Final Day in the Rockies

Ever stand in a forest, feeling maybe you're being watched?

Today was interesting, I'll say that for it! I started off fairly early - for me - driving far up into the tundra trail, or whatever they are calling it these days. It is at about 12,000 feet plus in altitude, so I brought put on my oxygen backpack (yes... I have an oxygen back pack) but I never had to use it. I come to this trail whenever in the park to search for the 'ever elusive', i.e., $@#! White-tailed Ptarmigan.

But even before I could get up very far, I was stymied by adorable little Pikas, running hither and yon. I never saw any Pikas on on this trail before.

The tubby little hamsteroids are so flippin' cute. I watched a few of them gathering greens then running off to store it all under boulders and rocks, literally making 'hay' that will keep them fed come winter.

Climbing up the high altitude slope, I panted a lot, but I am thrilled to say, that after last year's 'My Big Sick' I felt neither light-headed, dizzy or in need of the oxygen tank in my backpack. HURRAH for MOI! 

"DANGER! DANGER!"

Then things got more interesting. The video gods were with me, as a coyote downhill from me, trotted up hill until it was parallel to me. The whole of the time a fat marmot, constantly & never-endingly (is that a word?) - barked its alarm call. I was ecstatic!  As I stood 'on watch' other park visitors tromped up hill, and I waited to hear their response to the coyote, only there was none.

"You frickin' little loud mouth, if I get my
 teeth in you we'll see who's barking..."

The coyote, in the open but among granite rocks, was in plain sight, and yet invisible at the same time. I made it my busy-body duty to point out the coyote to folks. I'd say 3/4 of those passing by did not see the beast. I really thought the constant cries of the Marmot would have been a great tip off. But nope, the incessant barking - echoed by still more barking marmots off in the distance - went unnoticed.


I totally enjoyed, to use birder's lingo, putting visitors 'on' the coyote, that was truly difficult for many to spot.

Let's play, 'Find the Coyote'

 A small crowd enjoyed watching as the coyote, that stood still for perhaps 20 minutes, finally, with an air of  'I, an apex predator, and I don't care if you bark, 'cause your butt is mine' fuzzy face meandered ever so slowly toward the barking arsehole of a marmot. HEY! I didn't call the marmot an arsehole, the coyote did! Then the coyote made one desperate lunge at the barking bugger, and... and... missed. Damitalltohell! Frustrated, the coyote then loped off dejectedly into the horizon. I hope it found something else for its breakfast.

And if you are wondering if I had luck finding White-tailed Ptarmigan... ah... never mind that. How about seeing the lovely video I shot on the alpine trail?


Post coyote adventure, I headed down the eastern side of the mountain. On the lower park road I spotted a big ole treat - a girlie Moose. She wore a telemetry collar, so her meanderings are being tracked by wildlife biologists.

The moose walked parallel to the same road that leads out of the southwestern park exit. So our girl caused quite the wildlife traffic snag. I'm beyond grateful that I got to see a moose on this trip.

Her K6 signature jewelry is just darling

 I so loved seeing that grand moose!

Post 'moose adventure' I headed south, out of the park's east entrance and drove around the sleepy little town of Grand Lake.

Grand Lake

I stopped between Grand Lake and Shadow Mountain Lake to spot a few birds that deemed to show themselves. Then I headed back into the town of Grand Lake, parking in front of a small cafe. Why? was I hungry? Nope, the shop had what my soul needed more than food - hummingbirds!

Girlie & juvenile Broadbills at the snack bar

A few days ago at Aunt Judy's ranch I saw lots of hummingbirds, all being Rufous, which I can also see in California. So I am positively joyous getting to see what I cannot see in California: Broad-billed Hummingbirds.

'Himself' in for a meal

Enjoyable doesn't quite describe the thrill of watching flying jewels sucking down the nectar like bedazzled piglets.








While filming the Hummers, I got a phone call from my birder buddy Don back in California. He told me of a cute hotel near Estes Park that had bird feeders. There, he said I might be able to see my long-sought Rosy Finches. Shortly thereafter I headed back into the park and into Estes Park. Sadly the hotel was a bust. There was new, short-sighted management that took down all the bird feeders. BOOOOO! 

The remainder of the day I spent wondering WTF were all the elk & enjoying that pristine Rocky Mountain scenery.

