Stardate 2016.660

A Short and Sweet Quickie...
There's nothing wrong with quickies; they have their place. Sure they do... I didn't make it to any Gucci areas to play this past weekend, but I did get in 34 miles on the mountain bike by joining Chatfield Reservoir with Waterton Canyon. Summer is starting to slowly dwindle.

This winged creature must have thought he'd found a mate...






Fishermen, equestriennes and bikes share a path adjacent to the South Platte River. Part of the fun is dodging Virginia Creeper.






The South Platte River looked rather refreshing.




In places, the leaves were pushing the season a wee bit. Yes, that's yellow in those leaves.




The Oregon grape has shut down for the season.




And the quickie concludes. That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Adios

Stardate 2015.844

It's Twoo, It's Twoo...

...Denver Water has reopened its Waterton Canyon to the public. The fish squeezers (wildlife biologists) have deemed the bear count to be back down to a normal tenancy. On the other hand, the resident bighorn sheep are deep into the rut, and a lot of head-banging is taking place. The male rams are very powerful; I'm glad they're usually docile toward humans. After an eight-week closure, it was nice to access the Front Range foothills via the canyon again. Following are some recent picks.

Greetings Waterton Canyon




A new sign




There were several newly uncovered, basketball-sized, paper wasps nests hanging about.




Blood red sumac




I like to ride with skeletons.




Defiant




Rough and rugged foothills line the South Platte River.




The low sun angle of fall and winter creates nice lighting.



These guys spend the day baaing and grunting at each other. They shove and kick each other around. Then, out of the blue, they'll rear up and head-butt. The sound of the clash echoes throughout the canyon. The ewes seem to be in hiding. Perhaps larger rams are already breeding with the ewes and these guys have been pushed out for the year. When Snowcatcher and I first started visiting Waterton Canyon, there were four massive, dominant rams. These four were almost always together. We named them Gigantor, Broken Horn, Mutt and Jeff. I think they've moved on to sheep heaven. However, we see their traits in many of the smaller rams.




That's it for this round. Thanks for reading...

Adios