Colorado state flower - the Rocky Mountain Columbine. June, 1998, Long Canyon, Boulder Mtn.
Parks.
3rd (L.) and 2nd (R.) Flatirons from above the Bluebell-Baird trail in
Click on thumbnails above for a 400x300 pixel image (approx 25-30KBytes).
More pictures.
Here are some stories about some "interesting" hiking experiences.
Two pumas
December 6, 2000. Beautiful day, 55 degrees. The dogs and I went
for a walk up on top of Flagstaff, in . I like to go up there in the winter,
as it has much more light in the late afternoon and evening.
We went up Ute trail, and were rounding the big curve right before the
trail intersects with Flagstaff trail. Kara started sniffing the air,
and started off trail to the West, with her nose pointing skyward,
still sniffing like mad. QB caught the scent and also veered off
trail to the West. I could tell by how madly they were sniffing
that they had something. I called them back to me, and they were both
on high alert, but no raised fur. I looked around upwind, and
spotted what I thought was a tree stump. Upon closer examination,
I saw two ears, and realized I was looking at a mountain lion no
more than 50 yards away. I immediately put the dogs on leash.
My heart was thumping as I got out the camera and started taking
pictures. I had to zoom all the way because they were still 50 yards
away, and I was shaking, but I still got a fairly good
picture
. I snapped a few more pictures, and I STILL wasn't sure it was
anything but a broken tree stump. It never moved one inch. We walked
up the trail a bit, and still nothing moved. I then saw the other
mountain lion, under a tree behind the first one. I got scared
and decided to leave the area, so we walked back South on the
trail, past the two lions. They were SO well camouflaged that
they really looked just like tree stumps. I snapped a few more
pictures, and the dogs never saw them, but they could still smell
them.
Bear sow and cubs
In October of 2000, the dogs and I had finished a little walk up on top
of Flagstaff Mtn. Driving down, I noticed some cars stopped on the road
and I also slowed down and stopped. There was a sow and either 2 or 3
cubs up the side of the hill, chowing down on something in the bushes.
The cubs were playing near the mother, rolling around on one another,
and play-biting. Here's a picture of
the sow and one of the cubs.
Fawn
In July of 1999, the dogs and I were up Long Canyon in BMP. We were
slightly off trail, bushwhacking up the side of a hill to see a stand
of Columbines. QB was in the lead, then me, with Kara bringing up
the rear. QB was 10 feet from it when I saw its ears. A beautiful
little fawn, directly in her path! I was about 20 feet away, and it
blended in perfectly with the surrounding pine needles and forest. I
called QB, and she came back, without even smelling or seeing the fawn.
It still had spots. I put both dogs on leash, and the fawn got up,
and with wobbly legs, ran down the hill. The dogs saw it then! I
took a picture of it, but it's so
well camouflaged that you can barely see it. We never did see momma
deer.
Skunk!!!
In May of 1999, the dogs and I were at the lowest point on the Tenderfoot
trail, in The trail at this point turns onto a fire road,
called Chapman Drive,
and heads up towards the top of Flagstaff Mtn. It was hot, one of the
warmest days of the spring so far. The dogs were thirsty, so I told them
to go over the bank to the seasonal creek, about 50 yards from the
trail. They both went running down the hill, towards the creek, and
Kara caught some movement, and made a right angle dash. I saw the black
and white raised tail, and shouted "NO!!!", but it was too late. Kara
took a pretty good hit from a HUGE skunk. QB got it a little bit, but
not too bad. Kara started sneezing and trying to rub her face on the
ground. I caught a whiff of her, and knew it was pretty bad. The skunk
was still just standing there, tail up, but the dogs wouldn't go near it.
I took a picture of it, but I didn't
want to get close either. We continued up the road, and the odor of
fresh skunk permeated the air whenever Kara was upwind. Fresh skunk from
2 feet away is NOTHING like dead skunk at 60 mph in your car. It has
a completely different smell, and kind of burns your nostrils.
Once we got to the top of Flagstaff, I rolled down all the windows in the
truck, put Kara and QB in, and drove down. I went straight to the
vet, and bought some "Skunk off". This is a 6 oz. bottle of stuff that
you spray directly on to her. It's expensive, $11.00 per bottle. But,
it seemed to do pretty well. I sprayed almost the entire bottle on her,
right there outside the vet's office. It is supposed to neutralize the
odor. She was still pretty pungent for a few days, even after a few
dozen baths. Even three weeks later, you can still catch a faint whiff
of skunk, whenever Kara gets wet.
