Hello Everyone!
It’s always wonderful to be writing in this space and especially to be sharing photos of the places I travel. The last time I wrote, I was just finishing the first tour of a two tour package in the Rocky Mountains. I just finished the second tour and have returned to San Francisco where I have a few days to rest and recover before starting a new trip in a few days. This has given me a chance to go through some photos and pick out some of my favorites from the last month.
It was a great couple of trips and a great couple of groups out there in the mountains. They stuck it out through some pretty cold weather (for June), and both groups saw a reasonable amount of snow. While the rest of the country was struggling through a massive heat wave, we were building bigger and bigger fires to try and stay warm. It’s also spring, so the wildflowers were starting to bloom and the newborn baby animals were frolicking around as well. We saw babies of all of the following animals this month: bears, moose, elk, fox, wolves, pronghorn and mule deer. My favorite was definitely the baby pronghorn which couldn’t have been more than a few days old and was jumping around on its unsteady legs. My heart just melted.
It was also great to catch up with a handful of old friends this month. One of the guys I trained with to be a tour leader 24 years ago is now living with his wife and daughter in Coeur d’Alene where he works as an investment banker. It was really great to see him and we laughed a lot which was wonderful.
I had an enjoyable drive south to San Francisco after my second tour finished in Seattle. Aside from watching my thermometer climb and climb all day, I listened to a few books on tape and generally had a quiet ride. I spent the night in Castle Crags State Park in Northern California which I’ve always wanted to see a little closer. I got in with enough time for a nice hike in the park, returning just after dark. The Vista Point area had an amazing view up at Castle Crags and an equally impressive view out towards Mount Shasta. It was a nice place to spend the night, despite the heat and mosquitos.
I’ve been in San Francisco for a few days now and have had a good opportunity to catch up with some friends here as well. One of my old guide friends flew in to help out for a few days on a German speaking tour and it’s been a few years since I saw him. He’s doing a lot of cool things, from llama guiding in the summer to avalanche rescue in the winter and it was great to hear some of his stories and catch up.
Other than that, I’ve been trying to take it easy. I will set out on an overnight trip to Yosemite on Wednesday and then a 5 day Yosemite hiking tour next weekend. I spent over a month of 2023 in Yosemite, but I haven’t been there yet this year and I’m really looking forward to these two trips. After that, I’m going to set out on a very long drive to Alaska where I’ll be for a few weeks at least. I haven’t been there since 2016 and I am really looking forward to that.
And that’s about what I’ve been up to these last two weeks. I hope you’re all staying cool out there and enjoying the start to the summer. I know I sure am. Have a great week and I’ll be back with more photos soon. Thanks, as always, for reading.
-Mike