Squish! Smack!

Haven't been out for too many hikes this year - the weather hasn't helped. But decided to go to Pole Mountain for the first time of the year. It was a pretty warm day, after some cool, wet weather. So off I went.

The scenery was about the same. But the bugs were not. They are THICK. Even though I had mosquito repellent, it wasn't helping much. They were killers.

The ground was VERY wet in places too. For July, it was a real mud hole. My shoes were covered with mud after taking a particularly messy trail.

Long story short - between the mud and bugs, I'm gonna give the trails a time out! Later in the season they'll be a lot better.

Red White & Blue

July 4th Independence day again. And a few fireworks are always good. Weather wasn't best - had major rainstorm for couple hours before the show, and the air was still and humid so the smoke really hung in the air. As the show went on it just got foggy looking from all the smoke.

A nice looking triple burst capture.

One of those bigger explosions with sparkly little things running all over the place. It's mostly cropped out but you can see a lot more smoke in te bottom of the photo.