Posing at the trailhead - Garrett & Ryan
The day started out beautiful. Lupine in abundance and sunshine.....that was soon to change!
Looking back over the valley to the Red Mountains.
A fantastic morning - great to be alive and able to get into the mountains and let the mountains get into us.
More of the Red Mountains - appropriately named I might add!
Uh Oh - a view to the southwest shows thunderheads building. Our storms up here generally come from the southwest. We'd better get moving. Being above timberline when these things roll in is not pleasant nor smart!
Wow, it just doesn't get any better than this. Why the Lord would bless me this much is beyond me!
First elk spotting - a cow off by herself. She gave us the eye and then roamed over to join the rest of the crowd.
We were high above the herd. They didn't even know we were around. They were not disturbed at all, which is just how I like it. There were probably 50-60 elk in this group.
Mr. Bumblebee enjoying an alpine sunflower...oblivious to the impending storm.
Three mule deer bucks were lounging way above timberline. They too did not seem to care that a storm was coming.
We'd just barely taken the buck photos above when the rumble began. We could see the storm approaching up the valley in a hurry. We hustled as fast as we could, often nearing a run to get back to tree line. Just as we got there it opened up and did some rumbling. We got a bit wet, but not bad. It rained most of the way to the car. But, when we got there and began eating lunch, the sun came out. However, it was short-lived as the storms just kept rolling in. We still had a great hike, even though it was short. Just a few minutes in God's outdoors is better than hours anywhere else!