View from Alpine Visitor Center

Yeah... my fourth visit to Rocky Mountain National Park was no luckier at finding White-tailed Ptarmigan, Rosy Finches or Dusky Grouse. And what does that mean? I'll have to return another day, and that's not sad thought, is it?

Last thing. The topmost photo of this post was both the 2nd and the last elk I saw for this trip. Here's a super-quickie video of the bull elk, in the shrubbery where it laid itself down. It had an audience of myself and several other happy campers.

A Mule Deer Laden Afternoon

Some occasionally moody scenery in Rocky Mt National Park

Not long after returning from the Pawnee Grasslands to Estes Park, I headed back into Rocky Mountain National Park. There were lots of Mule Deer out and about.

























The antlers on many of the bucks must have the does sitting back to
fan their brows.

Below is what I call a Disney assortment of bucks, by which I mean they come in two lovely and different shades: two gray, and one red. 

The gray buck below - who wears a dynamite set of antlers - still retains his gray winter coat. The red buck below has shed most of his winter coat so he is red - his summer color. Obviously the red buck is setting the seasonal trend.

A Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel was insulted when I didn't want to photograph it because I can find such squirrels in California. The squirrel was insulted but offered to model for me so, what could I do but oblige it with its own photo spread?

The fancy tail gives its rear view some panache

In the end, for my efforts I got a polite standing ovation

I stopped to wander around the Sprague Lake picnic area where there were Gray Jays, a species I don't get to see very often.

A nice brace of Canada or Gray Jays

Damp Mink

I did the tiniest bit of hiking on the Sprague Lake trail. I was besides myself with excitement when briefly, I spotted a Mink standing in the shore reeds. It scarpered off as soon as we spied each other, so no photo. To compensate, here's a photo I took of a mink eons ago. Can't see much of it? Sadly, that's often the case with these sneaky little rascals.




It was closing in on sunset when this singular young bull elk, with spike antlers showed itself on a roadside. The first elk of this park visit. Where the heck are they all hiding out?

A late roaming group of Mule Deer - which are plentiful this visit - included a spotted fawn.

It grew dark so I headed back to Estes Park and my cute Air BnB hideaway, still wondering, 'Where are all the elk?'

Revisiting the Pawnee Grasslands

Pronghorn Doe with her fawn at the Pawnee Grasslands

Instead of touring the main park this morning, I drove to the Pawnee National Grasslands. The grasslands are north east of Denver, just below Wyoming's state border. Arriving at a first bit of the grasslands I was a tad disoriented but after finding some of the information boards, it all came back to me.

Grassland informational kiosk thingie

 Huzzah! BIRDIES!






So off I went on my driving tour of the grasslands. My previous visit(s) were 2008 and 2011. being springtime there were loads of birds then. *sigh* That that was then. This is AUGUST. What birds I found seemed to look a little out of sorts.

Out of Sorts Lark Bunting

Other Lark Buntings just looked cranky and sort of HOT.

Horned Lark, also fond of perching on barbed wire

Not unlike Wyoming, this part of Colorado seems plum full up with Pronghorns.

Buck Pronghorn grazing

Another doe Pronghorn, this one with twins

 And guess what? Pronghorns!

Gotta love those fluff bums

Yes, loads of Pronghorn, scattered across the grasslands. But for birds? What few were around were easy to spot. 

Little male American Kestrel

So for a morning's birding how many species did I find? Four. A miserable tally by any measure. The Kestrel, a few Lark Buntings, Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks, and that's it. Now. Do I blame the birdies? Heck no! It was too hot for me to walk around, too hot for them too. That's a BS explanation but I'm sticking to it.

How about a quick vid of Pronghorns fleeing to the sound of a dramatic soundtrack from Dances with Wolves? The soundtrack was actually playing when I filmed this because - yet again - I forgot to turn off the car radio. Enjoy... this always cracks me up.

The Stanley Hotel, Redue

The Stanley Hotel - BWAH HA HA HA HA!

There are some days you would commit MURDER to have your day actually take place on October 31st, Halloween night, instead of a lazy August afternoon. Today, was such a day, because I was signed onto the scheduled Ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel.

I've stayed at the Stanley before, back in 2011, October but not on Halloween.

That's me at the Stanley in 2011; looking perhaps a little stressed.







Arriving at the Stanley today, I had to bug staff for the meet-up site, and that got me down to the lower level. There, participants of the tour gathered.

I think the TV series of The Shining was on the telly

Our tour guide - quite the character!

