The week before the 4th of July I told the forester that I wanted to go hiking...

I have the perfect place to go said he...but I have to do some tree surveying while there said my forester.

No problem said I.

So, after watching the soccer game between Spain and Paraguay (Paraguay lost...but it was a great game...and I still had a reserve merlot to finish drinking to celebrate the fact that we were able to play this far into the finals...the last time was in 1962  and my papa- to-be kissed my mama-to- be on that night) so...opening the reserve wine was  just  the perfect thing to do when we moved to the quarter final, don't you think?

After the soccer game we drove to the Forest Service office to pick up their rig since the Forester and I (the volunteer) had a mission for the weekend. Our mission was to find a cluster of "white bark pine" for harvesting cone and to survey the health of these species after a devastating fire that swept thru the area about five years ago.

This place is dear to our hearts since the Posie boys had hiked in this place for the first time with their backpacks many moons ago.

We hiked 5 miles the first day, which took us 3 hours...the going was steep, but the view was splendid.

We found a romantic place to camp...

I cooked dinner and then we went to bed early since the wind was mean and the cold air was not fun to be exposed to, plus the white stuff that was coming down at us made it impossible to stay outside.

The next day the Forester had a mission of walking up and down the hills in search of white bark pine that were healthy enough for cone harvesting and surveying. My mission? was do some trail running, read a book and chill..

...but after hearing the Forester describe what he was going to do all day long..."walk up and down the hills" I decided that my best investment for a great exercise was to follow him all day long.

So...up and down the valley the Forester went...

and just behind him his faithful "Volunteer" followed him.

The view was splendid...here you can see the huge "tree"  (on the right) who will give babies to thousand of other trees in the future thanks to the harvesting plans they have for her.

The view was just breath taking every where we turned...even the view of a fire stricken forest was alluring.

The weather was your typical mountain weather in July...we were greeted with snow, hail, wind, rain, and sunshine.

Here is Posie backpacking out in the snow after a hard 9 hours of hiking up and down the day before.. and just after climbing yet another ridge on the way out to find a small patch of greens that was shown on the areal map...(it just happened to be our best find of the "white bark pine tree"...I am glad I followed the leader...because we discovered forestry history there by finding a large number of white bark pines who survived the nasty fire. Just to think that when I saw the ridge we had to climb to get to the green area I did not want to go..but since it was snowing, staying in one place while my dh climbed the ridge was not an option...I even cursed going up the ridge. Once there the pay back was dozens of "the trees"

..see my cool Forest Service Volunteer hat  I EARNED IT!!!!!

I must admit the weekend was very interesting...I loved following my sweetie up and down the hills. The hills provided inspiration, challenge and adventure for me. It was a hard workout weekend. It was a very inspirational weekend...and I had a chance to let the mind wonder where it wanted to go.

Of course, when the Forester had to sit down to write his forest health prescription (he is a silviculturist for the forest) I did what I know to do best....

I took a nap 

Unfortunately we were two weeks early for the best wild flowers...but there were a few wild flowers to enjoy...

 isn't  this one a beauty??

Now, it is your turn to tell your 4th of July story.

What a wonderful weekend, mariposai.  The pictures of the magnificent scenery are fantastic.  It sounds like you got plenty of exercise and had a great time.  thanks for sharing.

TomS

You sure had a picture-perfect weekend! What spectacular scenery you had to enjoy on your WBP hunt. My weekend can't top that (except that I did get to meet up with Henry and Marj, which is always a treat).

Jay

...I even cursed going up the ridge.

I am having some trouble believing this....

What a wonderful way to spend the weekend, Posie!  The scenary is spectacular, and I know, like Slo said, it was even more so in person.  Thank you for sharing this!