A Day with Alison and Ammon in the Great Outdoors

Throughout most of my life I have blessed with a great love for the great outdoors.  It matters little what the season is.  I spend considerable time researching the local mountain trails and look for excuses to experience as much of nature as I can,  It has good for my health, both body, mind and spirit.  Often in the past I have gone solo on these little adventures much to the chagrin of my good wife, Iris.  She has always encouraged me to find someone to go with, but I must admit that I have also gone solo on many occasions,  Most of them turned out well, although I have felt the unseen hand  reaching out to protect me on more than one occasion and I have had the wisdom of this desire to go solo questioned, not only by Iris, but by some others who are our friends and family.  On one occasion, I got home safely, to find out that the Search and Rescue had been called out to look for me.  I was a few hours late returning from my climb to the top of Meade Peak in Idaho.  I always take a camera, and who knows where that might lead and what  effect these little sidebars may have on the timing my adventures,  I have always tried to be very cautious and not do anything risky.  But certain people I know and love are not so sure.

I have been blessed with good health for the most part throughout my life.  This has allowed me to have many experiences off the beaten path that I never would have had with out this great blessing. I give credit to my ancestors for sharing their good genetic makeup with me, but I also work hard to stay healthy, mentally, spiritually, and physically.  For the most part this hard work and a little self disciple along these lines have been successful.  These adventures have led me to mountain peaks nearly two miles above sea level, and to mining shafts about half that deep into the earth (an operating silver mine in Northern Idaho). 

Living in Logan we are surrounded by the beauties of nature and I have tried to take advantage of all these interests and see what there is in our own back yard..  Today was one of those days.  I had talked of going to White Pine Lake, which is located in the mountains up Logan Canyon and about 12 miles from the main highway.  There is a paved road for the first seven miles after leaving Logan Canyon Highway.  Alison got wind of my impending trip and wanted to go with me, later Ammon decided to tag along, Grandma Iris was happy with that, and so we left a little before eleven AM.  I think Alison has a little of her mother in her and didn't want his admittedly aging grandpa out in the mountains all alone.

The weather was beautiful, and especially at that elevation, over 8000 feet above sea level for the entire trip,  We left the sweltering heat in Cache Valley, over 95 degrees, and enjoyed the day  where the temperatures were about twenty degrees cooler,  We drove to Tony Grove, and then hiked into White Pine Lake.  This time of year is supposed to be about the peak for the wildflowers in that area,  As it turned out there were only a few places where the wildflowers were thriving, must of them had already succumbed to the intense heat and drought we have been experiencing this summer.

It turned out to be a wonderful hike (actually) Ammon rode his mountain bike.  I've had enough experience with bikes in the mountains to know that that is not an easy way to go over a rocky an sometimes sandy trail.  He is tough though and actually stayed pretty close to his sweet wife and his aging father-in-law.  This was also greatly appreciated,

Alison and I took a lot of pictures, imagine that.  Some are posted below.

Alison and Ammon starting out on the trail.

Alison and Ammon sitting on old white pine that had fallen to the lake some years earlier.

Just to prove I was there. I appreciate Alison's kindness to me all the time.  She seems to always be looking out for her parents or someone else.  I know, I don't add much to picture, but Alison, didn't seem  to mind.

Some species of mountain daisies,

Mountain asters

Just a little camera experiment using the close up macro setting which allows me to focus up to  four tenths of an inch. This flower was less than a quarter of an inch in diameter.

The pictures above represent just a few of the pictures we took of the beautiful wildflowers for which this particular hike is renowned.  They were, however, for the most part, suffering from the extreme heat and dry conditions we have experienced for the past several months.

We even stopped to observe a colony of ants busily engaged in preparing a home for the winter in a decaying tree stump.  I think they could teach us all some very important lessons.

Thanks for going with me, Alison and Ammon,  I hope I didn't prove to be too much of a pain,