Another day in the woods with my dogs.
My friend Cindy came to visit from Grant County and she really likes to hike the Maple Pass trail so on Monday, that’s what we did. Us and over 100 other hikers. The place has become overrun with visitors. The restrooms were strewn with trash from the weekend. It was pretty appalling. I heard that someone else estimated 500 hikers on a weekend day. Egads. While this place is over-the-top beautiful, I may take it off of my list of places to hike. Cindy agreed and said she is ready to explore new trails next time.
Luna’s twelfth birthday was this past weekend and we celebrated with friends (dogs and people) and a hike to Cutthroat Lake Sunday afternoon. The original forecast had been for good weather but it was overcast and tried to rain on us. Not enough to get us wet. Going up the trail, we passed many people coming down and all of the dogs were well behaved. We got them off to the side so others could pass. Of course, it took quite a while to get to the lake but there was no big hurry. At the lake, we pretty much had it to ourselves that late in the day. The young dogs – Molly and Kala mostly – ran in big circles chasing each other and burning off steam. Luna, the twelve year old labradoodle kept up with them for one round. Sky found a stick. Really, she did. We visited and photographed and enjoyed the scenery, knowing soon all of it would be deeply covered in snow and we may not get up there again for many months.
This hike at this time of the year is nearly irresistible. How can you NOT do this? Just the drive to the trailhead is enough to make you stop and pay attention.
Yesterday afternoon we walked here on our hill. It was nice to get up into the tall bitterbrush and sage that did not burn four years ago.
Seasons have changed. Generally speaking, we have three seasons defined by color – white, green and brown – and we are officially in the brown season now. Or maybe it’s more of a golden season. That sounds nicer. Most of the foliage that grew vigorously in the late spring and early summer has dried to a yellowish tan with a few sparks of color here and there. Remnants of wildflowers and berries. Aspen leaves – some still green, many yellow and some more orangish.
My Everyday Photos 