Coyote Buttes and The Wave

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My first and only visit to Coyote Buttes and The Wave was in June 2004. A coworker had permits for two back-to-back days but was unable to use them. The BLM permit system was quite different then from what it is now. Getting multiple-day permits was not unusual. Nowadays, getting a permit at all requires a fair bit of luck and perseverance.  I consider myself fortunate to have had a chance to visit this amazing location.

Coyote Buttes North.
Coyote Buttes North.

We arrived at the trailhead in mid-day with temperatures, as I recall, in the upper ’90s. It was mid-June and the North American Monsoon and rainy season had not started. Even so, there were clouds and a few rain showers in the area.

Pools of water near Coyote Buttes.
Pools of water near Coyote Buttes.
Narrow passageways at Coyote Buttes.
Narrow passageways at Coyote Buttes.
Textured landforms at Coyote Buttes.
Textured landforms at Coyote Buttes.

We hiked out to the rocks and made good time arriving in the late afternoon. There were a few other visitors but they left after a short time and we had the place to ourselves for the next several hours. Really—there was no one else there. Hard to believe!

Drifted sand at Coyote Buttes.
Drifted sand at Coyote Buttes.
Clouds and showers develop around Coyote Buttes.
Clouds and showers develop around Coyote Buttes.

We wandered around for hours taking photographs and picnicking and enjoying the solitude. For a few brief moments, one of the rain showers produced a rainbow but I was too slow to move the camera gear and get the shot.

Clouds drift away and the sun returns in late afternoon at Coyote Buttes.
Clouds drift away and the sun returns in late afternoon at Coyote Buttes.
Afternoon sun makes shadows on the walls.
Afternoon sun makes shadows on the walls.
Surfing The Wave.
Surfing The Wave.

As the sun dropped in the west and temperatures began to cool we finally left and began the hike back to the car. Somewhere along the way we realized we were on a different trail—or perhaps no trail at all—but our starting point was still obvious and we continued on.

Flower petals in sand.
Flower petals in sand.
Late afternoon light illuminates the rocks on our hike out of Coyote Buttes.
Late afternoon light illuminates the rocks on our hike out of Coyote Buttes.
The old sign showing trails to Coyote Buttes and Buckskin Gulch.
The old sign showing trails to Coyote Buttes and Buckskin Gulch.

The next morning we decided we did not want or need to hike out there again so we did not use our 2nd day permit. Instead, we travelled down Buckskin Gulch—a place we had heard about but not yet had a chance to explore. It was a great hike and we did not regret our choice.

Here are photographs (shot on Fuji Provia slide film and recently scanned) from the afternoon that we spent at Coyote Buttes and The Wave.

Harvest Moon—October 2020

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The nearly-full Harvest Moon rises above the Painted Desert and Wupatki National Monument. Two buttes on the eastern horizon (~80 km distant) are Montezuma’s Chair and Roundtop, remnants of ancient volcanoes.

Harvest Moon rises above the Painted Desert.
Harvest Moon rises above the Painted Desert.
Sequence of the Moon rise.
Sequence of the Moon rise.

The second image is a composite showing the path of the Moon as it rose above the two buttes.

Late afternoon sun on the Tloi Eechii Cliffs.
Late afternoon sun on the Tloi Eechii Cliffs.

The third image is a view of the Tloi Eechii cliffs while we were waiting for the Moon to rise.

The photographs were taken from the Doney Mountain Picnic area and overlooking Wupatki National Monument and the Painted Desert.

Revisiting the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

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Several years ago I took a sequence of images of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex and posted the result on these pages. As noted at the time I used a Nikon D700 paired with a Nikon 85mm Ć’/1.8 lens all mounted on an iOptron Sky Tracker. Images were stacked using Deep Sky Stacker and post processing was done using Photoshop CS6 and Astronomy Tools v1.6.

Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex
Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex

Since then I have been experimenting with different tools for postprocessing astro photos. Along the way I discovered some interesting software called rnc-color-stretch from Clarkvision.com.

The rnc-color-stretch algorithm does 3 main things. 1) Analyze the image histogram to maintain a black point or use set low level color throughout the stretching process. The histogram is analyzed at multiple stages from beginning to end. 2) A power stretch while maintaining the black point. 3) Recover lost color after the stretching process. How far you can stretch an image depends on the signal-to-noise ratio.

