Tuesday after work I went for a medium length hike with a picnic! We all brought food in our packs to share at the top of the mountain, and we had quite the spread! One guy in our group works as a chef and brought salmon and chicken pesto sliders, which he assembled at the top. It was awesome!

We witnessed an amazing sky and one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen since I’ve been here. It was cloudy (and raining at times) in the valley around us, but luckily we had no rain on us, and the clouds really enhanced the sunset. I loved experimenting with my camera and taking some night photos.

{On the right you can see a shaft of rain}

During our picnic, some desert mice decided to try and check out the food. We saw a lot of wildlife during this hike actually. There was a coyote at the beginning and a scorpion as we came down. On Monday’s hike, we saw a desert tortoise! This has been a great week for me and desert creatures. On two other hikes I’ve seen rattlesnakes!

Tuesday’s hike got me up to 100 miles of hiking since I arrived here in mid-June!! I’ve been writing down all the hikes I’ve been on and their mileage in my journal. Last night, I decided to add everything up just to see how many I’d done, and it totaled 100.5! I have really enjoyed all the hiking here. There’s so much of it and such a variety of places to go. I love getting outdoors after spending the whole day inside at a desk and on a computer. Even though it’s super hot, it feels really great to get out and about and move around. 

Today’s Good Thing: I’m going to have a productive day at work :)