liang_li photos
Storm in the desert
Some stories behind the scenes：
This was the last day of my 5-day road trip from LA to Arizona, and I knew the weather would be bad as the weather forecast showed there would be a high chance for heavy rains. Honestly, I had many reasons to relax that morning under such a bad weather, but since I didn't really feel burned out during the road-trip, I chose to go out early as usual. I drove from my Airbnb to the east part of Saguaro National Park and parked at the trailhead of Tanque Verde Ridge Trail as I had already planned before. I chose this trail for a reason because typically Saguaro National Park is not good for sunrise -- the ridges around will block the morning light. However, after some research I found that this trail offers an opportunity to hike up to the ridge and that might be good enough to catch the lights.
The plan was good, but weather was not. As I parked at the trail head, sky was overcast, surroundings was pitch-black. I knew the cactus field on the trail would be hard to navigate and avoid touching in such a dark environment, so I chose to stay in the car and took a nap. I wake up 30 minutes later, and day started to light up. I did the hike as planned, and half way up I saw an area with some unblocking view of the distant mountains, and I could see storms rolling in on the far distance. I stopped there, waited quite some time and there was a moment the sun light just peaks through the cloud and cast a slice of light on the ground. Oh god, I captured that moment!
Storm in the desert
Some stories behind the scenes：
This was the last day of my 5-day road trip from LA to Arizona, and I knew the weather would be bad as the weather forecast showed there would be a high chance for heavy rains. Honestly, I had many reasons to relax that morning under such a bad weather, but since I didn't really feel burned out during the road-trip, I chose to go out early as usual. I drove from my Airbnb to the east part of Saguaro National Park and parked at the trailhead of Tanque Verde Ridge Trail as I had already planned before. I chose this trail for a reason because typically Saguaro National Park is not good for sunrise -- the ridges around will block the morning light. However, after some research I found that this trail offers an opportunity to hike up to the ridge and that might be good enough to catch the lights.
The plan was good, but weather was not. As I parked at the trail head, sky was overcast, surroundings was pitch-black. I knew the cactus field on the trail would be hard to navigate and avoid touching in such a dark environment, so I chose to stay in the car and took a nap. I wake up 30 minutes later, and day started to light up. I did the hike as planned, and half way up I saw an area with some unblocking view of the distant mountains, and I could see storms rolling in on the far distance. I stopped there, waited quite some time and there was a moment the sun light just peaks through the cloud and cast a slice of light on the ground. Oh god, I captured that moment!