A view of burned trees. Here we are at the Gates of the Mountains, the top picture showing some of the trees that were burned last year. The bottom is of us as we come up and the gates are opening. It was a great trip on a Pontoon boat, we slowly floated up to Jacks, a place you can only get to by boat. As the Gates always are, it was wonderful.

Here is Jorge with his new charcoal grill he got for Fathers Day. It has a gas lighter which helps get those briquets lit easier and quicker. Needless to say, we have been enjoying some yummy tasting grilled dinners out on our wonderful deck.

MT HELENA RIDGE TRAIL

I always do these backwards, so this is the end of the hike at the Mt Helena base

Prickly Pear Cactus

Bitterroot, state flower of Montana

Blanketflower (Brown-Eyed Susan)-notice the green insect on the flower on the right of the frame

The cell phone went off at the beginning of the hike, an important phone call from a friend

We hiked the Helena Ridge Trail this week. We left one of our cars at the base of Mount Helena and traveled with the other car to the trailhead, which is located off of Grizzly Gulch. The 7.4 mile hike climbed from a little over 5,000 feet to just under 6,000 feet, finally decending to just below 4,000 feet at the base of Mount Helena. We hiked through heavy forest interspersed by open grasslands and enjoyed the many beautiful wildflowers, a sampling of which you can see above. You could say we saw paradise and heaven from up there.JIR

Centering and Contemplation Prayer Retreat

Here I am having Fr. Richard Rohr signing two of the books I bought at this wonderful Conference. http://www.centeringprayer.com/frntpage.htm

Diana O'Hara and I had a great time, and enjoyed Old Albuquerque as much as the retreat.

Okay, I'll try this again. I have had trouble blogging these pictures, but I figure that is the blogger, so maybe the third time is a charm.

The top pictures are of Steve crossing the finish line, we think he did a great job, but he had torn something, and unfortunately came across in discomfort, but hey, he finished a 50k, and in pain! The bottom is of Pepper, a friend of Steve and Christina, who completed the 30k.
Great job everyone.