If you don’t set any goals for yourself, how can you know if you are making progress to whatever you deem as success? Goals help you remain focused and moving towards your desired target. It is important to revisit and adjust your goals throughout the year so that you can be sure that they remain realistic and achievable. Sometimes something happens that will cause you to change your goals as life sometimes takes you in different directions. We set one goal for ourselves after spending time in Europe and that was to visit more of Central and South America. With that in mind, we booked our trip to visit Ecuador in September. We are also planning on seeing more of our own state as well as nearby states, assuming that our work schedules cooperate. This week’s Daily Post Photo Challenge is Focus, so while we ponder what we’re focused on, here are some close-up photos that focus on various flowers.
Flower in Our BackyardBeautiful WildflowerFlower in Denver’s Civic Center ParkMushroom Caps
The weather was beautiful this weekend, so we decided to get up into the mountains and go for a hike. We drove to the quaint town of Green Mountain Falls to hike the Catamount Trail, which is a trail that we haven’t done before. You aren’t able to park on the road where the trail starts, so you have walk about a mile on a very steep road to reach the trailhead. Walking up the road was almost as hard as hiking on the trail itself.
TrailheadGorgeous Views along the TrailOne of the WaterfallsWildflowers are Starting to Bloom
The trail is considered to be moderate, but anytime you go hiking in the mountains, it is likely to be fairly difficult and this trail is no different. The entire trail is about three miles one way and the first two miles are steep switchbacks with a lot of rocky steps. At the start of the trail, there are a couple of wonderful waterfalls where you can stop and enjoy the beauty of nature. There is a reservoir at the end of the trail, but we didn’t make it all of the way to the end on this hike, but we will definitely return another time and complete the hike.
Looking Up Through the BranchesTree StumpAmazing ViewsHiking the Trail
The scenery was absolutely stunning, especially as you near the summit where you are rewarded with incredible views of the valley below. There isn’t much to the town of Green Mountain Falls, it is really just a community of homes for people who want to live in the mountains and don’t mind having to drive a ways to do their shopping. It must be a relaxing way to live, but we’re not sure that we would want to be that isolated.
More WildflowersAnother WaterfallRocky TerrainPerfect Weather
This was our first real hike of the season, so climbing the steep switchbacks took its toll on our legs and we decided to keep it to a two-hour hike and turned around after making it a little over the halfway point. For us, hiking is all about getting out into nature and getting some exercise, which made this a wonderful hike. Although it was our first time doing the Catamount Trail, it most certainly won’t be the last time we hike there.
Boulders along the TrailMoss Covered RocksRocks on the TrailGetting into NatureSteep TrailButterfly
We have had several friends visit Iceland recently and have enjoyed seeing their images, which are from the spring and summer, although they are completely different than the Iceland that we saw. It is amazing how the time of year that you visit a location can dramatically effect the opinions that you might have of that place. If we could, we would visit places in every season of the year, just to see the differences. What we enjoyed about visiting Iceland in the winter was that it truly illustrated that nickname of the land of fire and ice is truly deserved. This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is Hot and/or Cold and watching the geysers erupt on the Golden Circle is a wonderful memory that evokes that wonderful contradiction in our minds. Nature provides such magical experiences.
The Famous GeysirComing to a BoilBlowing Off Some SteamGeysir EruptingPowerfulFire and Ice
