Boynton Canyon, Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness Area, Arizona

Some calendar days come with expectations. Like Christmas morning when you were a kid. Other memories stay fresh forever. Like the first time you saw the one you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. And then there are the surprises. Those days that didn’t just slip away into the blur of passing time.

Instead, the moment of time stands still. Forever. The slow-motion movement of the morning fog stays vivid in your mind. The feel of the light infusing the landscape with magic remains embedded in your brain cells. You recall the exact location that you set up your tripod. You know how the ground under your feet felt damp—and had that rich aroma of rain-soaked soil.

This morning, the one in the photo, was one of those times that I recall everything. Maybe everything except what I had for breakfast or what shirt I was wearing. But I remember the moment the sun broke through those clouds. That moment when the dreamscape appeared to manifest right before my eyes. And the sandstone canyon transformed into a fairyland.

Arizona Highways magazine published the image on the front cover in July 2022