Brenda Edwards

Getting out into the world helps me in my creative process. Photography is my way of recording the experience. For me, today’s digital cameras are the ultimate tool, and coupled with brilliant software, provide pure alchemy almost on a daily basis. I shoot in manual mode, which gives me the best lighting, but can be problematic in the need of the fast shot, so I try to remember to adjust my lighting as I move, making me ready for anything that I see – particularly, anything that isn’t stationery. It’s magic to get out and experience other locations, if only for a short visit, and if I am able to stay from sunset to sunrise, I increase my chance of getting better shots. This is the reason we purchased a 1995 Scamp trailer this year, so I could stay on location, at least from sunset to sunrise, or visa versa. The camper provides a way to bring everything you need with you, including food and camera equipment. I carry a pretty simple Canon Rebel camera, it’s sturdy, if a bit heavy, but a chest harness handles most of the weight. I don’t pretend to know a lot about cameras, I only know the one I carry, which was, in fact, gifted to me, and I don’t like using, or carrying, a tripod.

For inspiration, the Lost Dutchman State Park is one of the best campsites we’ve stayed in. Our site was $25 a night, non electric. The view from campsite is unobstructed, uncrowded and absolutely Arizona surreal. The first shot was taken just off the campsite trail head, the second shot was taken of our campsite view at sunset, and the third, deeper on one of the trails. Do click on these images for full effect. The trails are accessed just off the site, well maintained, and guaranteed to payoff.

The facility is very clean, the restrooms have flushing toilets (a state campsite luxury) and there are also hot showers. Night’s are quiet. You can hear your private conversations easily with only occasional reverie from other sites, as the solar system canopies you in your campfire light. Yeah, it’s that good. You couldn’t find a better hotel room in season anywhere. This site is especially dear to us in that it is only about 45 minutes from the house, so conceivably, you could take off in the early evening, be on campsite for a sunset walk and dinner, up for your morning hike as the sun rises and back to finish the rest of the day just behind the commute depending on where you live in the Phoenix area. However, I would recommend, after only booking one night this last trip, if possible booking a second night. I wish I had had an additional sunset/sunrise in my files. I could not get a bad picture. We will go back. We have designated it an important spring site.

The Superstitions are a national and state treasure, and thank you America that this site is protected from development and set aside for personal enjoyment. I hope public access to such sites is always open, and everyone who uses it treats it with respect. It is the sacred sanctuary of a very cool mountain range that belongs to all of us. We took the middle hike through the center of the range last time, but stopped when we hit the slick rock. It’s really pretty slick, so you need great shoes and to be in good shape. We watched a cell phone bounce down the canyon last time we were there. I don’t think it fared well. This time we took the hike to the left. Jere is a less avid hiker than I am, and he found this hike suitable and although it’s a climb, very manageable. Had we had the additional day of camping we would have hiked further very easily on this trail – but as we had to check out of the site at 12 noon, we had a nice 2 1/2 hour round-trip morning hike in 70 some degree weather in late March.

Our camper is simple. It doesn’t have an indoor bathroom, which we are trying to live without, because we only want to haul 13 foot of camper (great gas mileage and energy sparing), and without the bathroom, we get more storage space.  We carry a portable bathroom with a tent, and in the case of a campsite like The Lost Dutchman, it’s just fine as there are public bathrooms. The camper has a full kitchen with running water. Instead of an electric refrigerator, which takes hours and hours to cool to trip readiness in the Phoenix heat, Jere made a storage compartment for a high end cooler, which, with a block of ice, can store meat successfully up to 4 days before re-icing. The final picture shows the pull-out drawer he custom designed to store the cooler on. We are hoping to work out all of the variables and have the trailer fully loaded, and ready to go in a matter of hours on any given day. This is why we traded out the truck bed pop-up camper for this model, because the loading of the pop-up on the back end of the truck was time consuming, unless you have truck that is exclusively dedicated to the camper. We’d like to get it down to a predictable science, and be on the go in a moment’s notice.