There are some pretty special places in the higher elevations of Arizona. When the valley’s flowers fade in the summer heat, there are still treasures to find on the hilltops. One of my favorite destinations is near the farming and mining town of Safford, Arizona. The Pinaleño Mountains rise quickly here, to Mount Graham at 10,696 feet. Here, and only here, will you find a small population of endangered Mount Graham red squirrels.*

If you’re not afraid of twists, turns, and dirt ruts, you can travel the Swift Trail (thirty-three miles from the 191) through cottonwoods, sycamores, and ponderosa pines. There are stops along the way; amazing views of historic Fort Grant, and neighboring sky islands like the Galiuros and the Winchesters.

Somewere before the road ends, at a beautiful sparkling blue reservoir, there is a meadow.
On this July afternoon, it was teeming with life. Verbena, coneflowers and wallflowers were swaying in the breeze as pollinators performed touch-and-gos. We lingered here as long as we could, happy for the opportunity to observe this important work, and grateful for the inspiration. The pipevine butterfly landed in front of me, and I knew I would paint him and his flower. The moment exists only in my mind, and only here.

*Since 2014, the conservation center at the Phoenix Zoo has been working hard on developing a pilot breeding program in the hope of producing animals for release in the wild. Numbers of the Mt. Graham red squirrels were as low as thirty-five in 2017, after the Frye fire destroyed 48,000 acres of habitat in the mountain. Learn more at Phoenix Zoo

Inspiration

There’s something about a mountain; I have looked up to them all my life (pun intended). I have walked around them, skied down them, scrambled up their faces. I have been breathless from lack of oxygen, while gaining perspective that is only possible when standing at a peak. Mountains are landmarks, a way to find your way.
For Martha Summerhayes, Bill Williams Mountain outside of Flagstaff was a companion during her hard journey through Arizona.
“For some days, Bill Williams was the predominating feature of the landscape; turn whichever way we might, still this purple mountain was before us. It seemed to pervade the entire country, and took on such wonderful pink colors at sunset. Bill Williams held me in thrall, until the hills and the valleys in the vicinity of Fort Whipple shut him out from my sight. But he seemed to have come into my life somehow, and in spite of his name, I loved him for the companionship he had given me during those long, hot, weary and interminable days.” *

She did not have the luxury of traveling to the top to see the view. There were not resources for such frivolity back then. But if she had, she might have noticed the abundance of firecracker penstemon bursting in bright red around every corner. In July they are in full bloom, attracting bees and butterflies. At the top, you can sit at the base of the fire tower and watch the monsoon clouds build in the distance.

There is a reason why we say “mountaintop experience.” It is a special feeling. Just ask the butterflies on old Bill Willians.

*Martha Summerhayes, “Vanished Arizona”, written about her journey through Arizona as an army wife from 1874 to 1878.

Butterfly Weed and Acmon Blue Butterfly
Sierra Ancha Wilderness
Bloomed 7.2.23  2pm
22×28 oil on canvas

$4400

One of my favorite National Scenic Byways is Arizona State Route 260, better known as the Desert to Tall Pines Scenic Road or the Young Highway. I like driving it from south to north.  In a day’s drive, I can enjoy everything I love about Arizona.  You begin with beautiful views of Roosevelt Lake, deep canyons, stands of saguaro and ocotillo. As you travel north and up in elevation, you quickly leave the desert and enter ponderosa pines, cool streams and grasslands. Along they way there is treasure to find. Indian paintbrush, yucca blooms, and on this day, the bright pop of Butterfly Weed.  I don’t see these very often in Arizona so this was a treat. Evidently the Butterfly thought so too, she landed lightly and stayed a while, as it should be.

Just a fun note, this milkweed has no milky sap, the thick tuberous root was once used as a cure for pleurisy.