Nature Photo Party

Hey everyone.  I hope you are enjoying your summer and you are getting to spend sometime outdoors in nature. 

My son left Sunday for a 12 day Adventure Camp.  He well be soaking in lots of nature.  I had to buy him some hiking boots and we took our own adventure Saturday to test them and to provide me photo opportunities for the party. 

We live near Palo Duron Canyon State Park and for the last several years my son and I hike to the Lighthouse rock formation.  We normally go in the spring, but we waited this year for the almost 100 degree heat during the middle of the day when the lighting is harsh for photos.  We survived the 6 mile hike and I got some shots to share with you, so all is well. 

Here’s the beginning of our hiking trail.

Cropped photo of the sign if you want to read it. 

Follow us to the Lighthouse in the comfort of your air-conditioned home.

Guess what we found on the other side of this formation? 

Aoudad sheep. 

This was our first time to ever see them on a hike. 

David tried to climb to them and scared them away.  I got sun flare by accident when I took the photo and David got trapped in a ray of sun. 

We continued on.  We still had about 2 miles to go.

We reached the first view of the Lighthouse. 

See the two formations sticking up into the sky in the background?  The one on the right is the Lighthouse.

More hiking.

Now for the steep climb up to the formation.  Yes our faces are already red and we are hot and tired and have the hardest part of the hike ahead of us.

I put my camera in the bag until we got the formation so I could have my hands free as it got steeper.

We made it!

There is a platform between the 2 formations that is worth the climb because of the view.

The platform.

The view.

On the way back I didn’t take many photos.  I wanted to get some wildflowers, but they are nonexistent due to the drought.  Even the cacti are dying.

The flowers look like winter flowers.

I did find some live cacti with yellow flowers on them and then I came across these beautiful orange ones with a surprise inside.

A flower and a bee.  Nature at work. 

I hope you enjoyed our Palo Duro Canyon Lighthouse Trail hike 2011.

Now help distract me the first few days of the 12 days my son is gone at camp and link up your posts to the party so I have lots of blogs to visit.