Waimea Canyon Drive, Kaua'i, Hawai'i

The Waimea Canyon Drive was my favorite road trip on Kaua'i. The road meanders along, following the edge of the canyon. I was relieved to see guard rails, providing a sense of security, on sections of road that seemed to be mere inches from certain death if a tire drifted off the pavement onto a non-existent shoulder. I wonder how many plunge to their deaths off this road?, but I really don't want to know.

Years ago, a girl friend and I, with our young daughters, took a trip through Colorado on our way to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We drove up the Pike's Peak Highway. Stopping to chat with a ranger on our way, we just had to ask that very question. His answer was most disturbing, I didn't enjoy the rest of that drive, not relaxing until we made it back down off the mountain.

I have a love-hate relationship with mountains. I love mountains, I belong in the mountains but, I am terrified of heights. I sort-of like that adrenalin rush of the fear, but I sure don't like the terror I feel, the fear of free falling off a cliff and smashing at the bottom. My palms are sweaty as I type that. *shudder* I doubt that I'll ever really take that mule ride down the Grand Canyon, I need to erase that from my list of things to do.

A short distance along the road and the canyon is deep, our first stop, I get kind of close to the edge but not too close without a fence or guard rail.

The rest of my pictures were taken at pull-out lookout points with heavy sturdy fences firmly anchored into the ground to keep us sight-seers safe.

Now I want to point out something quite disturbing; well it was to me. On the second picture, look at that hump of red rock cliff below the tree line... see it? Look at the top of it, see the defined line? That is a hiking trail, for crying out loud, and people were actually out there hiking it. They were too far away and teeny tiny to show up on this picture. It made my palms sweat.

Colors, shadows, depths, waterfalls... spectacular and constantly changing.

A different view of the falls as we drive further along the road and increasing elevation.

As we reach the end of the road there are several lookout points. We are looking straight out across a canyon that opens to the ocean. This shot is to the left.

This view is to the right. The view constantly changes as the clouds drift by. We could appreciate the elevation change as at one point, a tour helicopter flew for a short distance into this canyon and you could just barely make it out.

The clouds have drifted by and the sky is clear. We have driven a bit further and this is another view.




Feral hens, chicks and roosters are all over the island. Everywhere. These were pecking about in the parking area at the end of the canyon drive.
The story we heard, was that a hurricane demolished a large chicken ranch, spreading the birds over the island and without predators they have flourished. Sounds fair enough, I'd come up with a better story myself though.

Mutt and Jeff

Our Summer's End

Sunday, the final day of summer.
Between work, family and home; my days are no longer my own.
I declared that Sunday should be a day in the mountains fishing. No chores-No work.
We headed over the Sierra via Carson's Pass and into Hope Valley.

The highest elevations produce these trees. I need to recall the name.

Our destination, a trout filled stream.

First attempts at fly fishing.

Climbing down to the creek to unsnag his line.

NOT his waders.....

A consultation...... where are the fish?

A view of Hope Valley. The weather was crisp and breezy.

I fished, watched clouds blow over the mountains, took pictures, and breathed deeply.

The trees aren't changing color yet. Brilliant patches of yellow aspens dot these hills in autumn.

"On the Rocks."

Cheese & crackers, a bottle of wine, NO corkscrew!

Jerry and Amy picnicking.

A parting shot as we hike out to head home.

In a couple of days, Jerry and I head to Colorado for a pack trip into the mountains. It may be warm, it may rain, it may snow, it will most certainly be an adventure.

The Eleventh...

Yesterday was our 11th month wedding anniversary... already! In one sense it seems like we've been married for a very brief moment in time, but then recall all that has occurred during that eleven months and it feels more like forever. I decided early on, to celebrate monthly wedding anniversaries because there is a better chance of reaching our Golden Fiftieth Anniversary(months). Not much of a shot at fifty years due to our advanced ages as newly weds.

I've been 5 hours away from home all week, working. Due to the price of fuel and the long distance, I had planned not to go home for the weekend. However, I got home-sick, and the temperature was already over 100 F by 10 a.m. , and it was our anniversary. When I called Jerry to let him know I was headed home, he went out and bought fishing licenses. The plan being to head up to a nearby mountain lake for some fly-fishing.

I got home mid afternoon, we packed sandwiches and drinks and headed for the mountains. But not until I had played with the crazy kittens, played with Cort, patted the horses, and wandered about admiring the flowers and gardens. Well, 'admiring' isn't exactly what I did when viewing our vegetable plants.


