Tucson, AZ

In the Catalina Mountains, just north of Tucson, Bear Canyon Trail is an inviting three and a half mile one-way hike. The walk culminates in a scenic view of a stack of seven waterfalls, each pooling on a rock ledge below. At the lowest level, the water becomes a mountain stream that flows along the bottom of the canyon giving hikers lots of opportunity to photograph the fresh water in mini-rapids or gently flowing pools.

My entry for this week’s photo challenge is a focus on one of the fresh water mini-rapids where the creek takes a sharp turn as it continues down the mountain. The water, cool and fresh in the Arizona spring morning invites the hiker to continue on to view the falls.

Be careful about how you photograph the falls. If you make the same mistakes I did, you’ll need to walk the entire seven miles out and back another time to retake the photos you didn’t get right the first time.

John Steiner