HIKING. . . A NEW PASSION !

We've been home from our stint in Arabia for three weeks now, and have gone on approximately six hikes. We've found that just above the town of Alpine, about 15 minutes from our home there are several hikes that have impressed us beyond measure! The scenery is fabulous! The wildlife is awesome! The weather has been perfect! We've been able to get some great aerobic exercise, and at the same time we've been inspired to keep going, because the beauty of the area is so impressive! We failed to bring the camera on the first five hikes. . . but this morning, we remembered! On a previous hike we saw a moose! And before we could get the camera pointed in the right direction, we saw a coyote this morning. Here are a few pictures from the wonderful experience we had this morning.
The above picture was one of those fun poses where we set the camera on the branch of a tree and set the 10 second timer. Dave ran like crazy to make it back to where I was waiting for the blinking red light to stop, and take the picture! It even turned out okay!
We saw his pretty butterfly towards the end of our hike.
This deer that came bounding towards us, not expecting to see two aged humans. I saw him before he saw us, and asked Dave to get the camera out before he saw us and headed off up the hill.
I remember this red flower. It's called Indian Paint Brush.

I asked Dave to go stand by this amazing mushroom so you could see how big it is!

Evidence of wildlife was all over the place.