Dusty sunset from Silly Mountain

A couple of times this past week, I watched the sun shining on the Superstition Mountains as sunset neared and thought that I should be on Silly Mountain getting pictures. On Friday I did that. Clouds were moving in, though. It was still clear in the west, so I thought I might get a picture or two.

Even without clouds, it doesn't look like much sunshine will get through.

The weather was cooling off, which means we had strong winds from the south. (I still haven't figured that out.) It was only about 90. On the way out to Silly Mountain, I thought I could see rain to the east and the north. The air was hazy, but I think that was from dust and not moisture. It sure didn't feel humid.

Another guy and his pal were out there to get sunset pictures.

As I left the house, suns rays were streaming out from behind clouds. It looked really cool. I wasn't in a place that I could get a picture, though. By the time I got out to Silly Mountain, the sun was down in the dust layer and very dim.

It was very windy up there. I was trying to take HDRs. I sat on the ground and braced my arms on my knees, but still the wind bumped me around between shots. Most of the HDRs came out, anyway. Another guy was up there to get sunset pictures. He had a tripod. It looked pretty stout. I don't think my tripod would have held the camera still in that wind.

The sun never did shine on the Superstition Mountains.

The other guy went to the top of that rock on the right to get pictures.

The other two guys eventually came up near where I was to get some pictures. The one with the camera went up to the top of a rock and the other stayed in a saddle near me. The one in the saddle was yelling something to the other guy but I wasn't paying attention. After they left, I looked down toward the parking area and saw two vehicles with flashing lights. I thought back to the guy yelling and realized he had been saying something like, "Hey, Luis, they're here! They're here, man! We gotta go!". Was somebody chasing them?

I was absorbed in taking pictures and wasn't listening to the guys near me or looking down at the parking lot.

All I could see in the gloom was flashing lights. Couldn't tell if they were police cars, ambulances, or what.

On the way down to the truck, I could see that one of the vehicles with flashing lights was still there. It was parked across the street from my truck. I wondered if I was going to get a ticket for being in the park after sunset or something silly like that. They never said anything to me, though. Maybe a lot of people get stranded up there. It's right next to the highway, so any yahoo could stop to see what's there and start climbing and then realize that 20 years of being a couch potato had not prepared them to wander more than 100 feet from their vehicle.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2010_06_11