Tribute

Hello and Happy 4th of July to everyone! As some of you may have heard (since it made national news for several days), two medical transport helicopters collided near the hospital in Flagstaff last Sunday. One helicopter was part of the Guardian Medical Transport Services that is part of Flagstaff Medical Center (where I work) and the other was from Classic Lifeguard Aeromedical Services from Page, Arizona. Tragically, 6 people died in the collision and another person is still in critical condition. Guardian Air provides medical transport for injured people throughout northern Arizona including Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon and the Navajo and Hopi Reservations. As they passed through the parade today, in downtown Flagstaff, the crowd gave out a hardy cheer for this group who so recently lost several of their own.

Petals

A flower at my mother-in-law's house.

A Walk

My wife walking through a meadow at sunset with the San Francisco Peaks in the background.

Sprouting

The tips of a young fern in a meadow off of Brookbank Trail just northwest of Flagstaff.

Sunset View

My wife and I took a hike on Brookbank Trail the other day and I got this shot of her watching the sunset near the San Francisco Peaks.

Gambel Oak

Rocky Ridge Trail 3075a, originally uploaded by dustinjblodgett.

As the sun hit this gambel oak tree, the contrasting light and shadows made for a perfect black and white photo.

Stowaway

I took several photos of this flower before I got one that I liked, and it wasn't until I got home, uploaded the photos to my computer and had my wife go through them, that she noticed the spider in the upper left-hand corner of the photo. Shows you how observant I am sometimes. :-)

Butterfly

During a hike on Rocky Ridge Trail yesterday, I was able to capture this shot of a butterfly as he rested on a flower near the trail. I was only able to get about 3 shots before he fluttered away.

Sailing

A sail boat takes a lazy ride on Upper Lake Mary one warm, weekend afternoon. In the corner, you can see the ubiquitous desert indian paintbrush flower adding a splash of color to the scene.

Indian Paintbrush

A Desert Indian Paintbrush flower near Mormon Lake, Arizona.

Upper Lake Mary

A view of Upper Lake Mary which is located about 15 miles southeast of Flagstaff. This man-made lake is the reservoir from which Flagstaff gets some of its water supply.

Claret Cup

A macro shot from the flowering claret cup hedgehog cactus that was featured in the photo I posted 2 days ago. The red color of these flowers in so intense, it's amazing.

Tripod

My tripod setup for the panoramic photo that I posted yesterday. The San Francisco Peaks can be seen in the distance.

Mormon Lake Stitched

This is a panoramic view of Mormon Lake, Mormon Mountain (on the left) and the San Francisco Peaks (on the right) created from 3 photos taken using a tripod. It really gives you a feeling for the wide open spaces around Mormon Lake.

Mormon Lake

I took a photo fieldtrip today, out to Mormon Lake. Mormon Lake is one of the few natural lakes in Arizona; however, it is usually dry for a good part of year and is then called Mormon Meadow. Normally, the lake is dry this time of year, but since we got a pretty good amount of precipitation this winter, it still has some water in it. I took this photo from a cliff over the lake where there were tons of cactus tucked into the rocks, many of which were in bloom like this one.

High Point

This photo was taken at the highest point on Fatmans Loop Trail in east Flagstaff. Most of this trail runs along the side of Mount Elden, which brings you up high enough above the city to see far into the distance as evidenced by this photo.

Yucca Flower

On Fatmans Loop Trail, I found this banana yucca flower just starting bloom. Fatmans Loop is a great trail because it has a mix of desert plant species (yucca, cactus, etc) as well as high country plants (aspen, gamble oak and ponderosa).

Contrasts

I took this photo today on Oldham Trail north of Flagstaff. I thought the texture of the wood and contrasting shades of the plant would make for a good sepia version of the photo. I think it turned out pretty well.

Cactus Flower

A flowering cactus on Fatman's Loop Trail in east Flagstaff. Not sure the species of cactus it is though. Any ideas?....maybe hedgehog cactus?

Yucca

This is part of a yucca plant that was just off of Fatman's Loop Trail. I'm not sure if they are flowers or seed pods or what.

