Big horns & marmots & bears!

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Wow- after getting back from 3 days in the Rocky Mountains, I was blown away by how pretty they are, and the variety of flora & fauna. Every 30 mins the scenery changes, and you enter a different climate with new animals. It's really amazing, and you get really entranced by driving through it or hiking.

Becca & I left Boulder after the triathlon on the 22nd (or rather after our nap after the triathlon), and headed to Estes Park, on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. The drive there was really nice, but we were both really tired, so we pitched a tent in the Moraine Campground and found a nice joint for some bbq ribs for dinner. Sleeping in the tent is something that I am not really used to (the 3 days at Glastonbury in the mud among 130,000 other people doesn't really count), so getting to sleep and then dealing with the screaming kids, birds & sun in the morning meant I was supertired when I finally awoke.

After a quick brekkie, we packed up the tent & headed off through the park. First animals we saw were the bighorn sheep, which were playing in the mud. There were lots of rangers out to explain that they do that because the mud is rich in salts and minerals which they need. There were lots of females & babies, but no adult males (I wanted to see the big horns of course!). We then decided to take the Old Fall River Road, which snakes its way up the mountain through 4 different ecosystems. We stopped everywhere- even though the road is only 8 miles or so, it's unpaved & so pretty you want to stop everywhere to take a photo. We ended up at the Alpine Visitor Center for lunch, perched very high up in the alpine zone (no trees), and climbed to the top of the peak there for awesome views across the park. There were some elk grazing in the distance, but I don't think my telephoto lens is powerful enough to capture anything more than a few brown blobs.

After lunch, we headed down through the other side of the park on the Trail Ridge Road to Grand Lake, stopping to see yet more dear and a few really cute yellow-bellied marmots (we think that's what they were from our wildlife book). We passed Adam's Falls, which was a really pretty spot for some photos. After we left the park we drove to Steamboat Springs, and found a wonderful campsite called Dumont Lake Campground in Routt National Forest about 17 miles outside of Steamboat. There were wildflowers everywhere, I don't think I've seen so many different & beautiful ones in one place in my life. We made our little tent, and were a bit weary of the "beware of bears" signs, but Becca assured me not to worry, so I tried not to. There really was no need, as it was totally peaceful, and with hardly anyone else around and under the trees, I slept like a log and was happy to wake up and not have been eaten by a bear or mountain lion.

In the morning we walked around Dumont Lake, and Becca & I got really into birdwatching- we turned into a pair of twitchers! It was fun, and there were loads to identify with our wildlife guide. The only other people we saw were a family of anglers, who told us they throw all of the fish back because they hate the taste but enjoy sitting in the water for hours trying to see if they can catch anything!

We got some super mexican food in Steamboat Springs, and then headed to Strawberry Springs- where they have natural hot & cold springs to bathe in. It was great- just relaxing in the sun reading our books, in a really lovely setting. After that, we took what we thought would be the slightly longer but scenic route on the unimproved roads of Buffalo Pass through the mountains back to Boulder. Well, they were not quite unimproved- we passed the leveler machines working their way down the mountains! Thank god for 4 wheel drive- even with it we were bumping along at 10 miles an hour for hours.... However, we were rewarded with staggeringly beautiful pristine scenery, and hardly any cars. I got a kick out of passing the dirt bikers who held up their fingers to let us know how many more bikers to expect- I thought they were just giving us a peace sign! As we were on a particularly beautiful part and we were both scanning the scenery, Becca says very urgently- "what's that black thing moving over there?" and we both look out--- in the distance walking through the clumps of trees is undoubtedly a bear. We try to see it and drive along slowly (OK we were still quite a distance from it- maybe 400 metres), but can't find it in the trees so turn around & drive the other way. When we decide we aren't going to see it, as we are turning around & I am climbing from my back-seat phototaking spot to the front, I look down over the edge of the hill we are on, and there, maybe 50 meters from me, is a VERY cute little black bear walking away. I screamed to Becca to stop so I could snap it, and managed to get one shot before it walked off into the woods, surely to find mama bear. It was so cool, and we were both on a total high as we finished out journey through the woods. It didn't matter that it took hours to get back, we were so excited to see a bear! TWO bears even!

Animal recap for Rocky Mountain National Park: elk, bighorn sheep, chipmunks & squirrels (too many different types to remember), deer, marmot, moose & bears!

(Please check back soon for the photos! Here is a link to some photos Becca & I took of the first week in Boulder- Becca's photos)

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