{"id":262,"date":"2020-05-01T22:42:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T04:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stanroseimages.com\/blog\/?p=262"},"modified":"2020-05-01T22:42:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T04:42:13","slug":"warming-up-to-the-kofas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stanroseimages.com\/blog\/warming-up-to-the-kofas\/","title":{"rendered":"Warming up to the Kofas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sunrise
Morning in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’ve been dreaming about visiting the Kofa Mountains of southern Arizona for about a decade now. I believe I saw my first photo of this iconic location in a shot by landscape photographer Marc Adamus. I’ve seen numerous other photos from the same location by a slew of well-known professional nature photographers, it’s a not-so-well kept secret location that obviously captures the imagination of the aesthetically inclined.<\/p>\n

Since moving to Northern Arizona, the Kofas have been high on my list, but it took me about a year to finally plan a quick trip to this remote area in southwest Arizona. I wanted some good sky conditions for a good sunset and\/or sunrise, and every time I had some time to spare it seemed the weather would not cooperate. So, when I eyed this opportunity this week to catch some good sky conditions, I could not pass it up, despite the fact that the forecast was calling for record high temperatures in the desert. But I figured, “it’s still April, how bad could it be?”<\/p>\n

Well, according to my car thermometer it was 120 degrees bad as I started driving up the dirt road that leads into the refuge. And based on my other temperature readings it was likely in the 105-106 degree range when I got there. Overnight, as I slept not-so-comfortably in my Hotel Subaru, parked alongside the rocky road, it just barely dropped below 80 degrees by morning. So…it was bad enough. Moral of the story: Don’t visit this place outside of November-March!<\/p>\n

\"Kofa
Sunset in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plus side of the blistering heat is that I’m pretty sure I was the only person in this part of the refuge; I only saw a couple other campers driving in, and no one drove by the night and morning I was camped there. So I got to soak up the sense of isolation and feeling of solitude. True wilderness. If it were not for the amazingly good cell signal, I would surely have felt alone!<\/p>\n

\"Sunset
A variety of blooming desert plants greet the end of April in the Kofas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And what an amazingly beautiful place this is! The photos I had seen do not do it justice. Were it not for the swarms of flies, Cholla cactus spines, and blistering heat, I would have thought I was in heaven. It was all so incredibly remote, rugged, raw, and radiant. Sublime beauty in the desert. I hope to go back this year…but in the winter. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Sunrise
Pre-dawn colors in the Kofa Mountain desert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been dreaming about visiting the Kofa Mountains of southern Arizona for about a decade now. I believe I saw my first photo of this iconic location in a shot by landscape photographer Marc Adamus. I’ve seen numerous other photos … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t