Joy in the valley

This post will be light on words, heavy on photos.  I had such a wonderful time hiking to the ridge with my brother and seeing the valley from a different perspective.  It was just what I needed!

Starting out from the farm yard, looking across Qu'Appelle Valley

Most of the color is yellow, but we do have some bushes that turn red.  Can you spot my brother?

He's pointing out a certain spot, I don't recall why

Bird's nest or hornet's nest in the tree - we couldn't agree

It was 27C when we moved from the open area onto the deer trails that led up the valley to the ridge.  It must have been 10 degrees cooler in the trees and brush but the mosquitos were wicked!  We'd sprayed ourselves well in preparation but the little buggers were annoying.  

When we reached the top (just under 300 feet climb), the heat hit us again.  Not much of a breeze, so the mosquitos followed us!

Welcome to Hidden Valley

More Hidden Valley

After I took numerous photos, far more than I've shared here, we started our trek back down.  This time we headed for the trail my brother affectionately calls Tumbler Ridge.  So called, because of the time he fell while running and tumbled down the steep embankment about 20 feet.  I was very cautious in my steps after hearing this!

Saskatoon berry bush in its fall glory

Blogger is being a pain, every time I try to add a caption it deletes the photo.  In any event, trees that you see below contain the trail that we took to climb up to the ridge. 

Looking down towards the house (that's the roof), and towards the oxbow in the Qu'Appelle Valley.  

Getting closer!  I told R to go ahead of me, in case I fell I could land on him.

The neighbour's dog, Gracie came along with us.

Still some flowers blooming

And we made it back, sweaty and thirsty but in one piece!  I stayed and visited for a little while, enjoying a refreshing glass of cold water, and going through the photos with R.

Before I left I took a few more photos in the yard.

The sunflowers are volunteer, from the bird seed my brother puts out.

One last look up to the hills

On the way home, I took a different route and spotted a coyote on the side of the road.  When I stopped to try to take its photo, it dashed off into the brush.  Darn, I would have liked to have gotten the shot.

Instead to close out the post, here's the final photo of the day.

It's the quintessential autumn photo on the Prairies (minus the combine).  The crop (red clover I believe) has been swathed and is drying in the field ahead of combining. We've had a lot of rain, so I'm sure the farmer is getting anxious to get this crop in the bin.  

As I look at the photo, it brings back memories of my dad.  He would have had a conniption over the crooked line of the swath.   He was very particular, so much so that when mom was on the swather she was only permitted to cut parallel to the road, so no one could tell if she was driving in a straight line.  I'm serious!  

It was absolutely wonderful day, the weather was beautiful and despite pesky mosquitos, I did something I've never done before in climbing to the top of the valley.  The best days are the ones of which memories are made, and this was definitely one.