Desert Sunrise
I always enjoy dawn in the desert southwest. In March, I witnessed a beautiful dawn in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge with fellow photographers Mike Loebach and Jon Christofersen.
Kofa is in the southwest corner of Arizona. Its 665,400 acres of remote and rugged desert attracts wildlife enthusiasts, hikers, photographers, rockhounds, and stargazers.
A Little History
Very few people ventured into this remote corner of Arizona before 1896. That’s when Charles Eichelberger discovered gold in what would later become the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
His King of Arizona mine produced enough gold and silver to support a nearby town of 300. Because his mine workers stamped mine property with the initials “K of A,” the town adopted the name Kofa.
The mines petered out and the King of Arizona mine ceased operations in 1939. Around the same time, the desert bighorn sheep population began to dwindle. Local conservationists took note.
The honorary President of the Arizona Boy Scouts, Major Frederick R. Burnham led a campaign to save the bighorns. The campaign was successful, and land was set aside for a wildlife refuge in 1939.
Those plans were put on hold by World War II. Tanks and infantry under the command of General George S. Patton, Jr. trained for battle in the area. To this day, you can still find unexploded ordnance in Kofa. There are also several dangerous mineshafts and other mine-related hazards there.
The Shot
We drove into Kofa and made our way to Big Dick Canyon in the dark. Go ahead and snicker; that’s the name of the canyon. And I don’t know the story behind the name.
We set up looking south to the mountains that are about 17 miles away. I used a long telephoto lens that compressed the perspective, making objects appear to be very close together.
Moving around, I tried to arrange layers of desert flora in front of the mountains. Once the rising sun painted the distant mountains with warm light, I took the photograph.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus