Day 112 - The Moose is Loose!!

Well folks...What happens when you get rained in all day in Steamboat??
Answer: The next day you go crazy!!

Yesterday is the first and only day it has rained all day. In the final analysis, we probably needed the rest and downtime. By nightfall, however, we'd decided to get up before the break of dawn and head back to the Arapaho Wildlife Refuge. Before the break of dawn literally translates to 4:00 AM. It was dark in them mountains. But...the payoff was big on a couple of levels:
1) The sunrise was beautiful

2) The misty morning light made for some really nice snaps

I know..I know...enough with the hay already!!

3) And most important...critters love the morning!!

Sup, Dawg?

4) Fourth and finally, Lizzy is just moose-mad; she is constantly on the lookout for meese! 

Well today was so special I had to separate the blog into two (2) segments; the first is just the beautiful events of the day, and the second is dedicated to Lizzy's moose bonanza!

First things first...

So why would anyone purposefully climb into their Jeep at 4AM, you ask? 

Well, the last time we headed for Arapaho Wildlife Refuge is was 5:30AM, and it was almost light when we pulled out of our condo parking lot. Most of the critters we saw were along the way to our destination. The moose we watched at 8:00AM was enjoying a morning nap. So...when in the refuge...do as the refugees do; get up early, early! Besides that, the morning was gorgeous!

Ya gotta love layers...

...and more layers...

...and red barns and fences...

...and misty mountain mornings...

...brought to you by the road less traveled...

...oh, yes...and hay!

As we drug ourselves around this desolate area, we encountered one of the areas most prolific inhabitants, the Pronghorn Antelope. Since these guys are not as nocturnal as deer, we found them still in the rack waiting for the sun to come up and get warm.

Hey, Dude! We're up...why aren't you??

You heard right guys; that was Reveille. Get the hell up!!

Excuse me!!

And just for good measure:

Yonder hawk!

OK, good people...

...we saved the best for last...

...here come the meese; here come the meese; here come the meese

We were atop Owl's Ridge Road right at sun up! Wait a minute. You don't know what Owl's Ridge Road is? OMG!! That's where we wildlife photographers convene to stalk morning meese. You see, you DO see much more from Owls Ridge. Meese are lurkers. And in the mornings they can be found lurking IF your eyes are sharp or you have Wildlife Willie's big gear. IF you're lucky and find a moose or two, THEN you head down to Moose Goose Trail for a closer look. How do we know this? We done done it way more than once. Problem we've had before while noodling around Walden, Colorado's Moose Capital, is we never hit it this early. Well, in less than 5 minutes, we saw some movement from our perch. Here's the shot from a distance (like a quarter mile):

Coupla meese from atop Owls Ridge vantage point

It's a bit risky once you've spotted a moose from the ridge. There's absolutely no guarantee that you'll ever find him again once you drop down to the flats. This morning we got lucky!

I see the moose and the moose sees me...

Meese are just like big kids...they love to play Peek-a-boo!  Gotcha!!

After watching one big dude for a while, we decided we'd head further down Moose Goose Trail (who names these things, anyway??). Hopefully, if this guy was out, there might be others.

BINGO! We hadn't anymore than started the Jeep when this big bad boy stomped his feet and bolted several yards away. When he did, two or three others came to see what the ruckus was about. So...one or two at a time, we watched and snapped some shots. I suspect they were about 150 yards away most of the time.

Morning "Meese and Greet"

OK...you look at me and I'll look at you

He needs a shave

Here's another big dude...see him lurking? Thought I was just kidding, huh?

Yum! A tree!!

Well, Lizzy's day was made, BIG TIME! We probably watched these guys for 45 minutes or so. Since it became obvious they weren't going to invite us over for some nice, tasty vegetation, we decide to take a couple more shots and head back to "the Boat" to beat the afternoon rains. Here's a couple of parting shots:

Adios old fella!

Thanks for the show, guys!

Hey folks...we hope you've enjoyed sharing this beautiful Colorado morning with us. We'd love to hear your comments!

Till next time!

Day 110 - Chasing Colorado's Wild Horses

What could possibly be more fun that exploring Colorado's back roads in search of some of the planet's last wild Mustang herds? Turns out it was a blast. Sorry folks, but there's lots to show you in this post.

This picture is a teaser - we really did find the herd after much diligent searching!

A couple of nights ago we participated in the Steamboat Art Walk. Simply stated, you walk all over town looking at art in different galleries. Some of the folks are appreciative and serve you complimentary wine or Mojitos. A lot of the art sucked, but much of it was very good. Lizzy and I tend to gravitate to the photography. Turns out some of our favorites were of wild mustangs. After asking a few questions we learned the photos were taken within about 100 miles of "the Boat," near the borders of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. The area is called:

Well...we got excited and decided to try our hands at finding some truly wild horses in the middle of nowhere. So...off we go! The terrain was incredible. Each day we fall more and more in love with the Jeep. It has opened up entirely new horizons for us. Here's a quick look at the general area in which we searched for the horses...

We really had no idea where we were going or what we were doing except for a few remarks on the Internet. As were neared the County Road (translates rough dirt road) to San Wash Basin, we spied a Park Ranger assisting a motorist who had suffered an unrepairable tire puncture while attempting to "hunt the herd." We asked him for some guidance or assistance. He was a nice guy and said, "take mile marker 43 to the basin." He added he'd never been there and had never seen the horses. Thanks a lot!

So...for the next four (4) hours we explored the terrain depicted herein. We had low expectations and held little or no hope. This area is pretty vast!

Finally, our spirits were lifted when we started seeing random piles of horse shit on and along the road. Can you imagine a day in you life when you've actually reacted positively to horse shit? I mean...today was the day that horse shit Ruled!!

After several hours of sand, sage brush, and solemnity, we decided that we had best try to find our way out of here. There was only one other vehicle during the day and it was headed out! Upon entering the area there were signs posted suggesting this was not the place to be if it rained. The sky was ominous most of the day, so we decide to tuck our tails and run.

And then...lo and behold...through the eyes of Lizzy we spotted a large heard probably between a quarter and a half mile away. We acted like kids with their first taste of ice cream. It was so cool. You can see from the following cropped photo which is therefore quite poor and grainy, the object of our mirth:

At least we now knew what we were looking for!

Without binoculars or equipment like Wildlife Willie's, we could do little but celebrate that our search had not been in vain. Still we were a bit concerned about the weather and had a long trip back to Steamboat, so we turned around.

Then, as though we were the blind leading the blind, we found more horses on the return trip. They were in the same general vicinity as the bigger herd, but we'd been so fixated on the first find we'd completely overlooked this new group. Fortunately, they were only about 2 tenths of a mile away. That's still a bit distant unless you're package looks like Willie's. But, we were excited and here's the fruits of our labors...

Probably doesn't seem like that big a deal to you...but...as I've said many times before...you just had to be there. It was a huge rush for a couple in their 70s, I assure you!!

Several other things made the day one of our most memorable. I'll spare you the commentary and just show you some of the other sights we encountered (some are critters, others just the colorful Colorado countryside).

Life's hard on the prairie. This poor old gal was on her last legs; couldn't even run away.

A much healthier and more wary specimen.

As we headed back to Steamboat, I couldn't help taking advantage of the late afternoon sun which followed us all the way home.

The following Sandhills were roughy 200 yards away so my photos are cropped and grainy. Nonetheless, you can see in every image that the bird in the middle has some sort of deformity on her left shoulder. I don't know it it affects her; we never saw them fly.

Sorry folks...I just love Colorado scenery, especially when it includes brightly colored fields or big round bales of hay.

What's a Burton blog without a sunset or two?

From our patio

From the rooftop restaurant where we celebrated a glorious day of horse shit!

Good night from down town Steamboat Springs Colorado!!