East Inlet June 16, 2011

7 mile RT

I came back. I cannot believe I am doing this trail again.  I arrive around 5:30 a.m.. Hoping that by arriving earlier I might see the fox kits.  Weather is perfect with clear skies.  I am first car in the parking lot. Nice!

First meadow I see a female moose and she sees me.  I walked a little bit more down the trail and notice she has a baby which must be just over a week old. You can barely see the baby in the willows. It comes up to about the mothers knees.  The Sun is not up yet so not a great time to get pictures.  That is the disadvantage of hiking too early.  The cow saw something in near the creek so the move into the trees.

 As I was approaching  the second meadow and see two bulls about 5 feet off the side.  I take a few pictures hoping they would move but one was too busy eating while the other just kept his eye on me but still would not move.  I carefully proceed on the trail and they could care less.

At the second meadow there are three moose out in the meadow.  I see one cross the stream and head towards the trail.  This one was a yearling.  It came very close to where I was standing, eating everything in sight.  It's that time of the year.  I proceed on the trail thinking I am never gong to get to the area with the foxes.  I just passed the falls and was moving up the trail and looking at the terrain thinking that it would be a rough area for a bear.  Wrong!  I see one above me but behind a downed tree.  It was about 30 yards north of me moving the same direction I was going.  I stopped to watch it and it disappeared in some willows.  I proceed up the trail looking and listening for the bear.  It was very quiet.  Then I hear a twig break.  I stop. No sigh of bear but I know it was there.  I walk very carefully looking into the trees and still nothing.  Then I see the bear standing straight up scratching his back on a tree.  He looked about 5 feet tall, but then again it is till fairly dark.  The picture came out terribly.  I hide behind a tree watching the bear.  The main problem is that the trail comes closer to the path of the direction the bear is heading.  I moved again and step out from behind the tree to get a better shot.  It must have seen me and stopped.  I got a few shots before it turned around and ran away.  Got good shots of his back tho.

Later looking at the pictures it looks like the bear was much bigger than I thought.  Great day so far!
Well I finally get near to the fox area.  As I approach the area I see a kit running away in a dark forest area.

I followed it and see it scurry up but lose sight of it.  I proceed up the trail and see movement behind a rock field.  I see two kits moving around .  One came out and took some good pictures.  It stood for a long time in one area then disappeared in the rocks.  For awhile I did not see other one so I went back down to where I had first seen them. I see nothing.  All of a sudden one came down the rock steps across the dark forest area and was just starring at me.  It took off again back to the rock slide area.  I followed it back and was looking in the area when out of the corner of my eye I see something at the top of a little hill.  It was the same one I had just seen. It was warming itself in the early morning sun.  It layed down and stretched out.  The Sun was in my face so the pictures have along of back flash, but it was a great experience.  I could not move behind him due to lack of room and was worried I would scare him away.  So I just took pictures working my camera.  Then it approached me and gave me a chance to get behind it.  Not very good shots, Wrong angle.  It finally went back into other rock area took some more pictures. I finally left.  Coming back down I see the yearling moose.  Great day!

Coal Creek Canyon

April 23, 2011  - 6 mile round trip S/B 8

We were really excited to to this hike. Looking for wild horses!  Rain, rain and more rain. Mud, mud and more mud. 6 hours of rain and mud.  Still it was a great time!  We arrived at the trailhead about 6:30 a.m.. The trailhead is just north of I-70 and Cameo.  It started raining just as we arrived at the parking lot.  It was a light rain but would increase intermittently.  It was snowing above on the Mesa's.

The first 1/2 mile of the trail is on soft dirt, I had a funny feeling this was going to be a problem coming back as we had yet to find out.  The trail goes up quickly for about 100 yards.  When you reach the top of the ridge you  look down into a valley.  There are many trails that the horses have made so you need to find the one that takes you down into the valley. No horses in sight.  We proceed north on the trail, after about 1/2 mile we notice some horses to the west on a ridge.  due to the clouds and time of day it was still very dark.  They notice us right away.  There is a large gully in front of me so I thought if I keep low and stay in the gully I can get closer to get some pictures.  I get about 50 yards closer  to see a band of 4, once they spot me they  proceed down the ridge and looked like they were going right in to the same gully I was in.  The gully is very wide so I just followed it hoping I would be able to sneak up behind them.  Wrong!  Never saw them. Amazing!

I head back to Pixie and Jamie and we continue up the trail.  The trail, very easy, very little change in climbing noticed , but it goes on forever so it seems.  They say you go 3.9 miles until you run into a wire fence where the trail ends.  Never found it.  We crossed the creek about twenty times.  It was raining but the creek was running low and easy to cross. Further along the sandy areas were getting very muddy & sloppy.  This trail runs along the creek and you have the canyon walls on both sides.  It was difficult to see what a beautiful area it is due to the cloud cover and the rain.  We saw fresh tracks on the trail and near the creek so we thought we were following a couple of horses but never saw them.
Rain was coming down pretty good at times, but we all wanted to get to the end of the trail.  It was only 3.9 miles right? The trail became very muddy and sloppy so Pixie and Jamie decided to head back.  I went up further thinking it was not very far to the end.  Wrong! I went another mile or so and came to another junction at the cottonwood trail.  At this point the canyon walls came in and made it very narrow.  Crossing the creek was getting very sloppy and the trail disappeared.  I crossed the creek to see if the trail picked up but did not see it. I said screw it! Tired of the rain and mud so I headed back. I felt I had gone at least 4 miles but Kenny said at that point it was probably only about 3 miles with another mile to go to the fenced area. (He had run the trail a couple of weeks earlier on a training run). Coming back I had the wind and rain to my back and I was walking fast to catch up with the girls.  I heard a wild turkey calling but I could not see it, I hesitated until I heard it again.  It was about 25 yard away by the creek so I tried to sneak up on it but lost it.
The trail was so slick now but I was making good time.  I finally caught up with Pixie and Jamie at the end of the trail.  They had stopped so I knew there were horses in front of them.  The same 4 we had seen earlier were in the meadow grazing no more than 75 yards from us.  I took out the camera and started taking pictures.  I was excited to see and had not expected to get so close.  The day was not wasted although we had a great time in the rain.   After getting so close to them for pictures I was disappointed to find that the filter had fogged up slightly from rain so the pictures did not turn out as well as I'd hoped.

Now the fun begins,  I was so close to the horses taking pictures and just slipped in the mud.  I did a face plant but saved the camera.  I cannot believe all that time on the trail and crossing over the streams I didn't fall, but right near the end down I go.  Pixie had fallen earlier just standing still on a slight incline.  Well now it is time to head back to the car.  Like I mentioned in the beginning the first part of the trail was on a ridge and the type of dirt was very soft.  We started going up and got about 10 feet and could not get any traction.  We had about 6 inches of mud on the bottom of our boots.  We only had to climb about 100 yard but there was no way we could go up on this slippery trail.  We had to go back down and climb up the face of the ridge.  It had more vegetation and rocks.  It took some time to navigate our way through the wall of rocks but we finally found a way.  Sometimes crawling on all fours.  It was amazing to see the trails and hoof marks on this wall where you would think is too treacherous for the horses to climb. Incredible animals.
Before we started this climb we saw two black horses about 200 yard east of the 4 horses I had just photographed.  As we reached the top and looked back we saw the two black horses getting closer to the band of four.  The band kept a close eye on them until they got too close.  The one of the two roans decided enough was enough and charged towards the 2 uninvited guests. He kicked and reared then stood his ground.  The rest of the band then all charged towards the 2 and they high tailed it out of there.  It was a welcome reward to see the horses in their natural environment after climbing this wet, muddy, rocky ridge.
Well now that we had reached the summit of the ridge we now had to head down to the parking lot.  Yes still wet, muddy.  No escaping the mud this time around.  As we contemplate our decent we can see the parking lot and just about 25 yards from the car is another band of 4 horses. Seriously right by the parking lot! Unbelievable!   Well we make our way down sliding all the way with mud caked to the bottom of our boots.
We got pretty close to the band and see a beautiful Palomino that was the stud of the band.  Once he spotted us he moved his band out.


We spent 6 hours in the rain but what a great adventure.  We really enjoyed having Jamie hike with us for the day.  Sorry about your shoes Jamie!
We went to a car wash once we got into town to spray the mud off our boots.  The pictures did not turn out very good due to the condensation on the filters.  Very Frustrating!  We plan on going back before the rattlesnakes come out and better weather.  We hear the horses will go up in the mesa's during the summer months where it is cooler.  I am looking forward to going back and getting better pictures.  Overall I learned a lot about taking pictures in the rain.  This would be a great spot to come back to in the winter time as well  It was a great time!

Goose Creek Trail

April 2011
8+ miles round trip

Looking for trails along the Front Range that are not too crowded is very difficult. There is still so much snow in the Mountains it is a challenge.

When checking this trail out on the Internet it looked interesting so we decided to give it a shot.  It is not the easiest one to get to.  The trail head is northwest of Lake George.  There are two ways to get to the trail and both are long.  i went down to C. Springs and then west to Lake George on Hwy 24.  Beautiful day, although they are calling for a storm (rain and snow) tomorrow.
Just west of Lake George you can take co. Road 77 to State Forest 211 Road.  We went right by 211 road (no signs).  Lucky that we missed it because just down the road we saw 3 Mountain Sheep in a field.  We never saw them out in the open grazing.  I took a few pictures before we turned around and found road 211.
This forest road takes you through the larges forest wildfire Colorado has ever had. The Hayman Fire.  Very Sad.  it is a long drive once you leave Co road 77 to the trail head.

  Our destination was some historic building 4 miles in.  the trail is 9.5 miles long one way. Not Today.  So we started and the first quarter of a mile was burn area from the fires.  After that the trail is very beautiful to your left.   Rock formation like you would find in Utah.  Got a great shot up an arch called the harmonica.  The trail is on the northside of the creek.  The rock formation are on the southside.  The trail is very wide and not too rocky.  Some up and down bu overall a nice easy trail.  Once we arrive at the historic building and took some pictures of the building site (2 full ones and 1 just to the left).

 They say the shaft house is 1/4 mile down further from the historic house but we never found it.  We took the trail that we thought would take us to it but found out later we it was further down the trail. But, what we did find about 100 yards down the trail were huge boulders with small caves between the. unbelievable the size of them.  We explored a little bit and took some great pictures. We will be back to do this trail again.  Next time we will find the shaft house and also the secret valley just west of the boulders.

The Hayman Fires burned 170,000 acres.  Started by a wacky forest ranger with personal problems. It will take 200 years for the forest to come back to what it used to be.  It makes you sick to see the damage done by this devastating fire caused by this persons careless actions.

Bobcat Ridge Natural Area

April 2, 2011

Enough of the snow it was time to hike. Feet on dirt.  Weatherman calling for 80 degrees.  With all the snow in the mountain it was great to just hike.  It will be sometime before we hike in RMNP due to all the snow.

I found this 11 mile loop near Loveland.  There are 3 to 4 trails that make up this 11 mile loop.  11 miles out of the gate was optimistic for our first hike but there was a way to make it shorter if needed.

I read a little about this trail but did not find alot of information on it.  Now I know why.  We arrived about 7:00 am at the trail head.  We were the first on the trail (as usual) These trails are used by bikes and horses as well. Some of the trails are limited to who can go where. Hikers can use all four trails.  The Ginny trail is used for hikers and bikes only.  The beginning of the hike was cool but not too bad.  But that changed quickly as we went uphill.  The area was burned by a wild fire in 2000.  It burned 16,000 acres.
The Ginny trail is a gradual climb, but very rocky.  We had two mountain bikers pass us new the bottom of the trail, it is a very technical trail for Mountain bikes.  The area was so desecrated by the fire and we were surprised by the lack of new growth.  the charred out trees and very limited undergrowth made for a very somber setting. We saw several deer going up but no other wildlife. However it did have a very nice view of the plains.  We could see many farmers burning their fields in the distance.(more of that later).   Once we got to the ridge we could see the how large this wild fire was. It was very sad.  Had a great view of my favorite hike, Flattop in RMNP in the distance.  You can see some of Long's Peak and Twin Sister peaks.
We continued on Ginny trail heading north. Not much to see but great views to the east and down into the valley below.  We came up to an area called Mahoney Park, why this is called a park I don't know.  It is surrounded by rocks and a small green belt in the middle.  The reviews mention all the types of animals you might see.  Yeah right!  They also warn you about rattlesnakes which I can see with all the rocks.  I would not want to do be in this area in the hot months
Just north of the park is the Powerline road or trail.  It is a shortcut back to the valley loop below, but we decided to continue on the DR trail and do the 11 mile loop.  DR trail is the northern section of this loop where the fire did not touch, still very plain.  Nice views down into the valley.  The trail was much nicer, not so rocky.  Dropping down into the valley and back to the trail head the wind really started to pick up.  Once we got down into the valley and headed south the wind had to be blowing about 40 mph.  Beautiful day even with the wind.  overall this trail is what I call "one and done".  Never again.  Too boring!  They really need to reseed this area.  I thought it would have been a busier trail, we only ran into 3 people on the upper trail.  most people just say below and do the valley loop.  The amazing part of the day was later that evening a wildfire about 5 miles north called the Redstone fire started.  It burned about 4000 acres and about 15 homes. A cold front came in Sunday and brought in rain and snow to help the efforts but dried out fast and the winds came back.  A very windy spring so far.

Winter 2011

January 1 thru March 2011

We spent most of our time at Gaskil Barn area in Grand Lake, learning to cross country ski.  One of the biggest problem was the snow. Too much snow if you can believe it.  Record season in the Grand Lake and Rocky Mtn National Park area.  I would say we never saw the top of our skis until early March.  It was truly amazing.  There was one weekend that was great, the others were a battle with the snow and weather.  Temperatures were extremely cold this winter.  This area had several days of temperatures below 40degrees  That is not including wind chill factors. The Colorado River Trail head area had snow that was taller than my pick up truck.  i would say about 6'2" high.  Snow on the restrooms roof had at least 4" or more on top.  Incredible to see.  What is really crazy is that down in the Denver front range area there was  drought from lack of snow. Amazing.  On Berthoud Pass the snow gauge showed almost 7 feet of snow.

We were skiing in the valley with about 3" to 4" of snow underneath us.  We skied across the Colorado River. The fences in the are were buried as we skied over them.  The conditions now are very icy.  It will be very interesting with the run off once the weather warms up this spring.

June 11, 2011 Mother Fox

After our encounter with the family if foxes last weekend we decided to go back to the same area to see how they were doing.  When approaching the cliff area the female fox was on top of the rocks watching as we approached.   Once in the area she came towards us but stayed in a safe distance.  We could tell she was not afraid of us at all and very curious.  We noticed a couple of deer legs laying around the area so we knew she and the babies were well fed.  The babies were no where in sight.  She hung around us for quite some time and wanted to see what was in our backpacks.  At one time she tried to make away with one of our jackets.  In this picture I was standing right behind my back as she approached my pack.  We also saw around the area some items she must have found around the camping area.

Baby Foxes

June 4, 2011

Sunrise Berthod Pass

Hiking on the East Inlet trail in Rocky Mountain National Park we came upon a family of foxes.

As we were hiking a female fox ran past us with a marmot in her mouth.  As we followed her we heard loud squeals which we recognized as kits.   We came across a den located under a large rock where we saw 2 small foxes.  We watched from a distance the kits exploring the area.   The female knowing we were in the area and obviously not too concerned left.  About 10 minutes later she comes back with a mouth full of snakes. She brought them to the den area and one of the kits picked them and was carrying them as did the mom.  The Mom then took them and buried them near the den.

Then with a look to each of them they went into the den and she left again to go hunting.
We hung around for a little longer while the kits stayed quiet and out of sight.