THE BEST SECRETS ARE THOSE THAT ARE KEPT
This one was a spontaneous, last minute escape from the heat that turned out to be one of the greatest adventures of our lives.
We wait all summer for the temps to dip below the triple digits for a chance to get out into nature, but that is a rarity out here, if ever. So to make a long story short, we were looking for somewhere a little cooler when we stumbled across photos of this place online and immediately HAD to go.
It was a long drive through the desert before the elevation and the scenery started to change. The plants got greener and taller and soon, we were in the mountains.
There is little that words can do to describe this place.
At the time of our visit, a screen of smoke from a forest fire some 100 miles north left a haze over the landscape. Our drive had been pretty brown but by the time we’d set up camp and decided to wander out and explore, the rays of sun had started to fight their way through and we were left with a dreamlike state of existence.
Massive peaks towered overhead and trailed off in the distance. Mountains that were seemingly right in front of you were actually miles and miles away. Yellow wild flowers danced in the breeze and birds floated by. The silence broken only by the sound of flowing water. America ran ahead of us with her ears flopping along with her excitement. We were in bear country, yes. But were we also in Heaven? I couldn’t shake the urge to close my eyes and tilt my head back. This is the kind of place that just makes you want to run wide open with your hands out in pure bliss. And this hike was just to kill time…the big one would be the next morning.
