Welcome to DesertAura.com!

The DesertAura website was started in 1998 as a pictorial of the communities in Cochise County, Arizona. It all started with my first digital camera. I quickly realized the economical benefits of digital photography (no recurring costs for film and developing!) and the ease with which photos could be displayed for others on the Internet. I was eager to do something with my camera and photographic passion that would be of interest to others. From this desire, the concept for DesertAura was born: a pictorial website of all the communities in Cochise County. DesertAura started out as a very "documentary" sort of website, with photos of public buildings and facilities, parks, schools, shopping districts, and housing areas. Because one of my favorite pastimes was being outdoors and hiking in the mountains, it was only natural that I include an Outdoors category in DesertAura where I displayed photos from my hikes in the many beautiful areas of southern Arizona. Later, I added an Events category, sharing photos of the many public events held throughout Cochise County each year.

DesertAura has since expanded to include photos from places beyond Cochise County and Arizona. This necessitated the change of the website's subtitle from "A Cochise County Pictorial" to "A Desert Lands Pictorial."

Cochise County is located in the southeast corner of Arizona. As Arizona counties go, Cochise is only average-sized. At about 6200 square miles, it is slightly larger than Connecticut (which is 5544 square miles). The population of Cochise County is approximately 120,000.

Cochise County was established on February 1, 1881, and is named after the great Chiricahua Apache chief. Cochise County is rich with classic old west history, from Apache and U.S. Cavalry conflicts to famous outlaw shootouts to mining boom towns and ghost towns. The landscape is a vast array of mountain ranges and desert grasslands. The two highest points are Chiricahua Peak (9,795 ft) in the Chiricahua Mountains on the eastern edge of the county and Miller Peak (9,466 ft) in the Huachuca Mountains on the western edge of the county.

All text and photographs © Beverly L. Parks. Do not use without permission.