2000 hiking miles!!!

Thanks to the wonders of GPS and spreadsheets, on today's hike we knew we would pass 2000 hiking miles since we started our roadtrips in January of 2012.

We even knew the "spot" so stopped there for our party.

It was an extra special occasion because the hike was so interesting.

We are in the Sheep Hole Mountain wilderness, on a seldom used road (no one has been on it since we have been here).  We are camped just outside the wilderness area, so that means a hike of a mile to two miles until we get into the mountains.  The remoteness of the area is captivating.

Here are a couple of shots of our camp site.  In the first one, we are not visible unless you have a magnifying glass and incredible eyesight.  We are in the middle of the photo, in the sandy area toward the top.

This one is from a closer point.  Nothing within miles.

So for six days we have been hiking into these rugged mountains, to see what we can see.  What we have seen has been beautiful.

This shows me walking across the desert toward the mountains.

After our celebration, we went into a small canyon and hiked and scrambled our way through it.

Then we scrambled out of the canyon.

...and followed a spine back toward our camper.

Utterly alone with nature, as we are about 95% of the time at our campsites and on our hikes.

When we started road trips we hiked almost exclusively on trails.  By the time we got halfway through our third road trip we had learned the beauty of hiking where there were no trails.

Now, on our fifth road trip, we virtually never go on established trails.  As of today we are exactly halfway through this road trip and haven't been on any trails.  The advantages of hiking off trails are (1) no other people, so we have total solitude, and (2) no dogs whose owners think we find them as cute as they do and so who have no reservation whatsoever about violating the rules regarding dogs off leashes.

And, we have adventure.  We never know what we will find and what will be around the next corner.

We are truly blessed to be able to enjoy the outdoors in as close to its uncontaminated form as is possible, in these far too brief years of people's lives when they are retired but their bodies are in adequate shape for this kind of endeavor.  We both know that given our ages that can change literally and figuratively in a heartbeat, so we celebrate each day, each camp spot, and each hike,

And today was a special celebration--2000 miles up hills and mountains, through canyons and open deserts, across plains and over rivers.