What A Fun Summer ! ! !

We are enjoying a really nice summer. We've heard others saying how hot it is -- but to us, it is perfect! Around the first of September, before our trip to California, we took a hike up around the "Alpine Loop". The hike was described in the newspaper with a map of the route. It said that it was a six and a half mile hike that would take us four to five hours to accomplish.
There was only 750 feet in elevation gain though, so we didn't think that it would be too hard. We completed the hike in three and three quarters hours. So we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Although I must say that the last half hour we were feeling pretty tired.
This is a bee's nest that we saw along the way. It was only about two meters away from the path where we made haste to get safely away (after taking the picture).
Pretty cool looking mushrooms of some sort growing on the side of the trees.
This resting spot was our chance to catch our breath and eat our sandwiches.
The leaves were just barely starting to change colors. We will have to do the hike again in a month when the whole mountain side and surroundings are ablaze with orange, red, yellow and gold. We're sad to see summer ending, but Autumn, even as short as it is, is our favorite season!

Great scenery! As we hiked, we came across three pairs of bikers, a couple guys on horses and a runner. But we were alone most of the time. It was quiet, except for the rustling of the aspen leaves. We saw a few chipmunks, and a lizard or two. There were tracks from elk and deer, but we didn't get going early enough to see any big animals in action. (Except for the human variety.)
Big trees! We had long stretches of real shady areas.

The moon has been visable in the day time for quite awhile.
More pretty trees.
This is another one of those fun timed photos. Dave got to run like crazy to get in the picture on time. We're easily amused!
Pretty flowers along the path.
You can see the path we followed. There was quite a bit of up and down, but it wasn't rocky (except for a real small area).
It was a great hike, and we're grateful that we're healthy enough to enjoy the great outdoors and God's beautiful surroundings!