i'm on the top of the world looking down on creation.......

after posting the last post- i realized i had an unexpected day on my hands. i was giving the "courier" the whole weekend. i was dumbfounded with a whole day at my disposal. once again i was faced with my "to do" list. i looked at my options. finish the roofing on the chicken coop; clean the entire house, fall gardening-including planting my garlic or spending quality time with my sweet boy liam. big brother carey already went back to his mom's house as family was visiting.

i opted for boy time!!!!!! it's been a long time since liam and i played hookie. we always seem to be working! liam loves hanging out at the sierra buttes about an hour north of here. we awoke early and hit the road. first stop downieville. too early for anything to be open but the mountain bikers were there getting ready for end of the season rides. we walked town with" blue" who was very rowdy as he hadn't had his usual morning romp yet. the biker boys loved him and his spunk! ha!
we ventured further north to sierra city. we always have to stop at the mining shop-liam buys glass insultors there. he bought one he didn't have yet-for 5$. he was thrilled.

we decided to be adventurous and go all the way up to the gold lakes region by bassets station. to a destination that left us stranded and stuck in the snow a few father's days ago. yeah still snow in june up there! we wanted to hike to Haskell peak. we didn't make it the first time so many years ago so we decided to go for it. no snow yet-ha!

we drove up the gravel road 8 4/10 of a mile. found the trail head no problem.

wow! it's only 2 miles i say to myself. well after huffing and puffing a bunch i realize it's 2 miles up hill. in fact the trail starts at 7000 feet and ends up at 8107 feet. well, let me tell you-i could feel it! all in heart and lungs-i don't even smoke. i thought i was gonna die. talk about being out of shape. ugh!
here's a view about half way up. the smell was incredible but the air was getting thinner. we trudged onward. i hate to say it but the only thing that kept pushing my ass up that mountain was the fact that i packed one ice cold IPA in my pack. that was to be my treat, my reward for making it to the top.we made it!!! yeah!!! what a view. my camera couldn't handle it. here's liam- photographer in action."blue" walked up this mountain like it was a flat sidewalk-damn him. he wasn't even tired.

in fact he was barking at me to continue..... yeah, i had to growl at him. okay..... i need to be honest here. we actually didn't make it to the tippy top. we were about 50 feet short of it. it's not that we couldn't do it.... rather we had an obstacle and we carefully weighed out our choices. there was a guy up there doing some spiritual work-yes, i spied on him with binoculars. A. i didn't want to disturb his quest and B. he had a huge wolf with him. not that we were afraid of the wolf. they are usually quite mellow, but being that "blue" thinks he's the most bad ass dog around will pick a fight with the biggest dog he can find. we didn't want that to happen on the mountain side. this is the mellow ugly side of the peak-see the guy! but the other side is very steep and a rolling puppy could gain quite the amount of speed and end up in nevada. so we opted to stay on our own peak-we named it "ruff" peak. we had a wonderful snack of apples, crackers and cookies. the way down was easy and quick but hard on my knees-creak creak. we found a stump-liam had to pose with lichen in hand. afterwards we did the interpretive trail at sand pond but all the signs were blank! needless to say.... today is monday and i can barely move ha! but happy for a day well spent. my hips are so sore. i tell the boys...use it or loose it! i need to hike more. i leave you with some eye candy from liams's photos.i just love the bendy trunks... from the weight of the snow!