Last weekend I decided to hike the North Crest Trail.  It has been very hot here lately and that’s the coolest place to hike in the summer as it is over 10,000 feet in elevation.  I haven’t been on this trail for a couple of years.  Sometimes when you don’t hike a trail for a while, it seems almost new again.

Up until about 2 weeks ago, the crest of the mountain has been getting rain every few days – socked in with thick clouds.  But on this day, it was crystal clear.  Because of all the rains, the trail was very lush.

It is a shady trail to hike in the summer, but still has lots of wildflowers blooming in the spots of sunshine.  There were lots of Orange Skipperlings flying about.  I managed to get a nice shot of one in a spot of sunshine.

The winter weather and winds of the spring took their toll on the trail in places.  There were a lot of fallen trees blocking the path.

I heard a lot of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets singing but never did see any to photograph.  But a House Wren made a brief appearance.  I heard a Golden-Crowned Kinglet but never saw it.  Which was disappointing as it would have been a lifer for me.

About a mile into the hike you finally get to see some view of Albuquerque and the Rio Grande Valley 10,000 feet below you.  The photos are a bit hazy because of the Dog Head Fire burning about 25 miles south.  The fire is only about 10 miles from my house.  Yikes!

I always seem to stop at the same point on this trail…right where another trail intersects it and it’s a big clearing.  I had hoped to go further down the trail this day, but soon realized why I always turned around at this point.  I’ve hiked 2.5 miles to get to this spot.  That means my total hike is 5 miles.  I could probably go further, but it’s almost all uphill on the way back…ugh!

Someone came walking by while I was taking the photographs above.  I asked him if he would take a picture of Scarlett and I.  I didn’t do my hair today because I was supposed to be wearing a hat.  But silly me left the hat in the car.  Ah well….

While in the clearing, there were lots of birds about singing at the tops of trees.  I managed to get a couple photos of some close by.

I was appreciating the abundant shade on the way back as the day had really warmed up.  I lingered in the aspen grove as it was so beautiful.

On the way down the mountain, I decided to stop at Capulin Spring to see if there were any birds wanting a drink during the hot afternoon.  I wasn’t disappointed.  Lots of birds came by for a drink.  It was the usual culprits there except for a very vocal MacGillivray’s Warbler.

Just before leaving the spring, a Broad-Tailed Hummingbird made an appearance.  I notice they always want to drink right where the spring drips into the log.  Which is bad because you can see all the plumbing gets in the way.  Whenever I am there, I try to do a little maintenance around the log.  Clean up any grasses overgrowing the log and trim any branches in the way of photographs.  I also move the rocks around to hike the plumbing.  But somehow these rocks get shoved aside between visits.  I’m guessing it must be bears but who knows?! So I made a mental note after looking at my photographs to see what I could do to improve the looks of that pipe where the hummingbirds like to drink.  But here’s the photos I did take.  Still pretty as the sun was shining on the back of the bird making those beautiful jeweled feathers shine.

Heading further down the road I decided to hike up to Bill Spring to see what butterflies might be enjoying the mud. On the way I saw I very pregnant Mule Deer feeding along the side of the road.  I clicked a quick photo while driving by.

There were lots of butterflies flying about at the spring.

There were a few birds that made an appearance at the spring as well.  The chipping sparrow was there the whole time gorging himself on all the bugs flying about the water’s edge.

By this time I had hiked 7 miles.  Scarlett was pooped!  She napped the whole time I was photographing butterflies at Bill Spring.  She was a very happy dog! It was a very fun day!