When I returned, in pursuit of my first big hike after a few weeks off training, it was the height of springtime in the mountains. In my part of the world, late spring is our hottest and driest season, and it was forecast to reach 90 degrees today. It did get plenty hot out there, but as they say, and believe me it’s true, it’s a dry heat! And last winter’s snows ensured that the creek was running, the riparian corridor was a jungle, the wildflowers were rampant, the flies were annoying, and the birds were ecstatic!
Not to mention the wild strawberries that I feasted on for extra energy, and the poison ivy that crowded the trail in the canyon bottom. I tried to be careful, but I fear another nasty rash may show up on various inconvenient areas of my body in the week to come…
Creekside wild rose with columbines in background
By far the best strawberries I’ve ever had
Poison ivy
Beetles swarming on fungus
Gambel oak filling in burn scar
High above the riparian jungle I penetrated earlier in the day, long, steep switchbacks finally bring me to the shoulder of the ridge, rewarding me with a view!
Fungus on charred bark
Mountaintop spring at 9,100′, destination of my hike
Hawk wing feather
Strawberry patch
A nice big one!
Probably a Clark’s nutcracker
Not sure what this big bird was, but they were all over the canyon
Big patch of poison ivy
Yellow rust, a fungal infection
Cooling my foot in ice-cold water
More columbines here than I’d ever seen
Bear passed this way earlier today, which is probably why flies were thick in this part of the canyon!
Poison ivy crowding the trail
High-contrast rock
My new boots look best on this red earth
Icing his foot in the stream ensured that Max was happy, not aching and stumbling, at trail’s end
