New Years' hike in the Cottonwoods

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Around the New Year, I had a couple of days backpacking in the Cottonwoods. I had a few other day hikes planned in the Grapevines, but ended up cutting the trip short.

Stepping off on New Years' Eve day, I had some nice moody weather. I was really close to leaving my tent's rain fly in the car to save the extra pound of weight, but the clouds made me reconsider:



There was, however, a nice dusting of snow on the mountain tops, which the sun would light up each morning...


In the actual mountains, I spotted this really neat looking rock with lots of fossils.





I also spent an evening in one of my favorite canyons there before heading back out to the car...




And finally, a shout out to the white, soft sandy part of the valley floor. It's always extra nice to walk across this part after spending time among the rocks...