Im not sure what the hell i was thinking!!! I hiked up what is called the manitou incline...it used to be an actual incline but was tore down i believe in the 70's. I took maggie to keep the bears away...lol....no bears. The incline trail starts in manitou at the same place the pikes peak cog railway and barr trail starts...the incline starts out steep and gets worse from there. The view though is well worth it..this was my first time and im planning on doing it quite a few more times before the weather gets bad...You can hike down it but i opted to jump onto barr trail at the top and hike down it...i didnt feel like rolling back down the incline...small pebbles make that entirely possible :^) just about the only way to tell which pictures are facing up or down...is if you see colorado springs or manitou you are looking down...blue skys you are looking up...lol...

Well another hike up Pikes Peak is in the books....I beat last years time by over 2hrs....I was number 83 to reach the summit out of 450+ hikers....alot more than last year.....Thank you to all that supported the pikes peak challenge...next year i plan on matching all the donations i get, so all that were unable this year to donate, i know you were with me in spirit...but save your pennies and nickles for next year and see if you can make me broke! It is all for a great cause...alot of the money goes for unfortunate kids with brain injuries and for the prevention of brain injuries.....See you next year...and by the way anyone is welcome to join me! But you better start training now. I will even let you carry my backpack the last few miles...LOL....I hiked with 3 other nurses from the hospital i am at, Heather, Heather, and Mary...Mary kinda got a little behind but finished shortly behind us...We had a wonderful time.....Little Heather suffered a brain injury a few years back but still continues to beat us every year by at least an hour! Talk about determination.....And by the way I passed two olympic athletes on the way up and stayed ahead of them the rest of the way...they are the two taking pictures....thats when i passed them...suckers! Ill take any opportunity I can get...lol.....It was all memories I will never forget......

Well i ran into the elk this morning on a new area i havent hunted before in the mountains. I ended up calling in two 5x5's within 35 and 40 yds. Then I called in this spike bull within 20 yds. AND I ONLY HAVE A COW TAG!!!!!!! Oh well it was really cool watching them come through the aspens and pines...what a rush...heading back tomorrow morning...sorry the quality of the picture isnt that great...but...lol....at least the spike let me take my cell phone out of my pocket to get his picture...lol.

These pictures of a little fellow that didnt care if i was there or not...it was time for lunch! The others are of sentinel point on the west side of pikes peak just above treeline at 12,000 ft...and finally the other is of dome rock wheresome of the bighorn sheep give birth. Sorry not many animal pics...but ill try to get some soon....And how could i forget the little squirrel that thought he owned the mountain...gave me hell for being there he did!! LOL.

The tree in this post is a ponderosa pine that has been struck by lightning...pretty cool.....

The last blog update picture of what looks like a sunset is actually a sunrise over fort carson where we are hunting elk some of the time....these pictures are all from a hike in the dome rock area where the bighorn sheep go for their birthing grounds.....And some are from a hike up towards the western slope of pikes peak known as the crags....and i just thought the feather was really pretty....

No elk yet to show pictures of but lots of other photos....hope you all enjoy...i know i am! And believe me the pictures just dont do it justice but i try...

Here are a few more images from rampart range reservoir...some people feel that i put maggie on a pedestal....i dont think so! I also liked the picture of the Natures Bonzai. Pretty cool!

Maggie and I went for a long hike around rampart range reservoir. It was such a beautiful blue cool day....perfect for hiking....next time im going to try it on my mountain bike....lots of fish were in the lake....it was so clear i could see down into the water from above and see them feeding.....The pictures with the big mountain are of pikes peak ....im not sure how high we were...somewhere between 8 and 9,000 ft i think.....high enough i can tell you.....lol.

just a picture of a pretty kitty......imagine how suprised i was when i was out walking maggie before bed! This colorado kitty was captured on someones trail cam at night.......but i have seen some more tracks on the trails around here.....dont worry mom, im being careful....just thought it was a magnificent animal....

Kiley bought a racehorse off the track, Rocky, in february to teach him to jump. In 6 short months the two of them took grand champion at their first show.....And of course im proud and happy for them both....Almost as happy as i am for me....I started shooting a compound bow for hunting about a week ago due to my elbow i broke giving me some problems while shooting my recurve....I robin hooded my first arrow today up at the air force academy archery range....I now just need an elk with a bullseye on it to step in front of me in a few weeks when archery season starts....I was planning on hiking to the top of mt Elbert tomorrow 8/14 but the storms here are coming across the mtns earlier in the day....so it will have to wait for another day...Mt Elbert is the highest mountain in colorado at 14,441 ft.

Storms galore out here in the afternoon.....I caught this cool picture from my balcony! Now you know why i have been doing all my hiking in the early morning! And as you can see, Maggie really doesn't like storms!

God I love Colorado!!! It has been so crisp and blue here. The weather has just been about perfect....No snow yet though! LOL. I have been hiking everyday since I got here because it is not too long until the hike up Pikes Peak in September. Today Heather, a girl i work with in the open heart unit, and her dog, maggie and I went for a 3 hour hike around the colorado springs area. The two dogs werent sure if they cared for each other at first, but after about half an hour of hiking, the could give a crap less if the other was around.....speaking of dog crap! thats a whole other story!!! Well I guess we are heading somewhere again tomorrow with or without the dogs..lol...stop back for more pics.....talk to you all soon.

What is summertime without a trip to Seaworld in Orlando? Jarrod came for a summer vacation for a few weeks before starting work this summer. The first picture is Jarrod at his favorite spot, the seals and sea lions. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. I cant remember what kind of Eagle this is in the picture but it sure was pretty.....Check out the shamu picture and see the trainer flying through the air.....pretty cool.

Kiley graduated this year and starts at Lake Erie College in Ohio for what else but, Equestrian studies....these are just a few of my favorite pictures of the graduation and her vacation with me afterwards. Take a good look at Jarrod and Kiley holding each other, you wont see that everyday!