Who's Crossing the Road?

Nevada - land of cool mesas
After a nice evening in Winnemucca, which featured a lovely HUMONGOUS dinner at a local Basque restaurant, we were northbound to Klamath Falls. After a week in Colorado and Wyoming, you can understand how we didn't expect a single thing of interest along the way, but we were wrong - the signage was awesome. Periodically the signs warned to be careful of whatever critter was apt to leap on the road in a Kamikaze stupor.


Deer crossing

No deer here, just sagebrush,
sagebrush and more sagebrush

*sigh* no pronghorn crossing here

A lovely mini-mesa, but no pronghorns

Cattle Crossing - *yawn*
We actually got excited over a sort-of Devil's Postpile, despite the power lines that ruined the view.


Hey! Now there was a promise of wild horses afoot. But signs or no signs, we found no equine critters crossing the road.


Domestic or Wild Horses?
A bit after we passed the ensie Oregon town of Adel, we saw this sign promising Bighorn Sheep - empty promise for us!


Bighorn Sheep
But we did run across a sign that delivered on its promise.


Wild Burros?
Hurrah! What we thought were fat cows, were black burros, out browsing on savory sage shrubberies. Yum...


Check out those funny looking black cows... wait a minute!


BINGO! Wild Burros!
After we tore ourselves from the distant burros, we came across a Burro mare and her little black foal. They were too cute!


This Mom wolfed down sagebrush while her foal chilled.

sweet little burro foal

Hurrah! And as for any critters on the road, Barbara did nearly hit a Mule Deer doe, but the doe made good her get away. I can't for the life of me find the photo of the doe, but I suspect you've seen enough photos for today.

Estes Park and on to Winnemucca

A view from our room at the Stanley
The morning at Stanley Hotel this morning was AWESOME. The sky as blue as the little Mountain Bluebirds, and not an angry looking cloud in the sky. We had our breakfast at the Stanley Hotel restaurant, as delicious a breakfast as we'd hoped for, Eggs Benedict for Barbara and an omelet for me.
Soon we were on the road again, headed for our overnight stay in Salt Lake City. As I drove the winding way through beautiful canyon land along highway 34 I was already having a touch of post-vacation blues. I saw 2 Red Foxes and didn't get photos of either, and for this trip to Colorado there were no Bighorn Sheep to be seen, insert large self pitying sigh HERE.


Just as those thoughts wound its way through my windier than any Colorado road mind of mine, up ahead on a curvy road shoulder were several cars, and drivers aiming cameras binoculars and huge smiles at a cliff face.

Here's what everyone saw. There are 3 ewes in this photo

Did you see this leaping ewe in the photo above this one?
I didn't notice it until I examined my shots later

They weren't in any hurry

Climbing slowly skyward

All too soon, the lively ewes disappeared beyond our view and we were on the road again.

Not long after were left Colorado for Wyoming we stopped to photograph some pronghorn grazing in the distance. This was our first pronghorn photo op of the trip because at 75 mph we no sooner spotted pronghorn than we were way past getting any shots of them.


Heads down

Heads up!

We spotted hundreds of pronghorn along the highways
I thought these 'so-so' photos were all I was going to get, but later, as we drove along an entrance ramp, we spotted some pronghorns, much closer in.


A doe eyes us curiously

I suspect this is a doe (on the left) and her twins

You can see here, whining is not restricted to human youth
Examining the photos later I noticed I had taken the second of my 'Udder Shots of North American Ungulates'. Too bad National Geographic isn't interested in my udderly facinating series.


Certainly the buck noticed those udders
The Pronghorn buck was certainly the most handsome I've ever photographed.

Pretty boy
Just when you think there is nothing interesting between you and your rest stop for the night, you run into one of those strange little highway tributes. We ran into a Wyoming tribute to, of all non-Wyoming heroes: Abraham Lincoln.


Four Score and what-the-hell am I doing in Wyoming?
Nearby the humongous Lincoln pillar was a Visitor Center that was not too interesting looking from the outside and homages to Wyoming all over a parking lot rest area. Inside however was pretty nifty. There were book cases full of free for the taking pamphlets on Wyoming attractions and history. I was happy to take several free-bee issues of Wyoming Wildlife. There was also the most compact state museum you can imagine.

The outdoor placards were decorated by the bumper crop of grasshoppers

In short, every little thing you could ever have imagined about Wyoming, it's people, wildlife and history were bill boarded and expanded on one little mini-museum. Did you know Wyoming has as many pronghorn antelopes as humans? One of many tidbits available for the curious at the rest stop.

