Mountain Home Range-Part Three

After our fun insect-collecting and relaxing stop, we headed even higher up the mountain range. The road was a faint two-track in pretty good condition.

We saw these neat cliffs behind beautiful lupine, and I couldn't resist stopping. The nieces and nephews were up to the challenge of climbing up the cliffs.

Grace and Alyshia looked for handholds

We made it to the top and the view was great. There's nothing like being up high in the mountains in the cool air and looking at the hot desert floor down below you.

Desert Boy also made the journey up the cliffs. He loves to climb, but flowers can get boring quickly.

When it was time to go down, we found a less steep way, and Kayli joined us. Desert Boy was delighted.

Some parts were steep enough he had to sit down.

And Henry was glad to meet up with us, for he hadn't been able to scale the cliffs.

We heard some noise from the cliffs and found Alyshia and Ruby chunking huge rocks over the edge. They bounced spectacularly.

Then it was time to go to the end of the road. A deer crossed our path. We had noticed much more elk scat than deer, but we didn't see any elk.

Chris walked out to the edge to enjoy the view of the valley on the other side.

Ed enjoyed the company of some old bristlecones.

None of the bristlecones were super old (more than 3,000 years), but there were several that could easily have been more than a thousand years old.

It just boggles my mind thinking about something living that long, and all the different conditions it must have experienced over its lifetime.

The bristlecones were patchy, not a very large grove.

The kids had elected to stay near the vehicles and play in the shade of the bristlecones rather than hike up to the top with the adults. They were quite creative in their games.

Then it was time to head down. We crossed the mountain range and came home via another valley. It was so much hotter down low! So when we got to the lake, we couldn't resist and jumped in, with our clothes on.

It felt great, and we didn't really want to leave, but we still had things to do.

Lola and Caleb had switched vehicles, and both Desert Boy and Desert Girl were delighted to have their cousins nearby.

What else did we have to do on this long day? Why, shuttle tractors, of course! Tom was going to make the most of having a big crew. My brother Ed volunteered to drive one of the tractors.

Tom explained to him how to drive the old tractor. "It has no brakes, so if you need to stop, just shift down."

"The front tire is bad, but I don't think it will blow out."

"You can't really tell what gear you're in, so just try moving it around and you'll eventually get something that works."

Or something to that effect. Ed was grinning, wondering what he had gotten himself into. But he was up for a little adventure, especially one that he would never have back in D.C.

So after a little false start, he got it into some kind of gear and took off down the road.

Meanwhile Chris was showing Grace how to drive another tractor. Grace is learning to drive so was eager to be behind the wheel of some big farm equipment.

And they're off!

Alyshia and Ruby took another tractor, but my camera battery had died so I didn't get any photos of them.

But Ed managed to take a photo as he was driving down the road.

Yeehaw, good times!