We made our own rules and jaunted up, down, sideways, and around three times. Crowds marched onward and upward while we searched for interesting rock formations, hidden caves and gorgeous views. 
The original goal was to climb the mountain, but we got distracted by wildflowers about halfway up the trail. After a bit of a chat and some yoga, we decided we’d rather have an adventure than climb to the top:
Hiking sideways instead of upward (as advised) made me think about about life — it’s not about seeing how far you can go, but learning how to enjoy every step of the journey. Pause every now and again to examine where you are and take in the goodness of the present moment — if you’re truly enjoying it, why not stay for a while? 
apartmentwife
apartmentwife 
Looks beautiful! 🙂 xx
http://www.sweetcandydreamer.com
So true! I sometimes prefer hiking or walking while being lost because then, knowing that we might not reach where we wanted to go, I enjoy the process of the walk a little more, rather than just looking forward to the destination. Hiking around the mountain looks like fun with all those wildflowers! 🙂
sounds like we would be perfect hiking partners 🙂
The mountains certainly seemed to provide a great deal of perspective on life at times, don’t they? 😉 This looks like South Mountain, a place I frequented quite often during my time in Phoenix. Beautiful images, wonderful message.
you’re close – we’re at squaw peak!
you always have the sweetest posts!
Gorgeous pictures!
Beautiful shots! What a gorgeous place! Hopefully some of that sun comes back with you to Minneapolis! 😉
beautiful pics!!
amen!
Jennifer, this makes my soul happy! What a gorgeous place to visit and relax. I would give a whole lot to be somewhere warm and filled with lovely rock formations 🙂
Gorgeous!! Where is it? Phoenix? I live in NM and frequent PHX. Nice and warm!
good guess – we’re at squaw peak in phoenix 🙂 i’ve always wanted to visit nm – i hear the sunsets are gorgeous 🙂
I love that first shot! Gorgeous!
Love this. And hiking sideways instead of up is such a good analogy for life. Well done. And I wish we had mountains in Dallas. Booo!
This looks lovely! Lovely pictures, lovely view, and lovely time. I feel like it is always so nice to get outside and connect.
http://howtomakehome.blogspot.com
I loveee me some mountain yoga!! Great photos, and what a lovely hike!
How beautiful! What a fun little adventure!
This looks amazing! Could you send some of that sun this way?