End of a Long Day

Although it's brewed in Fort Collins, CO, New Belgium Fat Tire beer is a Flagstaff favorite. You can find it in pretty much any bar and restaurant in town. It's so popular, in fact, that New Belgium included Flagstaff as one of the several cities that would be the location for the Tour de Fat Bike Festival in 2007. Unfortunately, Flagstaff wont be one of the festivals stops this year. :*-(

Fat Tire just happens to be one of my favorites too and makes for a great way to end a long day. :-)

Fat Man's Loop

This is probably one of the few photos I have ever posted that I am actually in. I hiked Fatman's Loop Trail this morning and set the camera on a rock and set the timer to get this photo of me enjoying the view. East Flagstaff can be seen in the background and part of a cinder cone slowly being cut away as they mine it for cinder gravel. Fatman's Loop Trail is perfect for a easy/moderate day hike. It's about 2 miles long and the last part of the loop gives some great views of east Flagstaff and the cinder cone field to the east of the city. Click here for more photos from the trail, but if you keep coming back to this site, you'll be seeing most of them in upcoming posts. :-)

Rarity

This is something that you don't see everyday... a hummingbird at the feeder while it's snowing! We got about 3 inches of snow here in Flagstaff on Friday. Can you believe it?! Snow on May 23rd in ARIZONA!!! Anyway, we had already hung our hummingbird feeder up a few weeks ago and this brave little guy was out in the worst of it feeding on our deck. Never thought I would ever see this. Crazy!

Looking North

I took this photo a while back, but just never posted it for some reason. It's looking north from the Sky Bridge at the hospital at which I work. The views from there are amazing. Looking south over looks the entire city of Flagstaff. Stay tuned for that photo in the future.

Dead Tree in Sepia

OK, so I may have gone a little crazy with the photo editing on this one, but I was going for a macabre feel with this photo and I think I got it. What do you think? This was taken near Buffalo Park in Flagstaff. Although not apparent in the photo, it was actually a beautiful day with almost perfect weather.

Running

This photo was taken on Red Mountain Trail about 45 minutes northwest of Flagstaff. Since my wife is training for the Imogene Pass Race in September, she ran the trail, while I hiked it and took photos. This part of the trail is very near the center of Red Mountain, which has been eroded into thousands of rock formations called hoodoos.

Hidden Baby

Another photo from McMillan Mesa. I saw this dried-up baby prickly pear cactus near the trail and had to get a photo. All over the mesa there were bunches of cactus enjoying the large amount of sun the mesa gets. Most of them looked to be in better shape than this little guy.

Peaks from the Mesa

This is a view of the San Francisco Peaks from McMillan Mesa in the the heart of Flagstaff. Even though the mesa is located in the middle of town, it's situated so that from most parts of the mesa it's not possible to see any city buildings or homes. You have the feeling that you are in the wilderness even when you are only blocks from town. Amazing! You can see the fresh blanket of snow on the mountain that we got on Monday.

Spring

Hi Folks! I realize it's been a while since I posted a photo and I apologize. My wife and I have been doing some traveling the last couple weeks (for a wedding and then just for fun) and I was also pretty sick for a few days and didn't feel quite up to posting. Again, sorry. But I hope most of you have stuck with me and will keep coming to my site. Anyway, on to the post for today.

So as everyone knows, Spring has arrived to most parts of the US and it is also true here in Flagstaff. Today, my wife and I took a short hike on a trail on McMillan Mesa right in the center of Flagstaff. I took this photo of a Wholeleaf Indian Paintbrush, which was growing just off the trail. This species of flower is pretty common around here and adds a lot of color to the countryside.

Although today is a typical Spring day, two days ago, that was most certainly not the case. The photo below was taken on Monday from my deck before I left for work. That morning we got 3 inches of snow in town and 8-10 in the outlying areas. I guess you never quite know what the weather will do in this town!

Red Mountain Trail 2300a

Red Mountain Trail 2300a, originally uploaded by dustinjblodgett.

A stone formation on Red Mountain Trail northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona.