fiberhart

Out in the Great Outdoors

OK, I promised pictures from the hike Sadie and I took yesterday. We also spent the better part of today "en pleine aire"- Lance, Tiff, Jaden, DJ and I did a picnic up at Payson Lakes, and then a couple of hours fishing.

But, back to yesterday. I discovered this trail when Shannon and I walked here awhile back. I finally had enough time and energy yesterday to give it a go. It starts off cutting through some private land, then heads uphill pretty steeply into the Mt. Loafer Wildlife Management Area. I have no idea how much further the trail goes, my legs wouldn't even make it all the way to the top.

Here's a view looking south about halfway up--


And here's the view looking north. I took this from the highest point we hiked to. Even Sadie was ready to call it quits!


Beautiful, no? I always try to soak in and appreciate the green when we have it here. Trust me, by July much of the green will be brown, especially the grasses. I also got some pictures of wildflowers- but I'm saving those for another post.

Payson Lakes is up Payson Canyon, and it is quite a climb- we were up above 7000 feet. It was green, pleasantly breezy and just cool enough to warrant a windbreaker. Sadie and I managed a short hike around the small lake. Here's a view from one end-

We encountered this twisted quakie on the walk- the shape just fascinated me. Then I started looked around, and a lot of the aspens had twisted or curved trunks. Apparently the snowfall is heavy enough up here that it bends them!

And here's the great fisherman, pole in hand-- unfortunately, even though we could see fish jumping in the lake, Lance got nothing but some nibbles. Of course, Jaden throwing rocks in the water, talking and singing at high volume wouldn't have anything to do with the fish being shy, would it??

There's even a little quilty contect from today! I did some playing with my study piece for my journal quilt. I'm trying to decide if the pictures should be grayscale, or sepia toned. So I printed out some of each, and pinned them on the base. Here's the grayscale-

And here's the sepia-

I was convinced the sepia would be better- but now I'm not so sure. And, I also learned that I will have to pay close attention to the scale of the photos I use in the final piece. These are too small- so I'm glad I only did this with paper, not fabric. I have never had the patience for study pieces in the past, but I'm learning that it can be a valuable use of time, and prevent mess-ups. I may even have to get more serious about using sketchbooks!