Walk into the Woods and a Picnic at the River

I am so far behind in recording our hikes. I haven't even touched the photos from two weeks ago when we did twenty-six miles of hiking. I am sort of in a slump about posting for some reason.

Here are a few photos from today's hike with the two older boys.

The trail in this section has grown over with greenery. You can still find a narrow path through the woods but it is just about covered up with grasses and flowers. Now that spring is here the trail is a whole different world.

Here is the view at the one end of the trail. The river is really running fast and high. The sound as you round the corner is amazing. Soon there will be whitewater rafters and kayakers on the water. Right now the water temperature is pretty cold. The other day we had a glimpse of a boat full of rafters but they were wearing drysuits.

This is about the only new flower blooming along the trail that I noticed today. I think it is some sort of caterpillar flower.

Monday we went on a picnic lunch...boxed up some sandwiches and bottles of water and took an hour or so to enjoy the opportunity.

The view from my picnic spot on a rock was very peaceful and I soaked up the sun. The sound of the water flowing by was relaxing and I could have sat there for a very long time but the men were anxious to move along. This is the same river that is in the photo above but this time we were down at the shore and down about ten miles.

I gathered a few rocks from my sitting spot and realized when I looked at the photo that the white rock looks like a heart.

The trail here is overgrown too....gorgeous.

Here is a photo I tried to take of the rafters as they floated by. If you look closely, you can see their blue raft behind the bushes.

The fairy lanterns are blooming thickly along this part of the river.

One last photo from yesterday's hike....lupine like I have never seen it before. It is a banner year for the lupine in our area.

The amazing thing about wildflowers that I have come to appreciate is that although they are randomly planted and grow pretty much wherever the conditions are right, they look just perfect. Better than any garden planting that I have every seen.

What a time of year for getting outdoors every day.