Another Day, Another Hike

This summer it has truly felt like the wilderness is calling to us...loudly. Every chance we get, we are off to the mountains or woods. It could be all the verdant greens, brought to us by an extra heavy rainy season, that I not only love, but physically need. Or maybe it is the bright, stunning wild flowers, also extra-voluminous this year because of the rain, that take your breath away every time you come around a bend in the trail and find a new vista flooded in color. It might be the exercise in the fresh air that doesn't really even feel like exercise because it is so beautiful out there. Or maybe it is the time with friends, talking, laughing, just being together that I love so much.

Whatever it is, today we were off again, this time joined by our great friends the Pucketts, to Black Forest Regional Park. And all of those things that give us that hiking itch were definitely with us!

Coming out here to Colorado, we learned first-hand that "forest" can be defined in many different ways. While the Western Washington forests are thick with various trees and abundant undergrowth, here there is very little that grows below the trees, which themselves aren't very varied, although all the rain is bringing out the best in the forest floor. Here are the black pines of Black Forest amid the purple blues of the Lupine.

Joel and Ben and Cory and Zach are great buddies from school; Josh loves being included as one of the "guys."

All in all, Ben counted fifteen varieties of wild flowers today, wanna take a tour of a few? Here's Indian Paint Brush (orange) mixed with Lupine. Dang! See, it's so much more lovely in real life! Lisa and I switched backpacks for half of our hike; Luke, who considers Lisa a great friend, didn't mind a bit. Lisa, her husband and two boys are headed on an amazing adventure to Rwanda later this week. They will have the privilege of visiting some of the outreach projects that their church is doing there to help pull the people and communities back together, as well as share the gospel through service, after the genocide in 1994. So awesome!

Nothing gets past Ben's eagle eye! What did he find hiding in the rocky soil? A teeny grass hopper that he didn't even bat an eye at catching. I remember when bugs used to not bug me just like that...oh, so long ago! When is it that they start giving you the heebie jeebies?
Wild rose (a little blurry, but still so pretty!)Half-way along our route there was a cute little shelter built that we took a short rest in. It took me a while to realize it was probably for hikers to use in a lightning storm. Yipes! It may have been a little overcast this morning, but no lightning, thank goodness! These are the kind of pictures you get when you try to photograph two curious, excited, happy to be out-and-hiking doggies. Finn and Ruby are always happy for every moment they get together, unless you are trying to take a picture of them. As we were returning to our cars today a couple of women asked us if they were related. They aren't, but easily could be, from the color of their fur right down to their matching tongue freckles!

So I had to settle for a picture of Ruby alone. Our princess! The boys always correct me when I say I am the only girl in our family...we mustn't forget our Rubybelle!Zach and Cory, down the trail with Rubes.
Josh found this perfect trail-side seat.

One more amazing wild flower: a Yellow Salsify...

...That was growing taller than Josh.