Pinnacle Peak Park

Author's Comments

I went to Pinnacle Peak expecting the summit shot and had to recalibrate. There is no summit access. The trail runs out and back along the flank of the peak, and the jagged profile that makes this place a landmark from the valley floor is something you photograph from below or from the side, never from the top. That took some getting used to. What the trail does offer is a saguaro forest in remarkable condition. Late February into March is when I prefer it, when the desert has had some winter rain and the ocotillo are beginning to leaf out. The saguaros here are old and well-spaced, which matters for a photograph. You can isolate a single one against the McDowells in the distance and it reads cleanly, without the visual clutter that ruins so many desert images. Golden hour is the obvious window and the obvious window is correct. The granite of the peak warms to a color I can only describe as apricot, and the long shadows of the saguaros stretch across the slope in a way that gives the frame depth. The park closes at sunset, which is genuinely inconvenient, so I have learned to be on the trail an hour and a half before, working back toward the parking area as the light drops. Four Peaks sits on the eastern horizon and goes purple in the last light. That is the photograph worth waiting for, and it is best made from the trail itself, somewhere between the turnaround and the trailhead, rather than from any one named viewpoint. Bring a longer lens than feels necessary. The compression flatters this landscape.

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