimes dries up entirely.

JACK DYKINGA

Mexican goldpoppies (Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana) grow amid the ribs of a dead saguaro cactus at Sonoran Desert National Monument, southwest of the Phoenix area. The monument, which is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, protects nearly half a million acres of its 120,000-square-mile namesake and is home to several endangered species.

JEFF MALTZMAN

Considered for A Splash of Nature, May 2021A morning storm sends water cascading through the Santa Catalina Mountains' Romero Canyon. In this "sky island" range just north of Tucson, visitors can experience six different vegetation communities, from desert at the foot of the mountains to mixed-conifer forest atop 9,100-foot Mount Lemmon.

JOEL HAZELTON

Considered for Hike of the Month, November 2021

JACK DYKINGA

Considered for The Journal: Nature, June 2021

JACK DYKINGA

Considered for It's Time You Get to Know Jack, September 2021 An approaching storm cloud punctuates a brilliant sunset over Hall Creek, near Greer in Eastern Arizona's White Mountains. This long, meandering waterway is one of many tributaries of the Little Colorado River, into which it empties about 2 miles southwest of the X Diamond Ranch.

JOEL HAZELTON

The Black River, a key White Mountains waterway, flows through a small set of rapids as it bends around a rugged cliff. This location is just downstream from the confluence of the river's two forks, The 114-mile Black River eventually merges with the White River west of Fort Apache.

JOEL HAZELTON

Sneezeweed flowers grow in front of a burned ponderosa pine along the South Fork of Bear Wallow Creek in the White Mountains. While this part of Eastern Arizona was heavily affected by the 2011 Wallow Fire, much of the burn area is showing encouraging signs of life.

DAVID MUENCH

Considered for When You Can't Go Any Farther, June 2021 Wildflowers proliferate amid a fallen log and lichen-covered rocks in the White Mountains. Topped by 11,403-foot Mount Baldy, these mountains are known for their diverse wildlife and dramatically lower temperatures than those found in Arizona's desert regions.

DAVID MUENCH NICK BEREZENKO

Considered for Take the High Roads, June 2021 Blooming lupines and thriving ferns blanket an evergreen-lined clearing along the White Mountains' Forest Road 25. Wildcat Crossing, which traverses the Black River at the bottom of a deep, verdant canyon, is among the highlights of this well-maintained road south of Alpine.

Considered for Tall, Dark and Handsome, March 2021 Sunlight strikes the blooms and spines of two saguaro cacti in Hewitt Canyon in the Superstition Mountains, east of Phoenix, Bats, bees and doves are among the pollinators of saguaro blooms, which typically appear between late April and early June.

BRUCE D. TAUBERT

Considered for Tall, Dark and Handsome, March 2021 A solitary saguaro looms behind desert thorn-apple (Datura discolor) flowers in the Copper Mountains, a small mountain range southeast of Yuma. This flowering plant is native to the Sonoran Desert, typically grows in sandy soils and washes, and (like all Datura species) is poisonous to humans and other animals.

Considered for It's Time You Get to Know Jack, September 2021 A desert sand verbena (Abronia villosa) adds a pop of color to a rippled sand dune at dawn in the Pinta Sands section of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Arizona. Rugged mountain ranges and endangered Sonoran pronghorns are among the gems of this remote refuge, which spans more than 860,000 acres.