Hiking in the Woods – What a find!

I have done quite a bit of hiking this summer.  I like to hike in the wood’s vs walking in the neighborhood and have been going 4 – 6 miles 3 times a week.  

I enjoy looking for critters as I walk. This season I have seen a pair of Barred owls twice, deer, fox, coyote, many birds, snakes, turtles, etc.

 

I have seen spotted turtles that are on the endangered watch list in New Hampshire.  

 

When walking one of the trails I spotted a hognose snake crossing the trail in front of me.  I took out my phone and took several pictures.

 

When threatened, a hognose snake will flatten its neck to form a "hood".  It may hiss loudly and make aggressive mock strikes with a closed mouth.  If that doesn’t work, it will roll onto its back with their mouth open, let their tongues loll out, writhe around, and emit a foul musk to convince predators it is dead.

It had a flattened neck as I was watching.  I didn’t want to upset it, so didn’t see the hissing, mock strikes, or the playing dead bluff.  What an interesting snake.

 

I shared one picture with someone I talked to on the trails.  Come to find out a Biologist for the area was very interested and asked that I reach out.  Turns out, the Hognose snake is on the endangered species list in New Hampshire.  He wanted to know the details and the GPS coordinates where I saw it.

 

I went back to the exact location and sent the coordinates and pictures.  NH Fish & Game was also interested in the information.

Still on my list of woods critters to see is a moose and a black bear.  Black bears near trash cans, dumpsters, bird feeders, etc. don’t count. 

 

I challenge you to get out there and enjoy the woods.

 

Below is my blog post with some pictures and critters I have seen.

https://actionshotsnh.blogspot.com/2013/06/beaver-brook-association-hollis-nh.html

Nevada / Arizona Trip 2026

On this trip we planned to go to the Barrett Jackson auto auction, do some sightseeing, and visit family and friends.
 
We flew from Boston to Las Vegas.  Our flight was delayed 4 hours as they said metal was found in the oil of one of the plane engines.  We had to wait for another plane to come up from Florida and take us to Phoenix.  Can’t airplanes fly with one engine!!  Hehe …
 
Our rental car ended up being a Toyota 4 Runner.  With 4-wheel drive I thought we might have some fun.  It was fun to drive but no cruise control was a negative with all the driving we had planned.  We used our hotel as a base camp for day trips which worked out well.
 
Our hotel was 1/1/2 miles from the Convention Center/ Barret Jackson.  We took the hotel shuttle which was very convenient.  They had some beautiful cars and trucks there.  From the truck side I really liked this international Scout.  We were there on Friday and it was being auctioned on Saturday.  My wife said we could get a bidders pass for Saturday so I could bid on it.  I thought it would be expensive.  It went for $90,200 so not something I would have walked away with.

Hoover Dam was just under an hour away.  On our way we stopped in Boulder City and went to the Hoover Dam museum.  We also stopped at Hemenway Park and saw several bighorn sheep.

We had tickets for a Hoover Dam tour so continued on.  Before the tour we walked out on the bridge which overlooks the Dam.  The water level in Lake Mead was very low due to several years of below average snowfall in the Rockies and the rivers that feed into the Colorado River.  You can see the white “bathtub ring” showing how high the water once was. 

Later that afternoon the hotel shuttle dropped up off on the Las Vegas strip near the Trump Tower.

We did a lot of walking down the strip and into many of the hotels.  With all the hotels I noticed interesting architecture and some reflections so took a couple of pictures. 

The Venetian Resort indoor and outdoor canals with gondoliers going by which was fun.  The skies and the painted shops inside made you feel like you were outside in Venice, Italy.

We drove to Red Rock Canyon.  They have a 13-mile scenic loop with stops along the way.  There were quite a few hiking trails around which would have been fun but for one phobia fear in the group … SNAKES … Driving the loop was very nice though.

We went back to the Las Vegas strip that afternoon and parked at Treasure Island (Free Parking).  We did a lot more walking, had dinner, and the lights came out.  Pam doesn’t like Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) pictures, but I had fun playing with the lights.

As we departed Las Vegas, we stayed on the North side of the Grand Canyon.  Our plan was to stop at the “Valley of Fire” as it would be on our way to Page, AZ.  From the highway exit we drove 12 miles and as we came up over one of the hills the road was blocked off and closed.  A park ranger showed up and said they were doing construction.  NUTS.  The ranger said we could go in through another entrance but that was the wrong direction of travel and would have taken a lot more time, so we decided to skip it and drive to Page.
 
