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

Starting at the valley floor, Angels Landing is two and half miles one direction, and it feels straight up. There is an elevation gain of a little more than 1,500 feet. The park map list the hike as “strenuous.” With mid-afternoon heat, that seems very accurate.

The hike has two very distinct parts: the first two miles and 1,000 feet to Scout Lookout, and the last half mile and 500 foot ascent to Angels Landing. The Scout Lookout trail is a seemingly never-ending, but pretty typical, set of switchbacks in full view of the hot Utah sun. The final push to Angels Landing is a very steep climb along the spine of a very thin rock ridge, which would be incredibly difficult without the chains that line the trail that – at times – is only about three feet wide.

My fear of heights kept me on the verge of a minor panic attack for the last half mile, but I was able to work through it with the encouragement of my mates (Later in the trip, no amount of encouragement would help me overcome another hike).

I wish I had more photos, especially of the hairy parts of the trail, but I was a little preoccupied with my death grip on the chains to really take photographs. I relaxed a bit on the way down (which I incorrectly thought would be mentally harder, as I’d have to look down) and took a couple of photos. I could probably take pictures more leisurely the next time.

The two hikes probably totaled around 10 miles and wore us out, so we scrapped plans for yet-another-camp dinner and rewarded ourselves with a trip into town for cheap Mexican food.

For more drastic photos, check out Joe Braun’s guide to the trail. He used a very wide-angle lens to get stunning images.

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.

They probably were tired after the four-hour hike, but that’s not the reason they didn’t finish. They didn’t finish because they, much like myself, were scared stiff by the last few hundred feet of the trail.

A great view on the approach to Half Dome, about a mile from the foot of the granite wall.

Depending on the route you take, the famous Half Dome trail in Yosemite National Park is about 17 miles round trip with more than 4,000 feet in elevation gain. The trail is relatively gentle, barring a couple major elevation gains around the Nevada and Vernal Falls, until the abrupt granite wall at the end. There you’re greeted by a series of cables to pull yourself up the face.

People, only specks in the distance, scrambling up the first ridge of the granite face.

Scott bounds up the the scary part of the trail, which is pretty well hidden until you hike past the first ridge. Many people at the base of the granite face were talking about the tourist killed when he fell on June 16, just days before our visit.

I feel a little defeated by the adventure Monday. Maybe in another life my irrational fear will be of dogs, crowds or escalators. But until then, I will have to live with my inability to conquer the Dome.

For a better sense of what it looks like, check out this video. It’s a little cheesy but the kids look like they’re having a great time and they captured parts of the trail very well.

But, there are now images from my trip posted on this site. Enjoy!

I’m on vacation for the next couple of weeks. I’ll be visiting Rocky Mountain National Park, Zion National Park, Sequoia National Park and Yosemite National Park with four of my best friends. I’ll also be attending the Telluride Bluegrass Festival with the best guy I know, where we’ll see the Avett Brothers(!!!), Sam Bush, Peter Rowan and others.

I say all this because I hope to document some of the sights in photos here on my Web site from the road using only my camera and cell phone. It’s an experiment and I haven’t done a test run. But with a little luck, I expect photos will be available occasionally here and on my Flickr page.

• Photos on my Web site
• My Flickr Account