SUMMER

Summer. The days are long. The sun rises early and stays up late, diligently performing its chores. The world is green. All plants, from a humble weed to a mighty tree, when there is moisture, combine the wonderful alchemy of sun, soil and water to achieve growth. Summer possesses the land. Summer is the open road. Strange and distant places lure one from one’s own fireside. Elusive horizons hold tantalizing promises of things to see and things to do.

In higher elevations, the fruit frees are loaded with fruit beginning to ripen. In the mountains, where so many people go to escape the heat of lower lands, there is a merry welcome in the sound of the trout streams and a promise of rest and relaxation in the murmur of the pines.

There is drama in the infrequent summer storms that come in from the south. The thunderheads build up like giant castles, white and billowy, in the blue sky, and when they merge to form a threatening sky, the rain comes in torrents and the thunder and lightning shake the very earth with fury.

— Raymond Carlson, June 1954
 

Laura Zirino
Bright green ferns surround aspen trunks in a view from the aptly named Aspen Nature Loop, a hiking trail on the west side of the San Francisco Peaks. Completed in 2007, this easy trail offers a pleasant stroll through a thick forest and several quiet meadows.
CANON EOS R5, 1/5 SEC, F/18, ISO 2000, 15 MM LENS

 

Joel Hazelton
The namesake of Southern Arizona’s Redfield Canyon Wilderness harbors lush riparian vegetation and calm water. Covering 6,600 acres and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, this wilderness area is northwest of Willcox.
CANON EOS 5DS R, 1/10 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 16 MM LENS

 

Joel Hazelton
Summer wildflowers cover the southern slopes of a mountain in the Miller Peak Wilderness, in Southern Arizona’s Huachuca Mountains. A segment of the Arizona Trail traverses this wilderness area before reaching its southern terminus at the U.S.-Mexico border.
CANON EOS 6D, 5 SEC, F/18, ISO 200, 16 MM LENS

 

Adam Schallau
The leaves of a stand of young aspens rustle in the wind near Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim. In the years to come, aspens are likely to fill the void created by the Dragon Bravo Fire, which burned nearly 150,000 acres on the North Rim and the Kaibab Plateau in the summer of 2025.
FUJIFILM GFX100S, 1/40 SEC, F/11, ISO 500, 49.8 MM LENS

 

Jeff Maltzman
One of several waterfalls in Havasu Canyon, a Grand Canyon tributary, nourishes hanging greenery as it empties into Havasu Creek. Gorgeous scenes such as this have made Havasu Canyon, the home of the Havasupai Tribe, a destination for hikers and backpackers.
CANON EOS R5, 1/6 SEC, F/11, ISO 800,\ 200 MM LENS

 

Joel Hazelton
After an overnight monsoon storm, mist rises from Boneyard Creek, in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests of Eastern Arizona, at sunrise. This White Mountains waterway, a tributary of the East Fork of the Black River, is northwest of Alpine.
CANON EOS 5DS R, 1/10 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 16 MM LENS

 

Claire Curran
Vibrant wildflowers line the banks of the Black River, an important White Mountains waterway, near the junction of two Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests roads. Numerous scenic roads in the White Mountains offer an opportunity to see scenes like this one in the summer.
CANON EOS 5DS R, 0.6 SEC, F/32, ISO 200, 50 MM LENS

 

Claire Curran
A butterfly extracts nectar from a sneezeweed bloom in a meadow off Forest Road 151, near Hart Prairie in the San Francisco Peaks. FR 151, generally suitable for two-wheel-drive vehicles with high clearance, features dramatic views of the Peaks and their plant and animal life.
CANON EOS 5DS, 1/1000 SEC, F/7.1, ISO 400, 100 MM LENS

 

Joel Hazelton
A monsoon storm gathers over the rolling Canelo Hills of Southern Arizona on a late-summer evening. These hills extend from the Sonoita Creek valley, southwest of the town of Sonoita, to the Parker Canyon Lake area.
CANON EOS 6D, 1/30 SEC, F/14, ISO 100, 87 MM LENS

 

Jeff Maltzman
Tall saguaros and ocotillos reach skyward beneath the peaks of the Pusch Ridge Wilderness, part of the Tucson area’s Santa Catalina Mountains. This view is from the Sutherland Trail, which begins at Catalina State Park and ends near the top of Mount Lemmon.
CANON EOS R5, 1/10 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 33 MM LENS

 

Jeff Maltzman
A tall evergreen frames a view of forested cliffs in the Chiricahua Mountains of Southeastern Arizona. As one of the state’s many “sky island” ranges, the Chiricahuas are home to diverse plant and animal life not found in the surrounding desert.
CANON EOS R5, 1/2 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 70 MM LENS

 

Jeff Maltzman
Backlit grasses and ocotillos adorn a verdant hillside below Pusch Ridge, in the Santa Catalina Mountains, during the summer monsoon. The Pusch Ridge Wilderness’ high elevation and proximity to Tucson make it an ideal escape from the summer heat of the city.
CANON EOS R5, 1/40 SEC, F/16, ISO 100, 33 MM LENS

 

Peter Coskun
Organ pipe and saguaro cactuses surround an organ pipe “skeleton” at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Southern Arizona. Much like saguaros, organ pipes typically grow on south-facing slopes and can live for 150 years or longer.
CANON EOS 5D MARK IV, 2.5 SEC, F/14, ISO 100, 24 MM LENS