We’re featuring the San Francisco Volcanic Field in this issue of Sedona Monthly (see it here), and it is one of three active volcanic fields in Arizona. I love Earth, and I am constantly amazed by this plant. It is an exciting place! The photo above captures a scene with Ashurst Lake in the foreground and the flat top Mormon Mountain above it on the horizon. In the upper left portion of the photo you can see Mormon Lake, the largest natural lake in Arizona. In this photo, the water level is quite low, but a few weeks ago when I was up there, it resembled an ocean of sorts. On the upper right side of the photo you can see Mingus Mountain on the south side of the Verde Valley. The Mormon Volcanic Field is located to the south and east of Flagstaff. The field covers about 970 square miles and has more than 250 vents. Notable vents include Apache Maid, Table Mountain (east of Interstate 17 and the Village of Oak Creek) and Stoneman Lake. The last eruption in the field was 3.1 million years ago – making it reasonably safe to call it inactive.
In this photo is another view of a portion of the San Francisco Field that I really like. In the foreground left of center is Sunset Crater, and the lava fields associated with it and on the right is O’Leary Peak. Above those on the left is Mount Elden and to the right the San Francisco Peaks. Behind and to the right of them is Sitgreaves Mountain. Behind and to the left of that is Bill Williams Mountain, the first in the volcanic field.
The peaks in snow shows them draped in fresh powder just before sunset on a late December evening – a mystical site. Earth is a very dynamic planet and changing constantly, but on its own timeline. At best, we are temporary guests. For me as a photographer, I am fortunate too, because Earth will (probably) look like this 200 or more years from now, and the photographs will likely still be current.
