COUSIN CAPERS #2 - APRIL 2012

There are 4 of us "girl" cousins (all around 70!) who couldn't wait to repeat the good-fortune trip we had a year ago.  And we did it!  I just got back from another almost-2-weeks of hiking, playing, and rambling in the Southern Utah magnificence.  

Our first outing to a high valley was a bit uncomfortable with a cold wind and moody storm clouds:

 But we were undaunted, and carried on:

After our first outing, the weather was warm and picture-perfect for each of our hikes and rambles:

We had all sorts of terrain and ground covers and elevations on our hikes:

And every ramble presented unique, varied, and astounding vistas:

One hike, to a place called "Three Ponds" was ever-upward and minus an official trail:

We chose to go there after that first stormy day in hopes that there might actually be three pools of water.

We were 50 % lucky.  Yes, each pool had standing water (which would definitely not be there at the end of the hot day), but the waterfall cascades between each pool were dried up.

This is the lowest pool:

We climbed to the highest one also:

There was minimal water left in a mud puddle, but it offered up this fine 

reflection for me:

One of my favorite times of the days was first thing some mornings when

I went on a 4-mile solo walk up Snow Canyon.

I couldn't believe that I was always alone in such a vast place; just me and the dawn-greeting birds:

( These photos were taken with my pocket camera).

Perhaps there were other creatures too, but I only saw their 

trails.  Actually, I was very glad not to have seen a snake:

One of our hikes, Petrified Sand Dunes was great fun, scrambling ever upward.

But once on top, we realized the best way down would be to rappel.

We were not prepared to do this, and so used the only "equipment" we had: our backsides!

This perspective does not show how very steep it was: