Reflections of Autumn

Fall has come to a favorite spot of mine, Willow Lake. Since discovering this little gem of a hike a few years ago, I have been determined to make it up here with my camera when the leaves were changing, but have been sidelined by a bad knee or unlucky enough to miss-timed when to expect the colors. I had reason to believe this was 'the week', but I had spent the week recovering from surgery and by the weekend, as I began to feel better, instead of hiking weather we had a dreary weekend of rain predicted, making me afraid I might once again miss my opportunity. But when a window of blue sky opened up Sunday on this otherwise very rainy weekend I suggested to my friend, "Let's go!", and he resoundingly said "Yes!" and off we went. Apparently this was my lucky year!

As frequently happens I've had a hard time deciding which pictures to post, so here is my indecisive collection of similar, yet different shots.

I wrote a little haiku to go along some of these pictures...

Autumn reflections

Leaves of green fade to yellow

Summer slips away

Fall in Utah...

Fall in Utah... a trip up Diamond Fork Canyon for a soak in Fifth Water Hot Springs..... One of 3 trips we took there this fall...

On the trail again...

Lake Catherine

Happy dance for me! I finally tool my first post surgery hike... Hiked up the Brighton lakes, Mary, Martha and Catherine... 2 miles up to Lake Catherine, a 1200 foot elevation gain, an honest to goodness trail with rocks and roots and obstacles.. By local and my hiking buddies standards, an easy-ish hike... but a small milestone for me. Not sure I'm ready for epic adventures, as my knee certainly isn't quite "right" yet, but it sure felt good to be out there.. I had good company too, Matt's girlfriend Alicia came along with me.

Lake Martha

Lake Mary

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Sedona Sojourn Day 8 - Triple Cheeseburger!

You know me and my cheeseburger summit hikes... after a week of hiking I found a few I could do, and I finished my vacation with a triple cheeseburger day! Check them out on the Summit Cheeseburger Site! Doe Mountain Brins Mesa Table Top Mesa

Sedona Sojourn Day 7 - Boynton Canyon

An intersting thing about Sedona... It is known for it's powerful energy vortexes... If you are a metaphysical type or energy worker you'll know what I mean. I can't say I am believer or non-believer.. as I do suppose there are things modern science has yet to discover, but being a "show me the data" girl I do examine these things with a weird mix of open-mindedness and skepticism. Of the four energy vortex I visited, I can't say I noticed anything special until I visited Boynton Canyon. I have no idea if it was special energy, but my experience there was amazing. Perhaps people were scared away by the 'bear warning' signs or the fact that someone marked out the mileage on sign and scrawled 3.3 miles by GPS as the distance to the end of the canyon, but I hiked to the end of the canyon in solitude. I stood there surrounded by tall cliffs in near silence, silence punctuated by the buzz of insects and the caws of crows playing high up on the canyon walls. It was peaceful, and beautiful, and I have no idea if I was feeling vortex energy, but I certainly felt the beauty of being one with nature... it was quite magical. I hiked out of the canyon with such a happy, serene heart, and as I came closer to the trailhead I heard music... Indian flute music wafting up the canyon. High on a spire sat a man with a flute. What a magical experience!!! I ran into some people near the trailhead. They said the musician comes there everyday to play, and that he decorates the trees with sandstone hearts, and also gives hearts to people he meets along the way. I hiked the spire trail to better hear the music. The music ended and a guy walked up. He extended a hand, which held a sandstone heart and said "Here is a gift from mother earth". He certainly was not the the hippy-dippy Sedona energy worker type I expected... just an ordinary looking 50ish year old man, dressed in chinos and polo shirt. We chatted a bit and I thanked him for his lovely performance. As I hiked back down the car I noticed that indeed, there were sandstone hearts decorating the trees. What an interesting, special place Boynton Canyon turned out to be!

Sedona Sojourn Day 6 Mund's Wagon Trail

After having such a delight evening adventure the night before, I was actually kind of tired, so rather than rushing out to hike I went out for a lovely breakfast. Then headed to a trail not far from the resort. Mund's Wagon Trail. Very shortly into the hike things got confusing. The trail merged with a wash, and became unclear. As I stood there confused about where to go, wondering if I was confused because I was so tired and dazed, another hiker walked into the wash. Whew, he was as confused as I was, but suggested maybe the trail crossed the jeep road. I decided to follow him but it didn't take long for, me to decide that must not be the way and turned around. Back in the wash I spied a cairn marking the right way, so I was off. I ran into a couple of nice women and hiked along with them. Not but a 100 yards down the trail the three of us were confused about where the trail went. As we stood contemplating the trail (or lack there of), my first hiking buddy ambled up. I greeted him, telling him I'm glad he found us and wasn't lost in the desert,and we all stood confused about where to go next.

Eventually we found the trail, and I decided that since the trail seemed so confusing, and I was tired and perhaps not thinking clearly, that perhaps I shouldn't be hiking alone and asked the guy if I could join him. He seemed happy for the company,so off we went together. His name was Rob, he had driven up from Phoenix for the day to hike and take pictures. So we hiked the 4 miles to the end of the trial and back, having nice discussions, mostly about photography along the way. Once again I was pleasantly surprised by nice people you meet while adventuring alone. Great company and conversation, I learned a lot of new photography info, plus I was motivated to forget my tiredness and do the entire 8 mile hike. Another great vacation day!!!