The tour began at 4 at the same place we started our tour in the morning. However, this time we were going to the West Mountain.
We had two guides, Jane, the park ranger and John, who has been the park host here for the last 4 years. He is 82 years old and has been fulltiming 15 years. Jane circled us all up to give us directions.
We began the 3 mile hike around the West Mountain making stops to observe pictographs, animals, and scenery.
Just before we went up to the cave, we saw a small herd of Barbary sheep.
This pictograph was inside a little cave. It is beginning to chip and only 5 people are allowed in here at a time to cut down on vibration. With 25 of us, it took a little while for all of us to see.
This little group of flowers was inside the cave as well, blooming all by themselves.
We continued on our hike passing the oldest tree inside the park.
and more rock formations.
We came to another little cave with pictographs that were so small, only 5 people could fit in here at a time. You had to crawl through the tree to get inside. I sat on the rock right below the picture and had to lie down to get the picture. :)
As we continued on, this horned lizard posed for all of us long enough to get the picture. Talk about camouflaged, it took me awhile for me to find him even with Jim pointing it out.
We made one more climb
It was sunset, so we finished our hike watching the sky changing colors.
It was a wonderful day of seeing history!
What a lovely tour! Such beautiful scenery. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It is a beautiful and peaceful place.
DeleteI want to do that too! Wonderful experience and amazing pictures. I love the horned lizard and pictographs. Sunset wasn't too shabby either.
ReplyDeleteBoth of you would love it. We both commented while we were walking that y'all would love this.
DeleteYou got some great photos and quite a workout that day.
ReplyDelete