Engineer Mountain Overlook, San Juan National Forest, CO, 7/9/17

Fit in a hike on our way from Durango to Ridgeway, CO. An easy 3 miles to the base of Engineer Mountain, above. Trailhead is 36 miles north of Durango, on US Highway 505, at Coal Bank Pass. 

 We started by walking through a meadow covered knee-high with wildflowers,

then meandered through spruce-fir forest ......

 and finally arrived at tree line, where we were rewarded by the most awesome
360 degree mountain views!

Columbine all along the way.

FaultyTrail, Sandia Mountains, NM, 7/2/17

A trail with three names! In addition to Faulty, the trail is also named Mystery trail (because of its unknown origins) and Diamond trail because of the diamond-shaped trail blazed carved into the trees (see 4th photo below.)  Walked ~6 miles with an elevation gain ~900 feet. 

This was not a hike with views, so we spent time looking for wonderous expressions of nature, such as these fungi on the tree above, 

 and branches that looked like roots.