Valley of the Sun and Moon

Went out to Lost Dutchman State Park, at the foot of the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix this afternoon. There were high clouds and I was hoping for some decent color from the sunset on the mountains. 

I hiked in a little bit and found this neat little Teddy Bear Cholla. This is a late afternoon shot of the mountain front. Lost Dutchman is just one of the jump off points to explore the Superstitions. It's a huge wilderness area with lots of Canyons and rock formations. 

I waited a while, taking some macro shots of cactus spines, while the sun went down. While the color didn't really hit the rock formations very effectively it certainly hit the clouds around moon.

At this point it was getting dark and the sunset looked spectacular. I was a bit worried that without a flashlight it would get too dark to find the car, so I hiked back to the trailhead and set up the tripod near there. During this time, the sky went from pinkish to red. 

I'm not particularly happy with the foreground scenery, but when the light is like this you gotta go with it. It is nice to get so many good pictures from one afternoon. Next project: find the foreground! I wish I had bought this camera sooner. To get photos like this on my 2nd trip out is encouraging.