RIDGE
The southern mountain ranges of the American West are rocky and dry, populated sparsely with juniper and pinon, solitary ponderosa, the occasional boxelder. Drought tolerant grasses, gambel oak and other native shrubs are outnumbered by cacti and yucca, growing out of thin, rocky soil. The elements are harsh - rain scarce, the sun hot, the wind biting; anything on the surface has been freeze-dried in winter.
Hiking trails follow ridges, meet other trails at saddles, proceed up steep slopes of eroding dirt and loose rock, then along another ridge to a summit, perhaps. The relief, on many of these trails, is a view out over the plains. Sometimes the view is a hundred miles or more. Of course the clouds, and a twisted snag blackened by lightning or fire, are offered to frame the expanse.
Photographing on a hike is an exercise in giving in to pictorial tropes and clichés. The hiker photographer isn't discovering anything new, after all - even though the years since the photographers of the first great American expeditions are, actually, not so numerous. It's only a hundred years ago, or maybe a hundred and fifty, since these same dry views were new.
- Ken Abbott, January 2026