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

From the point where one enters the river, the canyon immediately starts to consume the river bank until, about a mile in, there is nothing but cold rushing water and smooth, red walls. We pretty much waded, waddled and stumbled up the river, slipping often on the hidden stones.

Because it was unlike anything I’ve ever done, the Zion Narrows hike was my favorite element of the two-week trip. The whole day in fact was my favorite. We spent the afternoon on another remarkable hike.

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.