Favorite Pictures of Sunrises and Sunsets

Having to work for a living often required that I hiked at the beginning of the day or the end. The advantage of this was that I saw more sunsets than at any other time in my life. I probably also saw more sunrises, too, but I don't consider this to be an advantage. I really would have rather been sleeping.

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Nikolas sitting on rocks above La Quinta

Clouds above San Jacinto

The sun has already gone down above Pushawalla Canyon

Aerial cotton candy above the Art Smith Trail

A cloud halo above Mount San Jacinto

Clouds hover over the Desert Divide

This is one of my favorite shots and I had it as my desktop on my computer for weeks.

More clouds and sun and mountains

The temperature was as warm as this looks.

Getting ready to head home just before dark.

One thing that surprised me was how many clouds we actually have in the desert.

Not really a sunset but the glow from one.

Sunrise over Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake

Mount San Gorgonio. It was over 100 degrees when I took this one.

Sunset Palm

Halo around the sun

Clouds over La Quinta

Not a great picture but a great start. This was the sunrise of the first day.

Sunset at Joshua Tree National Park.

Sunset over the San Joaquin Valley

The last sunrise I saw this year just may be the last sunrise I see in years. I have no idea the next time I'll have to wake up that early but hopefully it'll be no time soon.

Birthday Boy

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY ONE

Today is my son Nikolas' birthday. He is eleven years old. What an exciting time in life. At eleven years old you can still be anything in life, a movie star, a doctor, an astronaut, the President. You may even grow up to be a bellman. If you're lucky, that is. None of those other jobs allow you to hike every day. OK, maybe a movie star could but only some old has been, who's not really working much anymore, like Robert Redford. Of course, Nikolas wants to be a marine biologist so I guess if he wants to swim every day he could do that. When you're eleven anything is possible.

I had so many great plans on where to go today but since we had a big party for Nikolas planned I had to stay close to home and do the wife's bidding. That only gave me a little time for hiking so I went on my monthly sojourn to the Coachella Valley Nature Preserve.

There's this really cool palm totem pole.

And today I noticed, for the first time, that the poles on the cabin are all carved. I have no idea how I missed it before. I guess I just bombed right past it without even looking. Attention to detail is not one of my better traits; I'm more into the big picture.

I wanted to go in and ask if the carving were original but the Center was closed. Next time.

I want to see if the work is finished at the McCallum Grove. September 30 was their target date. This walkway isn't finished yet and this project started earlier. At least the original guardrails are in place to keep you from tromping through the vegetation--as if you would.

The work at the pond is done and it looks good. I don't spot any crawfish in the water and most of the reeds have been cleared out.

They still won't let you go swimming, though.

This is one place where the palms are incredibly healthy and expanding.

With all this water, it is easy to see why.

This is where the water actually bubbles out of the ground. This is the first time I have ever noticed this, as well. I guess you don't have to be eleven to see a world full of possibilities and new experiences. You just have to slow down and look through the eyes of a child.

Sick Happens

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SEVEN

Monday morning and I've got the day off. All I have to do is get the kids to school and I've got most of the day to head to higher elevations to hike in the cool alpine air.

There's a reason people hate Mondays.

I went to get my son, Nikolas, out of bed to get him ready for school and he was sick. I should have expected it. He'd been ill with a sore throat, congestion and a slight fever for the past three days and today was the day his illness peaked. Hiking plans cancelled. Again.

Instead of a nice hike in an alpine environment I was relegated to hiking by my house in the desert but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The weather was the nicest of any evening in months. By the time I finished the temperature was in the 80s. By comparison, a couple of weeks ago when I started hiking it was 113º and still over 100º when I finished. So eighty some degrees felt heavenly.

Having to stick close to home I go hiking near my house but instead of taking the trails I've taken before before I decide to go cross country and see what I can see. Maybe I'll find a place for the next Kahlua Trail.

Somebody's been up here doing something. It looks like someone wants to come up here and roast a pig. If they do, I hope I'm invited.

Maybe this is being prepared as the kitchen area. I'll have to check this out later and see what kind of progress goes on up here.

I follow along the base of the hill and it seems like it would be a good place to have a trail.

Someone else thought so, too. Kahlua walks along a row of rocks that someone had laid out to mark a trail along the hillside. Nice.

It'll be a little tougher to build a trail through this. What's that under those rocks?

How did that get down there?

Cutting down into the wash Kahlua and I decide to follow this back. We've walked on enough rocks for the day.

We hit the trail and head back home. Nik feels much better this evening but then don't sick kids always feel better once school is over?

Sick Day

DAY ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT

I hate being sick.

It happens so infrequently I really don't know how to handle it. I can go years without getting so much as a sniffle. I figure germs do not want to reside in my body so they steer clear of me. This time, however, they got Nikolas first (about a week ago) and liked the family so much they decided to hang around a bit longer. I'm the one paying the price now.

Last night, I was in bad shape. Twice, I had to wake up due to my sheets being drenched with sweat and then I'd get the chills and be freezing. It was no fun at all.

So this afternoon's hike was the first of the year that my wife came along. She drove me to the trailhead and walked along in case I collapsed and someone had to call 911.

We headed to the top of the La Quinta Cove and my wife expressed amazement that there is a National Monument near our house. Of course, it's only been here for about ten years and I don't know if she's been hiking with me in that time.

It was great to have her along and she also was able to see the La Quinta Cove Oasis for the first time.

There are some funky things out in the desert and we were trying to figure out what this pedestal surrounded by a rock circle could possibly be for.

Nikolas thought it could be for a statue of him pointing people to the wilderness.

Of course, I think this would be a better location for his monument.

Our hike today lasted just under an hour and the fresh air actually did me good. Thanks to my wife and son, who helped me get out today when all I felt like doing was lying in bed. I couldn't have made it without you.