Shaw Butte is a mountain very much like Camelback Mountain is to me. It dominates the skyline of my youth. I lived a few short miles away when I was a young teen. I would ride my BMX bike over to the field on the west side of 19th Avenue and hang out with the hang glider pilots. I was all of fourteen, very impressionable and the pilots there were sky g~ds.
At fifteen, I began to ride up the mountain with them. They would set up their gliders and I would help them with their chores of getting ready to fly. Then I would pile back in the truck and ride back down while they would speck out into the sky. Soon I was driving their trucks down myself. Bruce Adams, Ricky D, Dave Smith, John Leslie, Hans Heydrich and there were more. I idolized these guys, soaring pilots.
I was going to be one of them.
In just a few years time, I joined them in the sky at Shaw Butte. I circled high above the mountain thinking about growing up, hanging out with the pilots there, now I was one of them.
I knew Shaw Butte had petroglyphs but not from my flying there. My first exposure was from Bill Nightwine, a very cool pilot friend. Bill flew differently, spiritual in that he loved flying for what it was. He was very well grounded in his view of being a foot launched soaring pilot. He was my first exposure to a person that chose to fly hang gliders for a different reason, because he was tuned into nature. Bill told me about the rock art of the indigenous peoples. I feigned interest because I respected Bill but I wasn’t mature enough to understand, it wasn’t my time.
I’m older now, I no longer fly. I have fond memories of it and Shaw Butte is indelibly etched into my mind as a very powerful spot that occupies a special place in my memories.
Bill is gone now and every time I look or find rock art anywhere, I am reminded of him. He was my first exposure to this archeological study.
Recently, I meet a couple at the Arizona Archeological Society monthly meeting. They were so nice. We talked of our interests and somehow the subject got directed to Shaw Butte. The woman produced a photo of a street sign and the “Spiral Man” circled beyond it.
I knew exactly where that was. I jotted it down in my notes and memorized the angle past the stop sign.
I chose the AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f4.5 - 5.6 D a long lens I could hunt with on my Nikon D780. I parked near the stop sign and turned the zoom ring to 400mm and in short order vectored in the Spiral Man. I gathered my things and hiked up to the area changed the lens to the AF Nikkor 20-35mm f2.8 D and began taking pictures.
Northwest Side
I hiked up finding figures here and there and photographing them. My head was down but my spirit literally soared. I was on Shaw Butte again! This is a very special place to me. I will be back several times photographing the rock art of Shaw Butte.
Turns out, I missed a couple. I search with my telephoto lens, the AF VR Nikkor 80-400mm f4.5 - 5.6 D. Then I dead recon, triangulating known features then go find and take the images. At home I take a look at the search pictures and compare with the close ups. Sometimes I find a couple more. Repeat the process. I did that today to get the below image.
Northeast
I drove over to the visitors center after finding the Spiral Man. If you are interested in the rock art of the area, this is a great place to start. They have an actual petroglyph that was rescued from a private land construction site. They also have maps and literature about the area.
Hang gliding Shaw Butte
