Airport Mesa Vortex Overlook

Author's Comments

Sunset at the main overlook is a scene unto itself, and not necessarily the one you came for. By six in the evening the small lot is full, the rim is shoulder to shoulder, and the photograph everyone is making is essentially the same photograph. I do not say this to discourage anyone. The light here in late afternoon is genuinely extraordinary, and the red rock does the thing red rock does when the sun gets low, which is to seem briefly lit from within rather than from above. But the better move is the loop trail. Three and a third miles around the mesa, and within ten minutes of walking you have left most of the crowd behind. Cathedral Rock comes into view from angles the overlook does not offer. Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte align differently as you move. The trail gives you composition rather than handing you a postcard. I have been here in March and in late October and I cannot decide which I prefer. October has the cleaner air and the longer shadows. March has the desert still cool enough to work without rushing. Both deliver the moment, maybe ten minutes long, when the rocks turn the color of a struck match and the sky behind goes that particular blue that only happens in high desert at the end of a clear day. Wait for it. Then wait another five minutes after, when most people have already started walking back to their cars and the light goes from red to violet. That second window is the one I keep coming back for.

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