 | Aaron D. Gifford's collection ofFree Desktop Wallpapers Photo: Caanan Mountain Above the High Desert PlainIPv4You are not logged in. Click here to log in. |
WARNING: This is a VERY OLD web page, from the days before 1920x1080 high definition computer monitors existed and when 4K, 5K, or 8K resolutions had yet to be dreamed about, and over-the-air HDTV was only a thing among early adopters. Streaming video and large high-resolution monitors were virtually non-existent. That means the wallpaper images here are usually WAY TOO SMALL for a modern desktop. These are some desktop wallpapers I made from digital camera snapshots I've taken. You're free to download any of them to use on your own computer desktop as a wallpaper. If you wish to share any of them with others, please give them the web address of this page so that they can download them. Please don't distribute the images or use them for anything other than computer desktop wallpapers without first obtaining permission from me in writing. Thanks for respecting my copyright! If you see an image you would like to use as a wallpaper, you can just click on the appropriate image size below the thumbnail. Once the image loads, in most browsers you can right-click on it (or option-click) and a menu will pop up allowing you to set your desktop wallpaper to use this image. Or if you want to save the image to your computer's hard drive, right-click on the size link (like "1024x768" if that is the size of your desktop screen), and then save the image somewhere on your disk. A few of the wallpapers here belong to (were shot by) other people. The copyright owners have given me permission to distribute those images under the same terms as my own wallpaper images, but the owners retain full copyright. Check the JPEG comments in the image files themselves for copyright information. 
My maternal grandmother was born on a ranch on Kolob, now a part of Zion National Park, in July in 1910. Today the family went hiking to try to find where the old family homestead was where she was born. There were wild roses growing along a trickling stream bed near where she was born. It was a beautiful day and a stunningly beautiful area, sandstone cliffs, ponderosa pine, verdant mountain meadows with wildflowers blooming.
The long light of the setting sun illuminates the snow speckled Navajo sandstone cliffs of Timber Top Mountain in the Kolob Canyons section of Zion National Park, Utah, as seen from the scenic loop road five miles from exit 40 of Interstate 15.
A bank of sand adjacent to the eastern dam of Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah is bedecked in Spring glory, though technically it's still winter.
The first weekend of the new year, my father and I drove up to Zion National Park, Utah. The clouds were hanging low, wreathing the tall sandstone monoliths encircling the Virgin River-carved canyons of Zion. Snow decorated the tops of the sandstone peaks, and even descended into the canyon to the canyon floor. Wow! It was beautiful. This shot was taken from the roadside on one of the switch-backs as we descended back into the canyon after visiting the eastern parts of Zion. There, before us, as the light was beginning to fade, was this amazing sight, West Temple above Springdale, surrounded by ethereal clouds, sprinkled in white.
While hiking in Zion National Park, Utah one weekend with my brother and sister, I decided to stop and rest while my siblings continued on to the summit of Angels Landing while I waited on the trail below, not far past Scout Lookout. As I waited, this intrepid chipmunk paid a visit, probably looking for food, since many hikers bring snaks along with them. I was no exception. It was probably attracted by the sound of my opening a plastic bag of trail mix. This was a lucky shot. In the blurry background is a manzanita bush, and behind that, a thousand-foot vertical plunge down into the canyon of the Virgin River. This is a beautiful place to visit and I heartily recommend it to anyone who visits Southwestern Utah.
This snapshot was taken while on a late afternoon walk in January, 2003 in St. George, Utah. Along the east edge of Skyline Drive, as it climbs St. George's Red Hill, seepage from the sandstone hillside collects and drains. This shot was taken there, just before the sharp "U" turn in the road.
Lightning strikes atop Timber Top Mountain and adjacent Nagunt Mesa, both in the northwestern corner of Zion National Park, in the Kolob Canyons area, during a July storm started fires that burned the tops of both mountains. In the case of Timber Top Mountain, the fire started on the southwestern edge, then burned the drought-dry foliage on the top, progressing around the horseshoe shaped mountain top, to the northern side. After burning the top, the fire managed to sneak down the mountain, into a natural saddle of sorts. At the end of July, my brother and I drove to the Kolob Canyons Overlook, where various National Park and Forest Service personnel were keeping careful watch over the dying fire. This is one of the snapshots I took, the smoke rising from the saddle of Timber Top Mountain.
This shot was taken on top of Sand Mountain in southwestern Utah in the late afternoon on New Years Day, 2003.
While driving along a sandy dirt road northwest of the new Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah, I had to make a sudden stop and snap a few shots of the stunning wildflowers dotting the sandy desert soil, flowers taking advantage of the recent rains.
The sun sets on Shuntavi Butte in Zion National Park's Kolob Canyons area, as seen from the Kolob Canyons Viewpoint, a short, scenic drive of just over five miles from Interstate 15 exit 40 in Utah.
One afternoon on a rainy March day in St. George, Utah, I hiked the short climb to the top of St. George's West Black Ridge just north of Devil's Saddle. The rain was a light sprinkle. These tiny yellow flowers were in bloom. It was a beautiful day!
A sandstone outcropping near the recently completed Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah, sculpted by wind and rain, with Pine Valley Mountain in the background.
One windy March evening in Hurricane, Utah after some thundershowers, I went crazy snapping shots of the incredible sky as the sun set. This was just one of them, several nearby trees silhouetted against the sky, bending in the gusting wind.
On a late July afternoon in 2005, a thunderstorm left droplets of moisture on the foliage of my front yard. These flowers were stunning in color, so I just had to snap a shot of them.
One Friday evening in early August of 2005, my father, brother, and I drove to Cedar City, then up the canyon to Cedar Mountain. We stopped part way up among the Ponderosa pine, aspen, spruce, and fir trees along a meadow and drank deeply of the cool, humid mountain air, fresh with the scents stirred up by recent rain. One hillside below a stand of aspen trees was sprinkled with white daisies.
While hiking with family on Kolob in Zion National Park, Utah, I had to snap a shot of the beautiful sego lilies in the high desert mountain meadows around us. The sego lily is the State of Utah's official state flower.
A close-up shot of some of the flowers arrayed along abank of sand adjacent to the eastern dam of Sand Hollow Reservoir in Hurricane, Utah.
On a pleasant Sunday afternoon (Mothers Day), this bee was basking in sun and pollen among the daisies in my front yard. I just had to snap a quick picture.
Indian paintbrush blooms atop Shinob Kibe mesa near Washington, Utah in the late winter of 2005. This was the only blooming paintbrush I could find this particular overcast day, probably the first of the season, blooming near a concrete arrow, an aviation marker from the past, probably a left-over marker from an air mail route from the 1920s or 1930s.
One weekend, my brother, sister, and I were hiking the Angels Landing trail in Zion National Park, Utah. In several places where the trail is steep across the sandstone hogsback, over a thousand feet above the canyon floor, there are chains embedded in the rock to help hikers on their way. At one spot, a sprig of bright red Indian Paintbrush erupted from the rock where a chain was anchored in the sandstone. As usual, I could not resist taking a picture.
Taken in Hurricane, Utah one March evening after late winter showers. I couldn't stop myself from snapping shot after shot after shot. The sky was absolutely incredible, changing moment to moment as the light diminished. Sunsets like that really make me appreciate this amazing world we inhabit.
This spring, my sister and her sons (my nephews) were visiting my parents in Hurricane. On Saturday the 26th of March, my mother helped her grandsons color boiled eggs for Easter. After the coloring activity, she whipped out her camera and took a bunch of pictures. This was one of them. I liked it so much I asked her if I could put it up on my web site and share it with anyone else who might be interested in using it as a computer desktop wallpaper. She gave her permission. Thanks, Mom!
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