Last stop in Bryce Canyon

On our way back to Montana we stopped at Bryce Canyon NP for a couple of days. This is Jolie on a trail into the Queens Garden that switchbacks multiple times in a short distance.

At the bottom of the Queens Garden hike.

We tried to get some sunrise shots, but was cloudy both mornings. This shot into the canyon caught the few rays of sun one morning from Sunrise Point.

Our second day in the park we hiked the Fairyland Trail. This is a great hike that winds through multiple amphitheaters of hoodoos. We saw this Stellar Jay on the trail.

A view of Two Towers on the trail. 

 

View of hoodoos on the trail

Surprisingly we saw some great flowers in the hoodoos. These Columbines were deep blue.

Another view on the Fairyland Trail

Water Canyon in the park. Not quite an original name, but it is beautiful

A few days in HOT Phoenix

We visited Tonia and Topper in Fountain Hills near Phoenix. We hiked in McDowell Mountain Park and hit the Segauro cactus blooms at the right time.

Does it look hot and dry? Cause it was!

Cooling off from the hot hike. Tonia and Jolie in the pool, and a great view towards the Superstition Mountains

After cocktails in the pool, this is the best selfie I could muster.

Sedona hike

We spent a day camping and hiking near Sedona, AZ. This is Steamboat Rock on the southern end of Oak Creek Canyon.

We did a hike up Turkey Creek (southwest of Sedona) to the edge of an old volcano. This is a view from the trail.

We saw several beautiful cactus blooms on the trail.

Second cactus flower

Final flower

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?