Postcard from Salt River Canyon

The day started out to be a search for autumn leaves. Not an easy task in southern Arizona, especially in October. But we do have mountains here, some of them pretty high. So I decided to take trip northeast, up into the White Mountains.

This was new territory for me…and you know how I love seeing new places. From Tucson I drove nearly 100 miles to the town of Globe. I didn’t expect to find any leaves here as it is only about 700 feet higher than Tucson. But I turned left onto Arizona 60 and headed up into the heart of the mountains. My destination was another small town called Show Low, about 90 miles further east from Globe.

Well, I climbed and climbed into the mountains…then all of a sudden, started heading down again. Down, down, down I went until I came to the bottom of the Salt River Canyon. I heard about the canyon from a friend who said it was a miniature Grand Canyon. Well, in places, it really is quite spectacular.

This photo was taken at the bottom of the canyon where these two bridges cross the river. By using a wide angle lens, I was able to achieve a twisty, roller coaster look to the nearest bridge. I did not use special effects here to achieve the look. The lens did it for me. Ain’t photography grand?

From the canyon floor, I continued my trek eastward and upward to see some autumn color…and I found it, a few miles west of Show-Low. It was nice to see some trees with that special yellow glow on the leaves. Even saw a handful of red leaves. It wasn’t great compared to the Northwest, but I got what I came for. There is Autumn in eastern Arizona.

By the way, Show-Low sits at 6,400 feet. And where did the name come from, you ask?  According to legend, the city was named after a marathon poker game between two local residents. They decided there was not enough room for both of them in their little town.

The two men agreed to let a game of cards decide who was to leave town. According to the tale, one of them said, "If you can show low, you win." The other then turned up the deuce of clubs and replied, "Show low it is." At stake was a 100,000 acres ranch.  PS: Show Low's main street is named "Deuce of Clubs" in remembrance.

Now, aren’t you glad you asked?

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

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