Grand Mesa National Forest

Friday, October 21, 2016.  Suzanne, the doggies and I rent a cabin on Ward Lake in the Grand Mesa National Forest in Colorado. Grand Mesa is the largest flat-topped mountain in the entire world. It has an area of about 500 square miles.

While driving to the cabin we take a short hike and found this view of Island Lake.

 Suzanne decides to rest in this hammock before we start our hike.

Suzanne and Dooley enjoy the view of Ward Lake.

We decide to hike all the way around the lake, a little over 2 miles on this trail.

On the hike we got good views of trout swimming around.

This trout was snatching a bug off of the surface of the lake.

The clear, calm water produced some very reflective pictures.

Not red but still a nice sunset.

Grand Mesa National Forest was very scenic. We will go back when we can spend more time.

Retirement Extravaganza

From June 24th through July 5th Suzanne planned an extravaganza to celebrate my retirement two weeks earlier. We would go camping and hiking in the Fishlake National Forest in south central Utah. We spent a day in the High Uintas. We went hiking in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and it was all capped off with some time at IFly Utah.
After a long drive on a dirt road through the Fishlake National Forest we found a secluded place to set up camp. Suzanne and Hazel decide to rest a bit.


The next morning we decide to go hiking before it got too hot.

Sometimes the trail was hard to see but we never got lost.

The scenery during the hike was spectacular.

This Mule Deer was enjoying the area too.

Back at camp Suzanne's stove had a leak so she decided to cook on hot coals.

The next day we did another hike scouting for places to backpack.

I wish I knew the names of these wildflowers that we kept seeing.

After three days we decide to relocate camp to LeBaron Lake which we would have all to ourselves.

After setting everything up we decide to go on a hike around the lake.

Suzanne and Dooley enjoy the coolness of the water.

The next morning the lake is so calm I couldn't resist a couple of pictures.

This next one is my favorite.

The next week we went on a picnic in the High Uinta Mountains on the Utah/Wyoming border.

The next day we went hiking at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge where I got some pictures of Pelicans. There were hundreds of them swimming around.

Finally, on July 5th Suzanne arranged for lessons at IFly Utah. You get in a plexiglass silo and a column of high powered air lifts you up and you float on it. It gives you the experience of skydiving without jumping out of an airplane. It was the perfect climax to my retirement extravaganza.