The canyon called again

And it was not even an odd day. But when I came home tonight I remembered that the gate is scheduled to open tomorrow, so tonight would be my last chance to do my new favorite evening hike- Burch Hollow to Elbow Fork and back down the road to the car. I took Daisy, although I was a little worried because last time she did that hike with me we got back to the car and she couldn't jump in. I had to pick her up, all awkward 80 lbs of her, to get her in the car. She will be 11 next month (77 in dog years), has a bit of arthritis and (just like me) is a bit "fluffy". It makes me terribly sad to see my favorite hiking body slowing down and unable to go the distance. Especially since she really wants to accompany me. So tonight we took it easy, more of a saunter up the hill, meander down the trail, with lots of stops for me to enjoy the wildflowers and use my camera. The flowers were really lovely tonight. The Wasatch Penstemon, one of my favorite wildflowers, was in full bloom.

And Daisy did well. When we got down the road to the parking lot at the winter gate I could tell she was scoping out all the cars looking for ours. She was ready to be done and I'm not sure she was happy that ours was a half mile further down the road at the Burch Hollow trail head. But she trooped along, and, luckily for me, managed to hop up into the car on the third try. Poor baby. She had a hard time getting out of the car when we returned home. It's so sad to see my baby get old.




I just adore this rocky section of the trail and all the lichens on the rocks.





Ah. the penstemons... I just love them!