Picacho Peak

by Robert Bales

Title

Picacho Peak

Artist

Robert Bales

Medium

Photograph - Photo

Description

A look at Picacho Peak from the Valley Of The Names area in California and a little distance from Yuma, Arizona.

The land in the far southeastern corner of California, near the town of Yuma, Arizona, is one of the starkest desert landscapes in the world. Little or nothing can grow naturally in this arid land where the Colorado struggles to avoid complete evaporation before entering Mexico and the Gulf of California. The landscape has been flattened by eons of Colorado floods, now, of course, controlled by a multitude of upstream dams. But sticking up out of this flat desert are majestic rock monoliths that began as volcanic plugs and have been carved into wonderful shapes by the endless erosion of wind and water. About twenty miles north of Yuma, just to the west of the Colorado stands the most spectacular of these sculptures, the thousand foot tall monolith known as Picacho Peak. This can easily be seen from thirty miles away, glinting in the bright desert sun. Even from that distance it looks impossible to climb with its vertical and sometimes overhanging sides and its great cracks and ledges. This impression is enhanced as you drive across the desert toward the monolith and begin to recognize just how huge it is. Yet the climb to the top is not too difficult except for the freak factor introduced by the awe-inspiring exposure.

From: ADVENTURE HIKES AND CANYONEERING
IN THE SOUTHWEST

Uploaded

January 11th, 2018

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