Craggy Trail

One of my occasional summer hikes is The Crags, on the other side of Pikes Peak from Colorado Springs. It's a beautiful trail, usually without many people early in the morning.

As you might guess by the name, there are lots of lovely rocks.

I call this one Gnome Rock. Maybe we've walked into Middle Earth?

When you get to the top, the views are divine.

Our World Tuesday

High Elevation Trees

Here are some shots of high-elevation trees on a Colorado hike; these were taken on a hike in my area, around 10,500 feet (3,200 meters) above sea level. I thought they'd make a fun Shadow Shot Sunday post.

The Crags

Here's a Skywatch Friday photo taken on a recent hike.

Hiking Laika

From the same hike I talked about last week, here's a shot of little Laika, happy to be out in the wilderness with me.

Camera Critters

Pets Forever

Saturday's Critters

Hiking Socks

Here's a shot of Socks on a recent hike - we hiked five miles, climbing to a place on Pikes Peak known as The Crags. Socks and Laika both walked the whole way with me. They get so excited when they see me get my hiking gear ready!

Camera Critters

Pets Forever

Saturday's Critters

Mountain Reflections

Taken at The Crags trail last weekend, here's a still pool of water and some pretty reflections from it.

Weekend Reflections

Crags Views

A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of Socks on The Crags. Here are some views from that hike, on the west side of Pikes Peak.

Our World Tuesday

Socks on the Crags

From a hike before we added Laika to our pack, here's Socks on a hike up the Crags.

Camera Critters

Pets Forever

Saturday's Critters

The Crags Trail

It's hiking season again, and last weekend a friend and I hiked the Crags. It's a very pretty trail with lots of photo opportunities.

There are nice views up the valley.

It's fairly high altitude, topping out at 10,808 feet (3,294 meters) above sea level according to my GPS watch, and there was still some ice along the creek.

But I love being in the forest.

Visit the Our World Tuesday meme for more photos of different parts of the world.

The Crags

On the back side of Pikes Peak is a trail called The Crags. Unfortunately my camera had a speck of dust on the sensor, which is visible on some of these pictures.

The trail leads off from a parking lot in a campground. It leads through a mixture of meadows and forest.

Eventually it climbs up to a ridge line, and up to a peak where there are some spectacular views. You can see broken granite cliffs.

And you can see forever in three directions (the other direction has Pikes Peak blocking the way).

Along the way are assorted trees, ranging from aspen in the forest...

...to individual scrub-like trees nearer the top...

...to dead trees still standing.