Here, click on this photo and learn yerself up something!

A bit of Grizzly Wyoming History

A little Pronghorn interest
Not much other than wonderful scenery happened for the remainder of our journey other than some interesting spots of autumn in the hills of Utah outside Salt Lake City, where we happily bedded ourselves down for the night.

Autumn approaches

Here Ptarmigan, Ptarmigan, Ptarmigan!

Approaching the aptly named, Rock Cut area

Day two visiting Rocky Mountain National Park and Barbara and I were up very nearly bright and early. Fortified with warm clothing (Barb's jacket, and new hat & gloves for 'moi') it was time for my final assault on Rocky Mountain alpine peaks. In an attempt to not freeze to death Barbara decided to stay behind in the car - made plenty of sense to me.


I look back as I head up the Rock Cut tundra trail

I was a pleased to find at least the local alpine wildflowers were neither cryptic nor hidden. Note: photographing tundra plants is another excellent way to disguise wheezing & panting along the trail.


Humm... Arctic Gentian! Me panting? Harumph! Course not.


Avens.. pant, pant, pant, Avens...

Slowly I toodled up the trail. At one point a couple of hikers passed me by (show offs!) and I looked up indignantly as their dog ran across the path. Then I noticed, it was not a dog, but the biggest marmot I'd ever seen! The marmot could have backed off a grizzly bear - it was HUGE.


Oh, the grow them BIG in the tundra!

There were numerous slate and gold, informative and artful placards along the way. Staring at them intently helps disguise that one has actually stopped to gasp for the thin arctic air.


Lovely gold and slate interpretive posts


Cold, tree-less and uniquely beautiful

Trudging up the mountainside, I marveled at the enormous rock outcroppings. Occasionally I heard the sharp peeps of little birds, but they shot by like bullets and I couldn't begin to guess what they might be. Happily, the rock formations stayed put.


Peculiar looking landscape


pillowy rock outcroppings

I read a trail marker, telling of 'mushroom rocks', formed when shiest layers on top eroded slower than the granit layers on the bottom.


An Alice worthy mushroom formation

So, I stood amidst the mushroom formations, surveying the area. Yep, there were White-tailed Ptarmigan out there all right and I was going to... hey... what IS that screeching, yammering, bustling noise?


ARRRRGGGHHH! Effing HUMONGOUS work party!


"Go away!" I wanted to scream, "Be do-gooders some other day!"

I was distraught. For a bit I pondered just leaving the mountain top, but having come so far, I trudged on to the end of the trail, every step of the way accompanied by teens and young adults, all happily and noisily sweeping up gravel from the trail.


HEY! Come back! I got yer Ptarmigan RIGHT HERE!

I think I was on the trail about an hour or two, and can you believe it: NO ptarmigans. The only bird I could actually get a brief identifying look at was an American Water Pipit. Oh well! Missing the White-tailed Ptarmigan only means some day I get to return to the park.

Following my failed Ptarmigan adventure we drove down to the flats on the west side of the park. Barbara got to visit the Kawuneeche Visitor Center where there was hubbub: there were moose at the Beaver Ponds. Soon we were in the car and back up the road and Barbara got to see some nice Rocky Mountain moose.


This lounging cow is visible only by her big ears


And this cow kept her bum facing the crowd


This shows how far we were from the moose
click here and try to find them!

Post moose adventure we settled in a nice little open meadow for a quick lunch. Across the road a nice grove of aspens showed the first glimpse of fall color.


Aspens tipping into their autumn palette of color

Post moose, post lunch, on our return trip back up and over the tundra road, we found loads of tourists watching loads of elk. Not far from the road a bull elk sought to keep rival males - the too young bulls, the too old bulls, the too like so uncool bulls - from stealing away HIS honeys. One could get exhausted just watching that poor bull as one rival after another sought to nick off with a cow or two.


"HEY! Didn't I chase you away twice already today?"


A coquettish cow leads two bulls on in come hither manner


Oy! A bull gets winded chasing rivals away all day

In the late afternoon, we checked into the Stanley hotel's Manson wing. We hadn't planned to stay at the Stanley Hotel originally, but curiosity and a sense of fun loosened our purse strings and soon we were ooing and aahing over our room at the notoriously haunted and spectacularly elegant Stanley Hotel. But more on the Stanley Hotel come Halloween week...


Stephen King had nightmares here....