String Time

The girls love playing with string, and they were having such a good time that even Cowboy wanted to play.

He wasn't quite sure what to do though, so he mainly watched the girls.

I invited Tahoe to play, but he saw the commotion and ran away.

Aztec Peak

Tahoe and I climbed over 1,300 feet to reach the highest peak in the Sierra Anchas. The flower filled meadows were gorgeous.

The sunflowers really stood out against the blackened pine trees.

It's caterpillar season! They were everywhere. I awoke to find a half dozen of them crawling up my tent. I'm not sure why they were so attracted to it, but I watched one little guy fall down twice, and each time, he came back for another try.

This is the view from halfway up the mountain. The sunflowers stand out amongst the skinny, burnt trees. Roosevlet Lake is in the background.

View from the Top

From the top, the views are unlike any other place. You can see all the way from Cherry Creek Canyon to the Pinaleno Mtns.

Once again, I enjoyed the sandstone arm chair.

Cinega Trail

This trail is in the Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest.

It wound around the mountains with breathtaking views of Reynold's Canyon the whole way.

I was so excited to find this old mine shaft. I eagerly went inside, but made a quick retreat after a million angry bees let me know they live there now.

The trail ended at Cinega Spring, a cement trough with water spurting out the metal pipe.

Tree Trimming

Our gigantic eucalyptus tree has decided to prune itself. The first branch fell down a couple weeks ago.

Josh hacked it and cleaned it all up.

Here's branch number two. This one fell during the wind storm last night. I heard it crack, and went outside to check it out. The air was pungent with the smell of eucalyptus.

Cowboy

Tonight, I went out to my car to get something, and the boys followed me. Cowboy was so excited. He jumped in the car and refused to budge. Is it me, or does he look a little too comfortable in the driver's seat?

Elk Preserve

We camped in this elk preserve on Hart Prairie Road.

I saw this elk eating leaves at dusk. In the morning, when I unzipped my tent, there was a huge herd of deer grazing nearby. Tahoe couldn't wait to get out!

Aspens always have these white shelf mushrooms growing on the sides. They feel spongey and slightly sticky.

This reminds me of Monet's painting, Wheatfield with Crows.

Bismarck Lake

This is one of the prettiest trails I have hiked in a long time. It goes through fields of wildflowers, groves of aspen and douglas fir and ends at a tiny alpine lake.

Humphrey's Peak was hidden just behind the thick blanket of clouds.

Tahoe made some friends at the lake. He got them to chase him (his favorite game), and they ran around in circles until Tahoe threw up lake water. Then, I decided it was time to go.

I believe this is Dog Heaven.

Fisher Point

The trail led down into Sandy's Canyon.

It took us to Fisher Point which is the back entrance to Walnut Canyon. The beautiful sandstone walls are popular with climbers. As soon as we got to the bottom, it started to pour. We took shelter under a tree for a while, but I could tell it was not letting up, so we just sloshed through the rain back to the car.

We both got soaked, but Tahoe was brave. He didn't try to hide under bushes this time.

Flagstaff Cinder Fields

On my map, this area is labeled "lava" and that is all. I found an old jeep road which took me to the heart of the area.

It was barren and beautiful. Sage and native grasses cover most of the lava.

Cinder Cones

From the top of SP Mountain, I could see another ancient volcano to the south with Humphrey's Peak behind it. It looked interesting, so we hiked over there too.

We walked along the rim and then explored the center.

Tahoe liked to chase the birds.

SP Mountain

I had the best time exploring these cinder fields north of Flagstaff. This is SP Mountain; it is the only volcano that was named on my map.

The trail was an old jeep road which is now closed to vehicles. Then, we had to scramble up the steep, rocky side. It was even more difficult than climbing a sand dune. I would take a step forward and would immediately slide back down.

Descending was much easier for me. I sort of slid-skied down. Tahoe, on the othe hand, did not like sliding down the mountain, and I had to coax him down.

The skies threatened rain all day, but they waited until evening.