Month: March 2019

1 Fox 2 Moose Day

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’ve lived in Grand County for six months now.  I had heard the stories of how Grand County, especially the Rocky Mountain National Park, was infested with moose, but I’ve only seen one moose.  I’ve even gone on “moose hunts” (hunting with my camera). I’ve purposely driven through the park.  I’ve gone on hikes where moose are known to be.  Where are they?

Today I went up to Monarch Lake.  People always see moose there.  Maybe I’d get lucky,  It’s late in the day – perfect moose sighting time of day.  Plus, if you were a moose, why would you want to be anywhere other than Monarch Lake?  But, I didn’t expect to see moose and I was in great need of a cardio workout since I often sit in front of my computer for days due to work.  I have walked part way around the lake before.  I usually go left around the lake, but have never done the full 4 mile loop. So, today I was going to go right around the lake just to see something different.  Maybe I would even have time to do the full loop.

As I’m driving into the parking lot, I see a grey fox off to the side.  He looks at me for a while.  I look back at him in amazement and talk to him.  I don’t think he understands what I’m saying. Then he runs off.  I’ve never seen a grey fox.  I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a grey fox.  I’ve only seen red fox.  One time in Evergreen, I saw a black fox.  That was one of the rarest and most special things I’ve ever seen.  But, here is a grey fox and it feels almost as rare and special as the black fox.  This is a good day.

I walked the short distance to the trailhead.  I turned right.  I was stopped instantly.  A mother and daughter were just standing there staring at two moose.  There was a mother and baby moose standing in the shallows of the lake eating.  They were only about 100 steps or so away from me.  Backing up back down the trail might have been the smarter thing to do, but I was rooted where I stood and couldn’t move.  So were the two people that had gotten there before me.  They were right next to the trail I had planned on taking.  There were a couple other people on the trail on the other side of the moose.  We all stood there for what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes.  I guess I’m not hiking today.  This is just a wildlife watching trip.

Then the two people on the other side of the moose gave up on waiting and decided to walk by.  They must have come withing 4 feet of the moose.  I thought, oh jeeze, this isn’t only the day I get to see moose up close, this is the day I get to see a moose trample people.  A mother moose is a terrifying thing.  Am I ready for this?  They walked by and the moose paid no attention.  I watched them for about 45 minutes total and then decided to head home.

20190510_145825

20190510_15085020190510_145409It was a 1 fox 2 moose day.  I think that’s a good day.

The Sound of Happy

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

There is a very big YMCA camp near where I live.  They have cabins, lodges, horseback riding, a sledding hill, a Nordic ski center and so many other amenities.  I have gone cross country skiing there a few times.  The sledding hill is near the Nordic center.  Today it must have been part of spring break as the amount of kids on the hill was 4 times as many as I’ve seen before.  Usually, I enjoy the quiet of being out in nature or at least the sound of my skis on the snow or my jacket rustling as I move.  Today, you could hear laughter, squeals, giggling, screaming and general chatter.  It filled the air and traveled quite a distance.  If you closed your eyes you could just see the smiles on all the kids faces.  The sound of happy was everywhere.  It was such a nice change from the quiet and much better than listening to music through ear phones.

Trough Road

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

The fastest route to go west of where I live is not to go down to the highway, but to travel west through a couple small towns and then west along a long dirt road (Trough Road) through the mountains.  I have taken this route a few times now to get to Snowmass Village where some of my friends live.  The first time I took the route, I just let google maps direct me and I was quite shocked when it took me down this long, steep, not very wide road for over an hour.  After looking at maps closer, I realized, this really is the quickest way.

A large storm was due to hit Denver the day I was supposed to be going to Snowmass.  My plan had been to drive to Snowmass in the evening.  The whole city of Denver was in a panic over the storm.  You would think the end of the world was coming.  Grand County got the edge of the storm.  Schools were closed and the news was covered in warnings.  At one point I looked at the traffic maps and almost every highway was closed.  I debated leaving earlier to go to Snowmass, but I was afraid to get on the highway and I was sure Trough Road would not be navigable.  Plus, the mountains had been trying to kill people with avalanches lately and I was very wary of the avalanche danger.  Many areas that haven’t had avalanches in 10 or more years were covering roads and highways.  I watched the snow plow go down my road at least 5 times during the day even though I could barely see the end of my driveway.

At one point in the early afternoon, the storm lifted a little.  The clouds were still there, but they rose a little higher in the sky.  The snow slowed and I could see the end of the driveway.  I thought, if I’m going to go, now is the time.  The hardest part of the drive was my own driveway since I didn’t shovel first.  All the roads in Grand County were cleared pretty well.  I think the county has a shortage of plumbers, but an excess of snow plowers.  As I was driving, I was wondering what Trough Road would look like.  I was wondering if there was avalanche danger or if the snow would be so thick you couldn’t drive on it.  I got to it and it looked like it had been plowed.  So, I took a chance, hoping I wouldn’t get stuck if it wasn’t plowed the whole way.

It was plowed the whole way, still covered in snow and slush, but not so deep that you couldn’t drive through it.  The clouds stayed low and threatening, but it didn’t snow any more and the wind was calm.  Everything was a monotonous grey.  I saw deer, lots of deer, crossing the street, walking down the street.  I saw some elk also.  I even saw big horn sheep, which I hardly ever see in Colorado anymore.  I only saw one truck.  It was this very quiet world in slow motion as if I was in a secret bubble hidden from the storm, hidden from other cars and other humans.  It was just a pocket of beautiful nature and me.

As I got to the end of the road and close to where I would get on the highway, the road became dry.  The clouds were even higher in the sky.  The western part of the state hardly saw any of the storm.  Instead of terrifying, Trough Road had been a tunnel of safety between the storm and the highway.

Wild Animals

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I miss seeing wild animals from my house.  When I lived in Evergreen, I had a fox that visited regularly.    There were lots of deer, elk every once in a while, and bear.  I saw a black fox once which was very neat.  The squirrels told me stories every day and the chip monks terrorized my house.

When I lived in Morrison, I had a bunny factory under my porch.  There were lots of deer, some rattle snakes and I even saw one bobcat.

I was excited to move to Grand County, thinking I would have even more wild animal sightings.  But so far, there haven’t been any sightings near the house.  There have been footprints in the snow in front of my office window so something has been visiting.  I can’t tell from the prints what it is, only that something small has been there.  Is it a fox, a small wild cat, or something else?  Then one day, I finally saw I white blur go running in front of my office window.  It was difficult to see since it was white on a background of white snow.  Maybe I would see it again the next day.  I did see it the next day, and the next and almost once a week.  It was the small white house dog of my next-door neighbor.  Roughly every few days he goes tearing through the neighborhood in the pure excitement of being outside and able to run.