It turned out to be a beautiful drive.  Big mountains with painted desert like colors, winding highway through the mountains, saw some wild horses, etc.  That was great.

We arrived in Page, AZ and drove over the Glenn Canyon Dam.  Our hotel was on Scenic View Rd so we could see the Dam from our hotel.  Glen Canyon Dam Overlook was right across the street.  Sunrise reflection on the clouds by the hotel.

That afternoon we went to Horseshoe Bend.  It cost $10 to park.  When we got to the booth, I asked the lady if they take the National Park pass.  She said no.  I said it was late in the day, and I would be coming back in the morning to take sunrise pictures.  Would this $10 be good for that time also?  She said it is only good for one time and the finger she showed me for indicating number one wasn’t her index finger!!  Whoop … Oh Boy …  We laughed, I paid, and I parked.

It was probably a half mile walk from the parking lot to the overlook.  That time of day the sun was not in an ideal location for great pictures, but it was nice.  There were hundreds of people there which was ok.

We went to the Lake Powell overlook several times.  It had a great view being so high up.  We could see the thunderstorms moving across the landscape, sunsets, etc.

We visited Glen Canyon Dam, did a tour and walked around.  You can see the water level was very low also.  The Colorado feeds Lake Powell.  There are multiple dams up and down the Colorado River.  Water flowing from the Glen Canyon Dam flows to Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam.  We could see Lake Powell was very low also.

I booked a “Secret Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend Tour”. We rode in the back of an open-air truck for 30 minutes or so to get to the canyon.  A bit on the road, then through a gate and following the powerlines on dirt and sand road, then headed inland to Antelope Canyon driving in sand, dirt, river bottoms, over rocks, etc.  I liked that!  Since I like 4-wheeling I wondered if he would let me drive if I gave him $100.  I would have loved taking my Jeep in there. 

Once we finished with Antelope Canyon, we crossed Rt89 and entered a private area where we had a private view of Horseshoe Bend.  There were only 14 of us so was nice and quiet.  We walked around and took pictures.  Knowing what I know about this part of our tour we would have skipped the previous Horseshoe Bend walk with all the people.

That afternoon we took Rt 98 to White Mesa.  A pretty drive.  There were hiking trails around but not much else.  We did see some wild horses along the way.

The next morning, we went to Toadstool Hoodoos.  We hiked in a mile or so.  There were hoodoos around (hence the name) and a cave a mile or so in from the parking lot.  Some good pictures and it was a nice hike. 

I booked a Navajo Canyon Boat Tour on Lake Powell that afternoon.  Once aboard, they went to the dam then we headed up Navajo Canyon.  You can see from the Calcium Carbonate water marks the water is way down from where it had been in years past.  The boat ramps are now 100’s of feet away from the current water level and were told only one boat ramp is currently in use.

The concern for both dams is the continued water level drop.  At some point they would have to shut down the generators due to lack of water.  The generators in both dams’ supply electricity to millions of people in multiple states.  Saw our first Road Runner.

We headed South on Rt 89 to Phoenix.  This was a pretty drive with big valleys and mountains off in the distance and steep descending inclines.

We decided to backtrack to Marble Canyon and check that out.  Again, beautiful colors and scenery.  This is a picture from the Marble Canyon bridge over the Colorado river.

After Marble Canyon we continued to Flagstaff then on to Phoenix.
 
We rented a nice Airbnb in Paradise Valley.  We were busy visiting family and some friends.  Spent a little time in Old Scottsdale, went to a Titanic Exhibit, and had Mexican food for dinner in Cave Creek.
 
One afternoon we decided to head to Prescott.  I hadn’t been there since 2015 and then it was just a drive through.  We went to Watson Lake Park and saw another Road Runner.  We also found out there was an Indian Powwow going on that weekend.  We enjoyed watching the ceremonial dancing.

We ended up on Whiskey Row walking around and going through the shops.  We had dinner berfore we headed back to Phoenix.  Next time we go to Phoenix we are going to spend more time in Prescott.
 
We dropped the 4 Runner with an additional 1400 miles and flew from Phoenix back to Boston arriving safely.  We had a fun, relaxing, adventurous, and productive trip exploring and seeing family and friends.