Taking in Life Around Me: #Sundaystills.....Theme: Paths and trails

This #sundaystills challenge is hosted by Terri from Second Wind Leisure. It's a great themed photography challenge that you'll enjoy. I love seeing the other participants interpretation of the theme each week...it causes me to think outside the box. I joined in hopes of it pushing me to get out and take more photos...I have to some degree, but I also like that Terri is okay with us finding photos in our archives, which is also a lot of fun. So check out my photos and then head over to Terri's page to participate or visit other's posts. There are some awesome contributors who always inspire me. 

This weeks theme is #paths and #trails. So many ways you can go with this theme. So many definitions of those two words. I love finding new paths and trails in nature to follow. I always hope that my daughters, my grandchildren follow their own paths in life, blazing a trail as they go. 

Path = a way or track laid down for walking or made by continual treading; the course or direction  in which a person or thing is moving; a course of action or conduct.

Trail = a mark or a series of signs or objects left behind by the passage of someone or something; a long thin part or line stretching behind or. hanging down from something; a track made by passage especially through a wilderness.

Since I love hiking and nature and I'm feeling a bit under the weather, I'm going with the literal meanings of path and trail. 

This trail is part of the Eagle Creek Trail in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon side. I went with a friend quite a few years ago. I am afraid of heights though the fear has lessened over the years. Still, this trail is narrow with not much room for "passing" other hikers. I hugged the wall the whole time. It was pretty and I'm glad I did it. In 2017 there was a horrible wildfire that started when a teenager tossed a firework into the canyon. It burned 50,000 acres. It also trapped 153 hikers and forced them to stay overnight 6 miles further up the trail (they couldn't get back to the trailhead). The following morning search and rescue arrived to help them hike out. So many popular hiking trails were affected by this fire and at one point it jumped the Columbia River. A week prior to this fire, my youngest daughter hiked the Angels  Rest trail which is very popular. Sadly that area was burned in the fire and it was a shock for her to see where she had just been, now destroyed. 

We always look for places to walk and hike when we go on trips. It's fun to see where the trail will take you. What is at the end. It's fun taking off shoots of the trails. This bridge was on a hike to Falls Creek Falls near Stevenson Washington. Lord, there were times I thought I was going to die...BUT the falls at the end of the trail made it all worth it, and the hike back out is always easier. 

In 2018 I traveled with my hubby to Palm Desert, California for a business trip and we took a walk through Ladder Canyon. We didn't do this whole hike, but there were spots that had ladders placed in spots that you could climb up and keep hiking. My hubby went up one, but I, again am not a fan of hikes and definitely not a fan of ladders so I stayed on the ground. 

I always love a path that leads to the beach. This one was across the street from our vacation rental. 

One of our favorite places to visit is Central Oregon and there is no lack of places to hike there. Sunriver, where we love to go has over 32 miles of paved bike and walking paths. They are perfect in every season. We have gotten lost a time or two but it's always fun to find our way back. Have I ever mentioned that I could live here...if it wasn't so darned expensive. Top picture is of our hike from Big Obsidian Flow. 

Biking in Sunriver last October. Yep, there were a few days we could wear short sleeve shirts and shorts. 

My family always tells me to watch where I'm walking when we hike, or even just walk. I'm known to trip over anything and everything, even nothing! Haha!! I'm always looking around me. 

See the narrow brick path among the wider brick path above? That is the Freedom Trail in Boston, Mass. It is a 2.5 mile trail that winds through the city...you can take public or self guided tours. We didn't have a lot of time so we literally just followed the path. You could pause at various stopping points and listen to more about the historical locations. 

This boardwalk was on Kelley's Island, and is in the North Pond State Nature Preserve. It's a pretty walk and there is also a section of beach accessible by this path. 

Just one of the trails we took on our vacation to the NE States. I'm currently working on posts about our trip. I finished our travel day and planning post, and our Day 2 post. 

A popular Columbia River Gorge Hike is Beacon Rock. The trail takes you a mile long switchback along the face of the rock and for someone who isn't a fan of heights, I wasn't sure how I'd do, but I was okay. The trail was built between 1915 and 1918 by Henry Biddle and Charles Johnson

You can always find me with my camera on a trail, pausing often (much to the sometimes annoyance of my family) to take a photo. This was from our trip last August to Orcas Island. 

At Sugarbush Farms in Woodstock, Vermont there was a mile or so trail through the maple trees that you could follow. Me, always with my camera at the ready. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin