Jeff and I have one day off a week together- when we aren’t grocery shopping, painting the kitchen or running errands- we explore some of our neighboring public lands. These are some of the recent photos that we’ve taken on our adventures-all within an hours drive of Flagstaff – plus hiking time.

The first three photos are from an overnight backpacking trip we did on the Bell Trail in the Wet Beaver Wilderness. In each photo you’ll see the agave plant. The spiky succulant plant sends up one shoot in its lifetime, then dies – it is also known as the century plant – it used to be thought that it took 100years for it to send up its shoot.

We camped on the rim of the canyon where we hunted flowering agave for sunset photos. Though the buds are a deep red, the agave blossoms are bright yellow.

25 miles north of Flagstaff is Red Mountain, one of the many volcanic cinder cones in the area. This one is unique in that it has an “ampitheatre” with spires and hoodoos.

This is what is left of the entrance to the Mayhew Lodge- a vacation retreat for the rich and famous in the 1920’s-1940’s-inclduing Clark Gable and Herbert Hoover. The lodge burnt down in 1980, but the stonework remains.

Water flows year round in West Fork -it felt great! To hike the whole canyon requires several swims in long deep pools-it’s on our list of things to do.