A little more energy today

The increased energy is due in part to the fact that I got a lot of exercise yesterday - walked 3 miles at Mather Field, and worked out at the gym.  I'm not doing some of the exercises that I've included in the past - anything I think will affect the hernia is out, at least until I discuss it with the doctor.  There is still plenty I can do and enjoy.

If you don't mind some more photos from the past I scanned a few from a spring trip to the Smoky Mountains.  The first picture is from such an elevation that the "smoky fog" makes mountain tops seem like islands in the snow.

The next 6 are spring wildflowers; can you see the dewdrops in the 3rd picture?

Here is a typical shelter you find in the Smokies.  There are wooden platforms on two levels to accommodate the large number of hikers who stay in them.  In fact, it's mandatory to stay in a shelter some places in the Smokies, but of course if it is full then you see tents around the perimeter of the shelter.  Note the protective wire to keep the bears out.  Too bad there isn't anything to keep mice out - they are horrible in the shelters.

Note that I haven't camped in the backcountry for a number of years and the rules have changed, including a requirement for reserations at some of the shelter.  I always preferred the backcountry and camping alongside a babbling brook.

Walking behind a waterfall:

 

The only wildflower I can positively name after all these years is the trillium.  I must have taken a hundred pictures of trilliums over several spring hikes, of all sizes and colors.