Flagstaff hiking

Our next stop was the Flagstaff, Arizona area. This is a view of the San Francisco Peaks from the trail up to O'Leary Peak which is near Sunset Crater National Monument.The high point on the right is tallest peak in Arizona, Humphrey Peak (12,635'), which we got to the top of a few days later. All these mountains are volcanic, so lots of great geological features in this area. 

View of sunset crater from O'Leary Peak

We hiked into Doyle Saddle in the middle of the San Francisco Peaks on the Weatherford Trai. This was our lunch time view. It had snowed a foot up here three days earlier, so we were hiking in slushy snow part of the way up. Great hike and not many people on the trail.

Proof that we made it to Humphreys Peak. It was cooler day, which helped me get to the top (Jolie had no problem making it up there)

Panoramic view from the top of Mt. Humphreys

Snowmen on the Mt Humphreys Trail.

Just outside of Flagstaff on national forest land there is mile long lava tube that is tall enough (up to 30 feet) to walk along the entire length. Completely dark, so we each had multiple headlights. The cave entrance is right behind us.

Jolie inside the lava tube. 35-40 degrees year round. We didn't see any sign of bats or any other living creature in the cave.

Zion in Spring

Jolie and I spent two weeks in Southern Utah and Arizona hiking, biking, visiting Jolies family and her friends Tonia and Topper.  This is a picture of a cactus flower jolie took while we were on a bike ride near Zions, the Wire Mesa Trail. The first half of the trail was very nice the last half got much more technical, so we were walking few quite a few features. Jolie's uncle Morgan (the "godfather" of mountain biking in this area) told us about this great trail. Hoping Morgan has a speedy recovery from his recent surgery.

This is a view into the valley along the Wire Mesa Trail. Mount Kinesava is in the distance.

We hiked up to Kolob Arch on the west side of Zion NP. This is a view into Hop Valley on the way to the arch.

Jolie hiking in Hop Valley

In the small creek in Hop Valley we saw thousands of tadpoles.

Gregory Butte on the way to Kolob Arch

7.5 miles from the trailhead we got to the arch just before the clouds moved in. Had a nice lunch on a rock ledge next to a small waterfall and a view of the arch (unfortunately, to cold for a nap today).

Webb Mountain Lookout

Jolie, me and Polgara spent 4 nights at the Webb Mountain Lookout. Due to the fires, the great views from the lookout were not as good as we had hoped. We still had a good time and got in some good hikes.

Our best sunset colors. That peak on the right has a small dot on the top - that is another fire lookout on Mt. Henry

A sunrise without smoke! The small light just above the lookout is the moon

This is Mt Henry with lookout shown on the sunset picture above

Whats that, you say? That is what we found on top of Subaru engine when we got home - a pack rat nest with a big rat starring me in the face when I opened the hood! Sorry, no picture of the rat (dead or alive). He proved sneaky - hard to kill a rate without damaging something else. So, we closed the hood, let him get comfortable and caught him just as he(she?) was brushing his teeth before bed time..... sorry rat ... time for a dirt nap.

Sawtooth Backpack

Jolie and I planned a 7 day 54-mile backpack in the Sawtooth Mountians in central Idaho. This is our first sunset at Alice Lake

Our first camp at Alice Lake (yes, two people can fit in that tent without suffocating one another)

Sunrise on Alice Lake

The water in Alice Lake was so clear we could see these shelves and channels below the water

Wildflowers were still great at the higher elevations

At Cramer Divide. Was a little smoky this day and there was a dark cloud approaching

This was our sunset view at our camp on Cramer Lakes

This was our sunrise view on Cramer Lakes

We woke up early to watch sunrise over Baron Lakes and Warbonnet Peak, but the sun didn't co-operate to well. This is one of the few shots I got with sun on the peak

Our last night was spend at beautiful Sawtooth Lake - this is our first view of the lake and surrounding mountains

More wildflowers - these are columbine

Sunrise at Sawtooth Lake

Sunrise on Sawtooth

One more sunrise view of Sawtooth Lake.  We hiked out to the car this day. When we got to the car we saw a cooler that someone had forgotten in the parking lot - it just happened to have cold water in it and several beers!!! Who says there is no backpacking god?

Hiking in Glacier

Jolie and I tried to get a backpacking permit in Glacier NP, but they are very competitive so instead we spend 5 days doing day hikes. Our first night we sat on the shore of Lake McDonald and watched the moon rise over the mountains.

We hiked up to Huckleberry Lookout - one of the best views of the park wasnt too good this day due to smoke.  But it lived up to its name, we picked half a gallon of huckleberries in less than an hour (we could have had a gallon if I hadn't eaten so many). Already had some in pancakes - more still in the freezer.

An early morning ride over Going to the Sun Road got us this picture of Logan Pass and Mt Oberlin.

Instead backpacking over gunsight pass we did a out and back 18.4 mile hike to it (or as I like to call it, a death march). This is a view of fireweed, and Gunsight Lake.

At Gunsight Pass there were several Mtn goats hanging around - they dont mind being around humans which makes for easy pictures of them.

View into Gunsight lake (and our boots) from Gunsight Pass

Like I said, the goats are very photogenic

A small waterfall on Reynolds Creek. I only took this picture because I need an excuse to rest with about a mile left in the hike, but it turned out pretty good.

We saw this colorful guy (a Cedar Waxwing) on Marion Lake, a short day hike just outside the parks southern border.

Pipestone Biking

Jolie and I spent a few days near Butte biking/hiking the fantastic trails around Pipestone Pass. We biked an epic (well epic for us) 20.4 mile/2,700 foot elevation gain trail along the continental divide - talk about exhausted afterwards. The crazy thing is that the day before we rode it, they held one of the toughest mountain bike races in the country here - the Butte 100 - those guys rode 100 miles in this area (including this trail) with 16,000 feet of elevation gain ... inhuman .... winner took over 10 hours to complete.

Over halfway through our ride we stopped for lunch, Jolie was exhausted from riding and took a hard nap due to all that hard biking. Hmmmmm ... maybe that can of Lime-a-Rita (8% alcohol content) had something to do with the nap ????... just saying.

Canyon Creek Trip

Jolie, me and Polgara (not in the picture) spent 4 days in Canyon Creek (in the Pioneer Mtns near Dillon, MT) hiking and enjoying this cabin with a bunch of mice (we trapped four of them, but suspect there were more)

One night we got a great sunset as a storm passed over at just the right time ....

.... storm ....

more storm...

Last storm picture

These are some of the 20 plus charcoal kilns near the cabin. Way back when they clear cut the hillsides around here for wood to then pile up in these structures to make charcoal (the process is to burn the wood in a low oxygen environment over a 2-3 week period). The charcoal was used elsewhere for smelting metals (charcoal burns hotter than wood and thus was needed for the smelting process)

Jolie and Polgara on our way to Crescent Lake and the unammed pass and peak above it.

The view from the pass back into Crescent Lake and Lake Abundance in the distance.

Flowers were beautiful the whole way up, here are some bright paintbrush just below the pass.

At Lion Lake, another gorgeous lake in this area. We had to leave Polgara back at the cabin this day - she is getting too old for back to back long hikes.

That isnt a cinammon bun! On our last hike we did take Polgara and she walked right past this guy/gal? who took offense and was rattling and ready to strike. By the time I took this picture it had already calmed down - I was smart enough not to get to close for a better picture (age has its adavantages).