Flagstaff and the Great Outdoors

A few months ago, Skip and I took up hiking. Exercise, nature, quiet moments of contemplation. Bug bites. Cactus needles. Being lost in the woods. Getting pulled downhill by the dog. It's been a little up and down, but we've finally worked out the kinks and have had a few hikes without getting lost or being injured. We enjoy it quite a bit. Especially since we acquired a first aid kit. And a compass.

This weekend we headed to Flagstaff and the highest peak in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey. A towering mountain I first saw in April. Mt. Humphrey is the highest of the San Francisco Peaks. Snow capped no more, things look a little different in the fall:



Well, still a little snow up there. But, it was still very fall like at lower elevations:

At 12,000 feet, it's no easy hike. We hiked up to 10.3k, that was all I could take. I'm not so good with the altitude; breathing gets a bit tricky. The dog and I headed back, but Skip continued to the top. Sometimes crawling on hands and knees as the wind was gusting up to 80 mph, but he made it. Sniff. So proud.

The next day we headed to the Grand Canyon, only 90 minutes from Flagstaff. If you don't miss a crucial turn. But, hey, it was a fortuitous detour as we saw some gorgeous parts of the Painted Desert. We forgot to take pictures of that.

We did remember to take pictures at the Canyon:

Hard to believe that 'tiny' river carved the canyon. Astounding.

It was freeeezing there, literally 60 degrees colder than Mexico the weekend before. Thank goodness we stopped to buy scarves and hats. Brrrr. Made it hard to be outside for long periods of time, so we didn't walk around too much. We'll have to go back when it's warmer, but before it gets too crowded. That's probably a very narrow window...maybe four hours on the second Tuesday in May?