Scott and I were off to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Four days later, we met up in Boulder, Colo. with Abigail, Dave and Meredith — my best friends from college and high school — for backpacking in Rocky Mountain National Park, and camping and hiking in Zion National Park, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park.

Along the way, we crossed both the Great Western and Continental Divides, Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Scott and I spent our first night with Drew and Michelle in their adorable house in “downtown” Alma, Colo., just a few minutes south of Breckenridge. They own the coffee shop/natural food store there. If you’re ever driving through the state on southbound CO 9, don’t blink the thirty seconds you’re in Alma and you’ll see their store on the right. Visit them; they’re the definition of “good people.”

The three nights in Telluride were incredible. I can’t imagine a more picturesque setting for a bluegrass festival than the box canyon in the San Juan Mountains that cradles the town. The highlight for me, predictably, was the short Avett Brothers set Thursday afternoon. I also really enjoyed Sam Bush, Bela Fleck (with and without the Flecktones), Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, Yonder Mountain String Band –who was new to me — and Chris Thile.

But for me, the heart of the trip was with the larger group on our tour of national parks.

Below are links to posts with pictures from our various hikes. I took more than 600 photos with my new (and awesome) Canon Powershot G7, the first point-and-shoot I’ve owned that is actually worth carrying. I’d much rather shoot with a digital SLR, but the G7 is portable enough to take on hikes and overnight trips. I’ve included only a handful of highlight images below. Enjoy.

• Rocky Mountain National Park
• Zion National Park
  • The Narrows
  • Angels Landing
• Sequoia National Park
• Yosemite National Park
  • Half Dome
  • The Four-Mile Trail That Isn’t

We spent two nights in the Never Summer range in the northwest section of the park, entering on the Colorado River trailhead. According to rangers, Never Summer is one of the least visited sections of the park, which suited us very well. Starting at 9,000 feet, the trailhead is one of the highest – and coldest — in the park.

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We spent the first night at the Box Canyon site and the second at Valley View, both permit-only backcountry sites slightly above 10,400 feet. The aptly named Box Canyon site is breathtaking, includes two streams only feet from the silver site-designation marker and has a huge, tree-free field that attracted several elk. There were even snowy patches there in late June; the range truly is Never Summer. At just less than six miles from the trailhead, the site is well worth the hike. National Geographic even mentions the site in a series about National Parks.

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Valley View is less exciting. There’s a picturesque marsh on the edge of the site, but approximately 25 million mosquitoes call it home. They probably feed on the elk we saw at the pool, but we were the main course that evening.