Foxes
May of 1999 (again), we were on top of Flagstaff mountain. We had finished
a very short hike around Boy Scout trail, down to May's point, and then back
on the road to the Amphitheater on top of Flagstaff. We were in the
truck, headed down, and right on the road, where Flagstaff trail crosses
the road for the last time, were 5 fox kits. At least, I think they
were all kits. I didn't see one big enough to be their mother, but one
of them may have been the vixen. They were all fighting over a dead
bird, and one little kit was being VERY aggressive. Whenever any of the
other kits would come over to sniff, the aggressive kit would growl, and
finally run away, with the dead bird in its mouth. They finally ran off
down the side of the hill, but not before I got 3 pictures,
1,2,3.
Kamikaze deer
In May of 1996, we were hiking up Long Canyon, to the west of Green
Mountain lodge,
in Near the top, we surprised a
doe. Normally, when the
dogs see or smell a deer, they really want to chase it, I tell them to stay,
and they get all excited and REALLY want to chase the deer. The deer
bounds away, and the dogs whine and yip. This
particular doe, however, must have had some fawns, as it stood its
ground, and then CHARGED at the dogs. This was a new experience for
the dogs. They didn't know quite what to do at first, but then the
hunters became the hunted, the dogs come RUNNING at top speed, tails
between their legs, down the trail. I stepped off the trail, and the
doe just keeps coming at them. I could have reached out and touched
it. She wasn't interested in me, however. She stopped after a few
hundred yards, the dogs kept going DOWN the trail, I FINALLY got them
called back, and the doe disappeared up the side of the hill, I'm sure
to get back to her fawns. It was quite an experience, but we've seen
plenty of deer since, and the dogs aren't the least bit afraid anymore.
Bear sow and three cubs
In August of 1996, we were coming down trail from Saddle Rock (also
in BMP, behind the Flatirons). Kara barked at something (she never
barks unless there's something there). I rounded the corner, only
to see a black bear cub scampering up a tree, and Kara running towards
it. Uh oh. I called her back, she came immediately, and here comes
Mama bear, wondering why her cub is up a tree. I didn't know quite
what to do, but I seem to recall that bears can't run downhill. So,
we take off, downhill, as fast as I can run. I looked back at the
sow, and it wasn't following us. I really wanted a closer look, so
I put the dogs on leash, and went back UPHILL, towards Mama bear.
Turns out there were 3 cubs total. We watched them for a few minutes,
they were chowing down on the raspberries that line the canyon. They
headed off downhill, completely oblivious to the dogs and me.
Puma
On December 28, 1996, we were up Long Canyon again. The trails in
BMP are horrible in the winter. 60 degree days with slushy snow,
and people (myself included) tramping on the trails packing them down,
followed by
freezing nights, and the trails are literally a sheet of solid ice,
3 inches thick. This ice doesn't melt, and can literally last
into April, in the shady portions. The trails were just like
this, so we decided to bushwhack up a side canyon. Where people
haven't tramped, it's just crusty snow, and good footing, with
boots. We were up the side canyon, almost to the top, where the
Green Mountain West Ridge trail crosses. Kara barked at something,
I stopped, and saw a flash of brown in the bushes. We stopped, listened,
and waited, but didn't see or hear anything. I decided to continue
up the canyon. A few hundred yards later, Kara started this weird
baying kind of bark, and I knew something was there. I called them
back, and both dog's fur was absolutely HUGE, the biggest I've ever
seen them. I still didn't see or hear anything. We waited a good
2 minutes, and I decided to continue on. I saw the blood before I
saw the dead deer, lying in the snow. I still didn't see anything,
and the dogs didn't see, smell, or hear anything, and I wanted to
see mountain lion tracks, so we started towards the deer. I was
50 feet from it when I saw it. Crouched under a bush, staring straight
at us, was a beautiful tawny colored mountain lion. It was SO well
camouflaged, that it blended right in with the bushes and
vegetation. My heart started pounding, and we immediately took off
90 degrees to the left (East) up a little hill. We were upwind
of it, so the dogs didn't smell it. They can't see it if it isn't
moving, but I could see it just fine. I cast a wary eye over my
shoulder as we were getting away from it, but it never moved or
made any motions. We were a few hundred yards away when I stopped
for a good long rest, and just watched him. He was still looking
straight at us. I haven't been up to that particular canyon since.
I was telling a park ranger about it some months later, and she
asked if I knew where we were, after I described the location to
her. Turns out we were in "Panther Canyon".
