A little side trip up to Amabilis Mountain on our way back from a sunny hike in the eastern Cascades.



Wild flowers and birdsong aplenty. Was hoping we'd see some, but no elk or bear unfortunately.

Some snow above 4000', tree-fall and some rock slides added a little spice to a pleasant forest track. Great spot for nordic skiing in the winter.

 

My dog and I hit some fun and relaxing trails in Southern Ohio today. Sone of the trails were inaccessible due to the Tornado that touched down on Wednesday. The damage in the treeline was severe.

The trails weren't particularly difficult, but I was pleasantly surprised how well the stock Goodyear "Off-Road Pack A/T" tires did (Wrangler Adventure) in mud and wet gravel conditions.

 

Don’t have any photos out on the actual trail, but took my Defender up to the base of Wetterhorn Peak this weekend in Colorado’s San Juan mountains. Gorgeous weekend and the vehicle made easy work of the roads. Cheers!

 

Wow that's awesome!
Last summer I was in the San Juan's, drove up all the way to the trailhead of Uncompahgre peak, camped there and summited. The Trail up to Uncompahgre is a little rough, but I don't think the Defender will have any issues (took the Jeep last year)

Did not hike Wetterhorn, but did hike Red Cloud and Mt. Sneffels, amazing place!

 

Amazing looking place. What fun. Slick muddy mountain trails make for wide grins.

 

A little rock-crawl action this Fourth of July

 

Love the flag on the spare!

 

My first time ever off-roading, took her to Santiago Peak — a relatively easy trail in Southern California. It was fun to finally get dirty.

 

It's a "thing" in Texas to visit all 254 County Courthouses. We've been at it for years and have a bit more than 1/2 done. The tradition is to take a pic of each county courthouse. You really do see all the corners of Texas. This past weekend, we visited a few around Lubbock, Texas. It's in the Panhandle of Texas. Most folks have one "vision" of what Texas is. It's so big that it actually has 12 different "biomes". Each one is unique. The Texas Panhandle (technically, the "southwest tablelands") are FLAT. They say "you can watch your dog run away for two weeks". Or, "where you can see the least and the furthest at the same time". Well, pardon to @BruceT for the "creative license", but here's my Defender with three of the "Big-5": Elephant, rhino, and (no water) buffalo. Now to find a (mountain) lion and leopard....


Where else than in Texas can you have a "safari" with bronze elephants?!

Ok, this was actually spotted near Tyler.

My non-water buffalo. Does a bison count as a Big-5?

Double score: County Courthouse AND a buffalo.

Ok, you can't rough it too much. Had to get a Dr. Pepper.

Did you realize I'm a sucker for Town murals? Ok, it's a "road trip", not an off-road trip...

 

New Mexico...