Our tour guide told us the safety bits then lead us out of the Stanley and over to the Stanley's Concert Hall.

Headed for the Concert Hall, dead ahead

We trekked through the front doors and right on  up stairs to a seating area. There our guide told us the basic history of the Stanley, which revolved around the romance between the  inventor of the Stanley Steamer car. Yes, a steam driven car, which environmentally, might come in handy again about now. The Stanleys couple built the original Stanley building for themselves. There they entertained loads of guests seasonally. Eventually the Stanley being morphed into a hotel so anyone could visit there and have a great time. The cool part is that ghost there are not there because they had a miserable time, but because they having had the time of their lives at the Stanley their spirits seem intent on continuing that fun in the hereafter. Happy Ghosts to you too!

I took lots of photo 'bursts' as instructed by our guide, in hopes of catching a spook or three digitally. Had no such luck of course.

Back downstairs we were able to roam about the grand concert hall and I even did a little inspection and ghost chasing up on the big stage. 

Where we first sat up in the nosebleed seats can be seen over the green exit light 

The tour continued with our guide leading us deep down into the bowels of the Concert Hall building. There we stood where the coats and costumes were hung before performances, and where performers must have practiced their lines or ran their voice exercises. There is a ghost cat, a ghost handyman and several others including a little girl and a homeless woman. Hey, I'm passing this along, as I didn't see a one!

The guide had many phone pix taken by people on ghost tours. This one on the right here, is of a ghost cat. If it is the white blob at the top or the white blob at the bottom (which sort of has a tail) I don't know. I always guess you had to be there.

My favorite 'v. haunted item' in the Concert Hall basement is this old mirror which I understand isn't even an original furnishing of the Stanley Hotel. It is famous for people taking photos of it, and others - not there at the time of the photography - show up in the photos. Holy crap! Is that people behind me... Yes. It is. They were there at the time though. Rats. 

Taking my own photo in the famous haunted mirror in the Concert Hall Basement

On the left here is one of the famous photos our guide showed us. In it you can see in the bottom left hand side, a squatting person with mobile phone in hand. The bright light is the reflection of the camera flash on the mirror. And the standing people in the photo were not there when the photo was taken. At least they weren't there with the photographer. 

Quite peculiar and pretty obviously not the sort of thing a normal person would even begin to believe happened, unless they themselves have seen such so can take someone's word for it. 

The next stop was just outside the front steps of the Stanley. We heard real stories about the hotel, including one of a maid that was blown up by a gas leak and somehow managed to live. You can see where all that happened in the part of the building below on the left, with the balcony (rebuilt).

We were also told by the guide, that because of the movie The Shining, visitors to the Stanley often ask where the maze is, that people can walk and get lost in. There was no such thing at the Stanley - so they recently built one. The maze is in its infancy, as the trees/shrubs are still quite small. 

A bit of the new garden maze

Next we headed back into the Stanley, stopping in one of the big ballrooms. 

We were told the room hosts many weddings and receptions. Once, a nervous groom was sweating up a storm, near ruining his wedding clothing. A stately gentleman in old fashioned clothing entered the room and struck up a conversation with the groom, giving words of encouragement and he told the young man how he himself had married the girl of his dreams and they had a wonderful fulfilling marriage. Following the wedding, the groom asked hotel personnel if someone could lead him to the character actor who had calmed him down prior to the wedding. "What character actor?" was the response. "There no character actors here at the Stanley." So by now you may have guessed the stately gentleman was Mr. Stanley himself, the original, the long dead original owner of the Stanley Hotel. Cool story and certainly not the only one I heard this afternoon.

That flag is haunted... it has an unexplained face on it,

Can you see the face of old Mr. Stanley's face with a long
white beard?  If not, have a drink and try again. 

Beautiful dining room whose ghostly claims 'I fergits'

Our last stop on the ghost tour was the underground tunnels. The tunnels were used for personnel to get quickly and unseen from one local of the hotel to another. The tunnels are haunted by ghostly voices and a chef or two. 

 Below is an ancient safe dating back to the origins of the hotel. 

Lots of pipes line the tunnel ceilings 

That ended the haunted ghost tour of the Stanley Hotel. The daylight tour wasn't the least bit scary at all. Maybe next time I'll work up my nerve to go on the night time tour in the main hotel.

A Model of the Stanley in the hotel basement

A distant photo of the Stanley I took earlier in the day