It was several degrees cooler at home than it was down in the Central Valley where I've been working. And it cooled more as we drove further into the Sierras. We stopped several times and hiked a bit, never did stop to fish though. The drive was just too nice.



Join us on our drive!

It doesn't take long for the vegetation to change from a mixed forest to a predominant evergreen forest. The clouds were building rapidly and the temperature drop was refreshing.

I love seeing the mountains in the distance.




And the clouds kept building deeper and darker. In some areas the pavement was dark, wet and steamy from recent showers.

This is the forest just west of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lots of trails, camping, rivers and lakes in this area. There was NO traffic

We drove off on a small logging road and found a nice clearing for our dinner picnic.

We had each eaten half a sandwich when the rains came down. Finishing dinner in the truck seemed a better choice than braving the rain and gobs of mosquitoes. There was plenty of thunder booming all around.

On the drive back home, we pulled over to enjoy this colorful sunset.

I took a lot of sunset pictures, playing around with different settings and effects; this is one of my favorites.

Did you notice this little detail, to the left of the first sunset? Smoke from a forest fire. We noticed two separate fires on our way home. Jerry has a scanner in his truck so we were listening in on some of the firefighters and helicopter pilots discussions. I had no idea he had a scanner radio..... He has a lot of electronic and phone stuff in that truck. I guess 11 months isn't enough time to know everything about Jerry.

This morning there were news reports of over 400 fires started in northern California from that storm and all of the lightning strikes! We could smell smoke in the morning air when we got up today. No fire threats close to us thankfully.

This afternoon I drove south again and here I am for another week of work.

This area suffered 108 degree temperature while I was gone. Man! That is hot.

Sweet dreams everyone.

Loon Lake

Saturday was a busy work day for me. We had plans to head up the mountains to one of my favorite places, Loon Lake, for a day of fly fishing on Sunday. After supper Sauturday, Jerry suggested heading for Loon Lake right then and spending the night. Sounded good to me! We packed my truck with food and drink, our fishing gear, bedrolls, and we were off.
In the dark, aided by an almost full moon, we found a narrow dirt road and a nice flat place to settle down for the night in our bedrolls. Up early in the morning for a tail-gate breakfast, a day full of fishing, peace, and good company!






We had a wonderful day.

Did I mention we didn't catch any fish? But we didn't care!

Wolf Creek, California

I took over 150 pictures this past weekend. I hope I haven't posted too many. The joys of digital photography! This first one is a shot of the 'golden' foothills, along the western slope of the Sierras.

Along Carson Pass, crossing from the west to the east, there are a cluster of brilliant lakes. I think this was Caples Lake.

Setting up our camp in the woods bordering a grassy valley meadow. Jerry takes great pride in his camp cook skills. Our friend Gene looks on.

The meadow; cattle spend summers here, fattening on the lush green grass. We had to drive over the Carson Pass, South along the base of the eastern slope for an hour, and finally quite a distance up and deep into the eastern side of the Sierras to reach this uninhabited area.

Viewing the meadow as our horses climb higher along the trail into the mountain wilderness.

Higher still! We are just starting on our Saturday ride. On the lower right you can see "Rock's" ear and the narrow trail.

The trail climbed to a summit and followed it for several miles. Looks like Jerry was trying to point something out down in the canyon.

Granite surfaces are common in the mountains. These were fairly steep and slick on our trail Sunday morning. We were all a bit more cautious today as one horse in our party had fallen Saturday and was wedged in a tight crevasse. The rider was a bit bruised, the horse OK, after Jerry and I used lariats to roll her over so she could get back to her feet. Sorry no pictures of that!

Another breath-taking view as we reach another little meadow after climbing trails for over an hour. Jerry, Sharon, Julie, Larry and Gene.

A not-so-clear picture of riding in the mountain forest. The trails were dusty, especially for the photographer riding 'drag'.

You probably can't appreciate how high we are above Wolf Creek along this narrow rocky trail. There were trout in this river. Larry caught quite a few Saturday night. Wouldn't you know, I neglected to pack my fishing gear this trip!

Rugged beauty! The eastern slope of the Sierra is much more harsh and dry than the western side.

I wish you all, who enjoy the wilderness and outdoors, could share these wonderful trips and places with us. I hope in some small way, through my pictures I can share this land that we are so blessed with.