I’ve been testing this software on both recent and older images. I thought it might be interesting to try it on the Rho Ophiuchi images taken in 2015. Once again, I used Deep Sky Stacker to register and align the images. Then I ran rnc-color-stretch. The result is the image shown above. I thnk it did a fine job of pulling out the details and the color.

The 2020 nonsoon-Monsoon

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A thin band of clouds partially blocks the sun and creates an array of crepuscular rays of light.

This is the second year in a row in which the North American Monsoon has failed to deliver its normal weather to Arizona. The monsoon had a late start in July with only a few isolated rain events early in the month and the main event starting around the third week of July. But even that faltered after a week and the final week of July was dry.

August was even worse with no measurable precipitation until after mid-month and even then the amounts were light. The National Weather Service in Flagstaff has posted some climate data for the area for August. It was the hottest August and the 2nd driest on record in Flagstaff and most of the west experienced similar conditions (Figure 1; Figure 2; Figure 3).

Photographing summer monsoon storms has been a challenge this year because there were so many dry periods. Even so, there are always interesting weather events and clouds that make it worthwhile. So here is a collection of the most interesting weather photographs from this summer.

Convection

Early stages of convection over the San Francisco Peaks as viewed from Marshall Lake.
Early stages of convection over the San Francisco Peaks as viewed from Marshall Lake.

A time-lapse movie shows that the ducks are more interesting than the convection.

Developing Cb's over the San Francisco Peaks.
Developing Cb’s over the San Francisco Peaks.
Small cumulus clouds over the Painted Desert.
Small cumulus clouds over the Painted Desert.
A weak thunderstorm near Two Guns, Arizona.
A weak thunderstorm near Two Guns, Arizona.
A well-developed thunderstorm over the Mogollon Rim viewed from Sedona.
A well-developed thunderstorm over the Mogollon Rim viewed from Sedona.

Rainbows

Full rainbows eluded me this year butI did manage to photograph a rainbow segment.

Rainbow segment over the North Rim of Grand Canyon.
Rainbow segment over the North Rim of Grand Canyon.

Lightning

As with rainbows, lightning was elusive this year. It was typically a case of being in the wrong place on the wrong day and at the wrong time. But I did get lucky with the following image.

Lightning illuminates the interior of Grand Canyon.
Lightning illuminates the interior of Grand Canyon.
In-cloud lightning illuminates a small Cb near the Grand Canyon. I was trying to photograph the comet so I got lucky with this storm.
In-cloud lightning illuminates a small Cb near the Grand Canyon. I was trying to photograph the comet so I got lucky with this storm.
Lightning at sunset over the Mogollon Rim viewed from Sedona.
Lightning at sunset over the Mogollon Rim viewed from Sedona.
Weak storms over the San Francisco Peaks produced these two bolts of lightning.
Weak storms over the San Francisco Peaks produced these two bolts of lightning.
In-cloud lightning partially illuminates Grand Canyon while the nearly-full Moon provides additional illumination.
In-cloud lightning partially illuminates Grand Canyon while the nearly-full Moon provides additional illumination.

Sunsets

And when there is no lightning and no rainbow, one can be content with the sunset.

A small rain shaft is illuminated by the setting sun.
A small rain shaft is illuminated by the setting sun.
Distant rain catches the last light of the sun and provides backlighting for the Cockscomb.
Distant rain catches the last light of the sun and provides backlighting for the Cockscomb.
A thin band of clouds partially blocks the sun and creates an array of crepuscular rays of light.
A thin band of clouds partially blocks the sun and creates an array of crepuscular rays of light.
The sun sets over ruins in Wupatki National Monument.
The sun sets over ruins in Wupatki National Monument.
The setting sun illuminates both Cathedral Rock and the clouds above.
The setting sun illuminates both Cathedral Rock and the clouds above.

Miscellaneous

Crepuscalar Rays—Wupatki National Monument.
Crepuscalar Rays—Wupatki National Monument.
Crepuscalar Rays—San Francisco Peaks.
Crepuscalar Rays—San Francisco Peaks.
Even thought it is supposed to be the wet and rainy season, we still managed to get cap clouds on the high peaks with stars above.
Even thought it is supposed to be the wet and rainy season, we still managed to get cap clouds on the high peaks with stars above.

Perhaps 2021 will be a normal monsoon year.