18 posts tagged “dkmcdonald”
and less wild:
An evening hike, and a second encounter with a flock of wild turkeys.
They really are remarkably ugly birds.
Although it snowed just about a week ago, Saturday managed to be an incredibly beautiful day. At about 70F/20C it was far too spectacular to spend indoors, so I took myself off for a hike. The best fall colour has passed, but there are still plenty of stands of colourful scrub oak, mountain mahogany, and sumac.
The prairie dog town I took photos of in the summer has expanded nicely over the season, although the occupants are just as photo-shy as ever.
A highlight of the day though, was watching a flock of wild turkeys parade from the prairie to a stand of scrub oak. The group was well past the limit of the camera's lens, but it is such a special sight, I wanted to post the pictures anyway.
To round out the wonder of the day, I came across this gorgeous fellow soaking up the warmth from the sand in this dry creek bed...I am either remarkably unthreatening, or the bed was far too comfortable for him to give up, as he barely twitched while I flitted about, taking photos. He is in beautiful condition, which made me very happy to see.
A slightly misleading title, as these are cottontails, not jackrabbits, but I liked the name too much to give it up. These two visitors to my yard were not tremendously wary of me, which perhaps explains why one is missing an ear...not quite smart enough to be scared I guess.
Some miscellaneous pictures from here and there as summer has turned to autumn. There is still some quite lovely colour, although I think it will not last long now.
A bit of drama too, sometimes:
A deer or two, so you know it's me:
Some milkweed glowing in the afternoon sun:
And last, but not least, a dinosaur to foreshadow Halloween:
Driving in from the eastern plains late this afternoon, I spotted a herd of pronghorns near the road.
They were extremely shy, spooking away from the truck as I pulled to the side of the road.
I would have liked to have gotten closer for better pictures, but had to be (and was, actually) content with being able to watch them for a while.
I spent the weekend in the Lost Creek Wilderness area. The mixed forests, open meadows, small streams, and incredible rock formations that make up the Lost Creek Wilderness area are contained in nearly 120,000 acres in the Tarryall and Kenosha mountain ranges of central Colorado.
The area gets its name from Lost Creek, a meandering waterway that disappears under enormous rock piles only to reappear suddenly from under another rock pile further downstream. Hiking in from the Goose Creek trailhead, one passes through a short section of the area affected by the 2002 Hayman Fire.
The Hayman Fire, a result of arson, burned more than 138,000 acres (560 km2), although most of Goose Creek valley was untouched by the blaze.
Six years on, this area is offers a startlingly beautiful look at the early recovery from the blaze, before the trail passes into the thicker conifer forest.
Early Saturday evening, a thunderstorm of impressive proportions struck, leaving the morning wreathed in a beautifully mysterious fog that slowly burned away as the morning sun rose higher in the sky.
Everything touched by the sunlight steamed gently.
The day turned warm, and the hiking was delicious, passing through cool, moist canopy, out into sunny meadows carved by the creek, and punctuated by incredible rock formations.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to take a trip to the Botanic Gardens in Denver - a place I haven't been since I was a child.
All of the grounds are spectacular, of course, and the lushness was intoxicating, especially given how dry July had been. Within the conservatory, I was immediately captivated by the orchids and other tropical plants.
Outdoors, it was impossible not to fall in love with the water lilies, they were putting on such a show.
Every inch of the grounds, even out-of-the-way alleys have been made beautiful.
**When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. John Muir
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