Aspen season

We’ve been watching the mountain above town progressively turn yellow all week, so went up to hike the appropriately-named Aspen Vista trail today.  It didn’t disappoint!

Another new tree

 This time a lacebark elm, to eventually break up the afternoon glare of the setting sun down at the saloon patio.

Mushrooms

 Earlier this year, we put some elm logs inoculated with oyster mushrooms spores in a couple of the water drainage features to help retain moisture in the soil, and I was surprised and pleased to find a crop of several pounds of oyster mushrooms this morning after the rain.  I know what we’re having for dinner tonight!

Vermilion Cliffs

I've been trying to get a permit to hike The Wave in Vermilion Cliffs forever.  Once again, no luck.  Fortunately, there are plenty of other nearby rocks to explore; the hike today is a good case in point and was one I wanted to do back in February when we were last in the area.  The weather was inclement then, but good today, so we got to play on the rocks.

This is one of those hikes where one basically heads into the wash and explores the rock playground, being careful not to step on anything fragile.  I love this kind of exploration!

 

 

After the hike, we drove down another dirt road to find yet one more empty campground and enjoyed one last quiet sunset.  After three weeks on the road, tomorrow we head home.

Cedar Breaks

For all the times we've been through this area, I never noticed Cedar Breaks National Monument on the map until this trip.  Naturally we had to go, and enjoyed a mellow hike along the rim.

 

On our way out, we definitely noticed that fall is approaching; leaves are starting to turn.  I'm looking forward to the hills at home going through the bright yellow aspen stage.

Bristlecone Forest

Both Chad and I have wanted to go to the bristlecone forest in the White Mountains in eastern California, so we planned to camp in the vicinity -- both to see the trees and to enjoy the high elevation views across the Owens Valley to the High Sierra.

There was a mostly empty campground with good views to enjoy on the way in.  It was pretty late in the day, so we set up camp and walked out to where we could see the valley before dinner.  Weather was rolling in, obscuring the high mountains, but it was still spectacular in the late afternoon light.

 

The next morning, we enjoyed the scenery on the approach road,

and made our way into the monument containing the four thousand year old trees.

I love how gnarled even the dead snags are; it is easy to imagine faces in them.

On our way out, the clouds started to clear and you could see the tips of some of the high peaks of the Sierra above the layer of fluffy white clouds.  The base of the valley here is about 4000 feet elevation; those peaks are around 14000 ft.  The terrain here is just beyond-belief-big.

Can't avoid the alien kitsch in Nevada

 Whatever route you take, it is there.  Of course, this time we drove right by Area 51.

Downieville

One of the points of this trip was to spend some time in Downieville.  Chad wanted to hang out and fish, we had deferred yard chores to catch up on, and we wanted to spend some time with Kean and meet his new kitten that adopted him by squatting under his car in the airport parking lot last August.

Let's start with the chores: we cleaned up the herb garden, pruned a bunch of trees, whacked back blackberries, and made a giant heap of detritus that can't yet go to the dump because they already have too big a pile there and aren't accepting more yard waste until after fire season is over.

We did get out for some walks with Kean, and also a nice hike up in the Lakes Basin.  It is, as always, gorgeous up there this time of year.

Chad fished most evenings, and caught a few small fishies.

And last but not least, Kean's kitten Fly (short for Flyaway since he was found at the airport) is just ridiculously cute.  He took a couple of days to figure out that Chad and I weren't scary, and then brought out his big purr.

Camping across to CA

We continued to find good campsites and bike rides as we worked our way across Utah and Nevada on our way to Downieville.  

Campsite up the canyon adjacent to a good bike trail outside of Logan.

Sole picture from the trip that shows we went into a real town.  Once.  This trip was delightfully mostly Out in the Boonies.

Gorgeous spot up at high elevation in Lamoille Canyon.  It was much cooler here than the rest of Nevada. There's also a somewhat challenging bike trail further down the canyon which we at least sort of enjoyed.  We were actually pretty lucky to camp here, as it was the last night they were open for the season.

And the aptly named Water Canyon was very lush and cool compared to its surroundings.  We ended up staying here because our bike ride earlier took too long and we didn't want a crazy long day.  I was happy to find a place next to the creek.

wet

dry