WINTER

Winter

Winter climbs down a ladder from the San Francisco Peaks to the White Mountains, touching its toes on the “sky islands” as the first high strokes of snow fall above 9,000 feet. In the desert, the ants are moving slower.

Migrants are here, part of the yearly flow. Birds have moved into lower-elevation canopies with sycamores and cottonwoods losing their last leaves. Half of winter bird species in Arizona are made up of neotropical migrants from the north seeking warmer grounds. The sandhill crane, having summered in the Arctic, settles into water bodies on the edge of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, around the town of Willcox. These arrivals tell you something has changed. What look like moon bases have popped up around far-flung towns, made up of RVs with mostly out-of-state plates. Seasons eclipse state lines. There are greater borders, and they are not fixed. They ebb and flow.

Come December or January, a single freeze may fall into the deeper reaches of the Sonoran Desert south of Tucson and Yuma. In the morning, leaves of snapdragon vines hang limp and frostbitten among the cactuses, unable to take the cold. The nocturnal flowers of the datura pool on the ground like unmade bedsheets. You might see a rare snow on saguaros, and it is stunning against vivid green cactus skin, needle tips each wearing a small bonnet of white. Freezing can cause the arms of the great cactus toweaken and wilt toward the ground, where they'll keep growing in that position. The cactus is not harmed, and now it looks like a dancer.

Half the state is shrouded in cold, on good years wearing snow like a sash from the Kaibab Plateau down the Mogollon Rim to the New Mexico state line. Ponderosa pines hang heavy after storms, their long needles buried in soft pillows. In the low country, most of the flowers have taken a break, while brittlebushes come out early with bright-yellow blooms. Tight little clusters of dust-colored jojoba blossoms emerge, marking the calendar, before turning into edible, sharp-tasting nuts by summer.

For most living things, this is a time of settling and rest. While bears in the higher country breathe slowly inside dens of tree roots and rock cavities, Sonoran Desert toads lie buried in the soil in a state of halfliving torpor. It is a time of dreaming. Even people with electric lights tend to get more sleep. The lodge and gift shop and visitors center at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon are closed and turned to ghosts. A couple dozen employees of the National Park Service and the concessionaire remain. In the harsh conditions with 250 inches of snowfall a couple of winters ago those who stay behind are required to carry search and rescue gear and overnight equipment, should they become stranded. It's a time of year to have wits about you.

Heavy snow blankets the landscape of Red Rock Country in a view from the Doe Mountain Trail. This short, moderately difficult trail offers views of a number of the Sedona area's landmarks.

Yuccas, ocotillos and other desert plants wear a heavy winter coat on the cliffs of the Sierra Ancha, an isolated Central Arizona range. Heavy snowfall is relatively rare in the Sierra Ancha, which is protected by a 20,000-acre wilderness area.

The calm water of Watson Lake, a reservoir near Prescott, mirrors the snowcovered Granite Dells, a geological feature made of 1.4 billion-year-old rocks. Watson Lake and its nearby sibling, Willow Lake, are popular boating, fishing and hiking destinations.

TOM BEAN CANON EOS 5D MARK IV, 1/320 SEC, F/13, ISO 100, 45 MM LENS

JACK DYKINGA

A late-winter storm brings a layer of white to saguaro cactuses (Carnegiea gigantea) in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. This view is from Oro Valley's Honey Bee Canyon Park, which features 3 miles of scenic hiking trails.

FUJIFILM GFX100S, 1/50 SEC, F/11, ISO 100, 124 MM LENS

DAVID BLANCHARD

NIKON D750, 1/80 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 85 MM LENS

Bubbles of ice form on the surface of the West Fork of Oak Creek, near Sedona. The popular trail along this waterway draws hikers yearround, but a winter visit is best for those hoping to have the trail to themselves.

CANON EOS-1DS MARK III, 1/2 SEC, F/14, ISO 100, 90 MM LENS

DEREK VON BRIESEN

Icicles and snow-covered trees overhang the first of several creek crossings along the West Fork Oak Creek Trail. This trail is marked and maintained for its first 3 miles, but some backcountry hikers continue many miles farther into the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness.

CANON EOS-1DS MARK III, 1/8 SEC, F/11, ISO 100, 85 MM LENS

Amid falling snow, the walls of the Grand Canyon flank a view of Isis Temple. This vantage point is a short distance down the Bright Angel Trail, the most popular hiking route from the South Rim to the Colorado River.

Fog obscures a view into the Grand Canyon behind a gnarled tree at the South Rim's Hopi Point. This overlook is along the Hermit Road, which is open to all vehicles from December to February; at other times, shuttle buses take visitors to the road's overlooks.

LAURA ZIRINO

Fog shrouds snow-covered ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) in a section of the Kaibab National Forest near the Canyon's South Rim. The Kaibab's 1.6 million acres include sections both north and south of the Canyon.

A snowstorm clears from Lockett Meadow, in the San Francisco Peaks, as aspens cling to their golden leaves. As of late 2024, the road to Lockett Meadow remained closed due to damage from a 2022 wildfire, but hikers can still access the area.

CANON EOS 5DS R, 1/20 SEC, F/16, SO 100, 48 MM LENS