An Excellent Use of Time

It's been pretty smokey here today due to a large fire that is currently burning up the forest near one of my favorite areas. The cause is under investigation and I can only hope it's not because some genius threw their cigarette out the window in the middle of the national forest.

I figured the best way to escape the smoke was to head 26 miles up the road to a trail head on the opposite side of the mountain from where the fire is burning. I was not disappointed because half way to my destination the smoke cleared and all I could see was blue sky and the mountain. It looked something like this.



Now I like to share my hiking experiences with my friends and a mile or so up the trail I realized I still had cell service so I snapped these pictures and sent them to a few gals who I knew would appreciate the scenery. (This water in this creek is snow melt from the surrounding mountains.)





Candy promptly sent me a picture of a hamburger she'd made, which would have been extremely tasty and well enjoyed while overlooking the creek.

Marni asked what the temperature was (a lovely 72) and then informed me her dear husband announced they were moving to Oregon(yay).

Boz and I continued our hike and I'm not sure that it gets any better than this.



Or this.



There are a lot of wildflowers in bloom and everything is so green. Except this little guy.



And these.



Boz was kind of being a big wuss about crossing the foot bridge.



But, once he figured it out he kept going back and forth across it. Dork.





I guess it wasn't a bad way to spend the afternoon.