Blue Skies; Hikers Delight

Our weather has turned cold (highs in the 40's, low in the 20's)  and it seems like every other day is cloudy/rainy then sunny and cold. I tossed the doggies in the pick up and went for a quick 

hike up Gray Butte hoping to get a good view of the mountains. 

 This is looking back toward my town. As you can see, I'm not kidding when I say I live in the desert!I'm surrounded by sagebrush, juniper trees and tumbleweeds!

 There's the Three Sisters shrouded in clouds. 

 And over that way is Mt Jefferson. Those rock formations in the center are fairly common in my area too.

Elsa is almost as tall as Porter now!

 I kept them on their leash most of the time, but a mountain biker passed and said he was the only one on the trail, so I let them off leash for a while.

 At the trailhead there is an old apple orchard. Someone must have tried to homestead at one point.

I'm not sure why the orchard is fenced in. 

My little protector growled at 2 men I passed on the trail. Good girl. She has never done that when Cory was with me. It seems she would be more apt to follow a stranger hiking then she would attack, but a wee bit of growl is not a bad thing when I'm hiking alone.

Keep on moving!