My summer in hiking.

Riverside (West Yellowstone): Small loop [4 miles round trip], big loop [9 miles r.t.]

 My go-to trail for running all summer.  Runs parallel with Yellowstone National Park.  Gorgeous.

  
Red Canyon (West Yellowstone)

One of the first great hikes of the summer- just as the wildflowers were blooming.  Splendid.

Pretty views after driving home from Red Canyon via 287.

Hebgen Mountain (West Yellowstone): 6 miles round trip

Enjoying the stunning views of Hebgen from the top. Not bad.

Jumping pic.  Rach's idea.

Caley/Haley waits while Rach and I have a photo shoot in a bed of wildflowers.

Running+Keens+hail= bloody knee. Bloody knee+no bearspray+girl alone= terror.

Coffin Lake (West Yellowstone): 10 miles round trip

It's a beauty, isn't it?  Trailhead at the end of Denny Creek Road.

April and some boulders.

Elation.

Lake Solitude/Cascade Canyon/Paintbrush Canyon (Grand Tetons): 20 miles round trip

Best hike of the summer.  Photo taken just a few miles in on our way to Solitude.

The brooklet by.

ARRIVAL! At our initial destination (Lake Solitude) before turning our 14 miler into a 20 miler. Huzzah.

At the top of the windy, windy pass. Yeehaw.

Absolute highlight of our hike down Paintbrush Canyon- bumping into this pal. Black bear. No zoom.

Annnnd after we carried our tired selves back to the car, we enjoyed this pretty view on our way back to Jackson.

Lionshead (West Yellowstone): via the Continental Divide trail [13 miles roundtrip]

Nothing like busting out a thirteen miler and making it back to town 30 minutes before a shift.

Lionshead is the tip top of the West Yellowstone area.  Fab views of Hebgen and the north end of Island Park.

Practically running down the mountain to make it to work in time.

Lake Avalanche (West Yellowstone): 10.5 miles roundtrip

Pretty trails nestled off beaver creek road between Quake Lake and Hebgen Lake.

Solo hike day.

Deep greens and blues.

Mt. Holmes (Yellowstone Natnl. Park)- 20 miles round trip attempted. 17 miles r.t. completed.

Passing some of our pals on the way. 

The majority of our Mt.Holmes hike looked like this, courtesy of the fires of '88. A very serene/eerie feel to it.

We were all smiles, until that storm (see pic) rolled in . . . .

With less than two miles from the summit, we were forced to turn around.  Not. Cool.

So we made our way back. 

Just after these photos were taken, we picked up our pace, seeing that surrounding thunder and lightning were getting closer and closer.  Some might say that our lives were spared that day.  Just as the car was in sight (across a wide open field yiiiiiiikes), Aniko and I both SPRINTED for our dear lives to safety.  As we flung our legs across this wide open field amidst the thick, slushy rain (the thick slushy rain that left welts on our arms and legs), a lightening bolt struck less than a mile in front of us.  I've never ran faster.

So we made it to the car. And after driving out of the storm and into the north-east corner of the park, we decided to do some exploring.  Behold, the beautiful Lamar Valley.

After passing through Lamar Valley, we decided to check out Cooke City.  To say the least, we were absolutely SMITTEN by this little town (population 100).  We walked around the entire town a couple of times, ate some pasta, snagged some tourist tees, and made our way back to West. A small payback for our frustrating day of not reaching our beloved Mt. Holmes summit.

An A+ summer of hiking.  Worked seven nights a week (two jobs full time) when we weren't outside.  But who wants to hear about that??  No one. Cheers to a beautiful summer.