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My parents’ visit to Colorado inspired us to visit some of the parks and natural areas in our own backyard. The result was that we discovered some treasures we will be visiting regularly, now that we know they are there. Only a week after our first hike up to Arthur’s Rock in Lory State Park, we were back with my parents in tow to walk along the nature trail and marvel at the wildflowers and the birds.
The trail starts off through a meadow that has banks of wildflowers in it.
A field full of Mexican Hat
Since it’s in the foot hills, many of the flowers had already gone to seed, but were interesting to look at nevertheless.
Mystery Pods (anyone know what this is?)
Only a few trees were growing in the meadow, although a little stream trickles out of the hills here. This one is clearly done growing.
Birds kept flying over us. A couple of hawks were chasing each other up and down the line of hills. Dad took a slew of pictures and got some nice ones. I also managed to get one with my little camera. (Note: the secret to this close-up is cropping instead of down-sizing the original.)
Red-tailed Hawk
The trail starts to wind its way up into a canyon, and new flowers could be found there.
Wild Rose
Before we knew it, it was baking hot and time for lunch. We didn’t hike far because we weren’t moving very fast, but the small section of the trail that we saw was exquisite, and excellent material for a family with cameras in their hands.
Tomorrow: Fossil Creek Reservoir
Our day in the mountains was full of wildlife. When we weren’t busy seeing big mammals, we enjoyed the birds and the small animals of the woods. Dad and Kurt got a lot more bird pictures than I did, but I still managed to catch a few. While Mom and I sat at a picnic table by Lily Lake, a song sparrow landed right in front of us and sang long enough for me to snap a picture.
Song sparrow
Another Lily Lake show-off was a ground squirrel who has clearly been fed in the past. He came out and posed for me.
Later, when we were searching Rocky Mountain National Park for elk, a stellar jay landed in a tree right next to us, and we all took pictures of him. Unfortunately, the memory card in my camera maxed out right then. I only got two shots of him.
Tomorrow: plant life that caught my eye (and wound up in my camera).
And I don’t mean people. We had phenomenal luck, helped by the fact that we were on the road early and spent a long day (12 hours) in the mountains. The first thing we saw were Big Horn Sheep, right by the road. I was on the wrong side of the car, but still got a decent look as well as a few pictures. (Thank you, zoom lens.)
Big horn sheep, right by the road
Another sheep, just up the hill from us
Later, as we were hiking into Long Lake, everyone we passed kept telling us to look for the moose. They were “just ahead”, “not that far” and “right on the trail”. We had chosen the Long Lake hike because a gentle quarter-mile walk brings you to the lake and meadow surrounding it, with a great view of the stream and surrounding mountains. But our wild moose chase turned the walk into something more like a mile hike, which Mom and Dad found especially difficult because, as Dad noticed more than once, “They need more oxygen up here.”
He was really really really big. If it weren't for the drop off between us, he would have been too close, too.
Totally by chance, I got the best look at the moose, and possibly the best picture. The others were still coming up the trail when I was thinking “Man, is he BIG” and pushing the button. One of the other people who was nearby and taking pictures got a little too close, and the moose decided to move off. Fortunately, he headed down the trail towards my family, so that they got to see him as he walked through a meadow and into the forest.
Disgusted moose heading into the woods
Having seen two of the big mammals of the mountains, Kurt and I wanted to score a third — elk. We see them all the time when we are in the Estes Park area, so we were hopeful. But despite staying later than planned and driving into more remote parts of Rocky Mountain National Park, the best we could do was a mule deer.
We didn't see her until we got out of the car...
At least she had the decency to be right in the parking lot where we couldn’t miss her.
Tomorrow: a little little wildlife.
Two weeks ago, I went on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park that was abundant in wildflowers. Most of the day was overcast, but the sun did come out in the early afternoon, when we were up high, and gave us some dramatic views of peaks, clouds, trees, and rocks.
The hilltop disappearing into the cloud gives you an idea of how moody the hike was early on.
One of the larger patches of Indian Paintbrush we saw
There were masses of green mertensia along a stream we crossed.
I love the lines (and asymmetry) of this dead tree.
Grace Falls in the mist
One of many clusters of columbine
This little guy got very close to us; he clearly expected a treat. So we took his picture.
I assume the red on these leaves is something nasty but the red on green was stunning in person.
For more pictures from this hike, see my Hiking in RMNP photo album on Facebook.
A negative space heart in the clouds, seen while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, and caught on film by Dana Geary:
The peak in the picture is the Little Matterhorn.
