Event Calendar
Comet Walk: Walker Lake
We are excited to kick-off our Comet Walk series with John Vankat. John presented a Comet Talk in the spring about his new book "The San Francisco Peaks and Flagstaff Through the Lens of Time". This eye-catching book features historical photographs precisely paired with John's modern-day counterparts ("repeat photographs") to illustrate how our landscapes have changed over the last 150+ years.
On this walk we will visit one of the most unique sites in the book: Walker Lake, which is within a volcanic cone on the south side of Kendrick Park near Hwy 180. We'll discuss photos taken from the cone in the 1870s-1880s showing Walker Lake and the San Francisco Peaks. We will also talk about the explorers who took them and the ecological changes later brought about by livestock grazing, fire suppression, and wildfire.
We will hike a trail to the rim of the cone and then walk short distances off-trail to photopoints within the cone and one on its rim. If we have time, we then will encircle the rim of the cone to enjoy many scenic vistas.
John is an ecologist, educator and writer. His interest in how and why forests have changed through history began with a youthful fascination for repeat photographs, in which historical images had been retaken many decades later to reveal long-term historical and ecological changes.
During John's 31 years teaching and researching ecology as a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, John had two research leaves at Northern Arizona University during which he fell in love with Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks. After moving here, he spent more than a decade studying forest changes in Grand Canyon National Park. Most recently, John repeated historical photographs around the Peaks over the last 7-8 years.
Details and directions will be emailed to the group after registration is complete. We will have a couple copies of John's book to examine during the walk, but others are encouraged to bring their own copies (the book is available at https://soulsticepublishing.com/product/time-book/).
Register Here
On this walk we will visit one of the most unique sites in the book: Walker Lake, which is within a volcanic cone on the south side of Kendrick Park near Hwy 180. We'll discuss photos taken from the cone in the 1870s-1880s showing Walker Lake and the San Francisco Peaks. We will also talk about the explorers who took them and the ecological changes later brought about by livestock grazing, fire suppression, and wildfire.
We will hike a trail to the rim of the cone and then walk short distances off-trail to photopoints within the cone and one on its rim. If we have time, we then will encircle the rim of the cone to enjoy many scenic vistas.
John is an ecologist, educator and writer. His interest in how and why forests have changed through history began with a youthful fascination for repeat photographs, in which historical images had been retaken many decades later to reveal long-term historical and ecological changes.
During John's 31 years teaching and researching ecology as a professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, John had two research leaves at Northern Arizona University during which he fell in love with Flagstaff and the San Francisco Peaks. After moving here, he spent more than a decade studying forest changes in Grand Canyon National Park. Most recently, John repeated historical photographs around the Peaks over the last 7-8 years.
Details and directions will be emailed to the group after registration is complete. We will have a couple copies of John's book to examine during the walk, but others are encouraged to bring their own copies (the book is available at https://soulsticepublishing.com/product/time-book/).
Register Here
Date:
Saturday, June 10, 2023, 09:00am - 12:00pm