We'd just arrived up high in the alpine zone, and Shyla seemed awed the view of the high craggy peaks.
However, she was glad to turn on a dime and sprint to me when I called her.
Some parts of the high country were still covered in thick layers of snow, actually limiting where I could ride my mountain bike.
I am so thankful that our country sees fit to keep some land open and natural, for people and other animals to enjoy.
I hope that we'll be out camping above treeline again, enjoying mellow sunsets, before too long.
Even when we had to go home from our trip earlier than expected, the incredible beauty of the mountains was waiting for us to remind me that there's beauty everywhere.
I love the mountains, and I'm so thankful for every day that I have with our pack up high!
My trail cameras picked up lots and lots of footage of bears throughout June until early July. Both big male bears and mother-cub pairs were marching along the Black Bear Trail. I think that this photo is the male bear, Bandit, who demolished one of my trail cams earlier this year.
One of our biggest male bears, Milton, was on a mission, marching east to west over many hours. He marked every single bear marking tree that he passed. Then, he departed the area where I have cams. I'm quite worried about him because he was heading in the general direction of a place where a very large male bear was killed a day later. I doubt that it was him but I will worry until he shows up on my cams again. He's been around since I started using trail cams almost a decade ago.
I plan to make a video of Milton's journey and tree marking but, for now, I wanted to share a photo of him vociferously marking a poor stunted bear tree.
I truly hope that we see Milton again. A lot of bears are getting in trouble in Colorado because our late May snowstorm that followed very warm weather killed a lot of their natural foods. They are turning to human food sources.... so I'll be worrying about all of them.
On a lighter note, our mother bear who has a cub this year has been visiting water holes. I'm not surprised because it's been hot and dry. The two of them want to drink and cool off!
I made a video of their escapades, including some of the most extensive bathing I've ever seen by a bear. The mother bear carefully cleaned her face, behind her ears, and even a paw! The odd thing is that her bath water was the stinkiest of any around here. I don't have a clue why she'd prefer to bathe in that water hole rather than a clean one. I almost gag if I even splash some of the stinky water on my leg while checking my cam!
Here's the video. You can also watch it at Youtube.
Please let all our bears stay safe. For locals, please bring in food sources, and learn from your mistake if a bear does find food at your home. Please don't blame the bear and sentence him or her to death by reporting the bear. Instead, tighten up your defenses so that it doesn't happen again.
Let's take the responsibility on ourselves to keep our bears alive through this very lean period. They are amazing creatures!
A very tired Shyla is snoozing next to me. I'm so glad to have her home but we won't be doing any of this for a little while.
That photo was from our recent trip up to higher altitude. She was galloping up a slope with huge snowy mountains behind her and wildflowers under her paws.
One lesson that dogs teach me, whether I like it or not, is to value each day because their lives are short. A single summer is a huge fraction of a dog's life because they often get fewer than ten summers in their lives.
We will be back to the mountains again soon. We won't let a dog's summer pass without much more time spent frolicking above treeline.
In the meantime, Shyla will continue to sleep and snore, every so cutely, as her body heals.
Shyla is home. The bone pieces have passed through her without incident. She has some fragments left to pass but the vets thought that she was ready to come home!
Our sweet Shyla has landed in the hospital after an unauthorized visit to a deer carcass. I saw her nose go up and that special tension that ripples through her muscles when she smells something irresistible. Unfortunately, despite my big efforts to teach her to come to me in these situations, she didn't.
Instead, she went to the carcass. She ate meat and bones. The bones are the problem. The vet hospital is monitoring as the bone shards (hopefully) move through her system. They're also pumping her full of fluids and watching closely in case of the very bad emergency of a shard puncturing the GI tract.
Some dogs might have surgery in this situation but, given Shyla's epilepsy, anaesthesia is more dangerous than for most dogs.
We'll keep you posted as we know more. We do know that she'll be in the hospital at least until mid-day Sunday.
Although our trip to the alpine zone was shorter than expected, we did get to see some spectacular flowers that flourish above treeline.
Shyla leaped over a patch of yellow flowers when we were just below 13,000'.
I spotted a cluster of Sky Pilots amidst a boulder cluster. Sky Pilots are glorious purple flowers that I love to see.
They have a stinky way of keeping ants away - they smell like skunks!
I had lots of fun with the densest cluster of these flowers that I've ever seen, photographing them from every angle.
Of course, Shyla wanted me to get moving again. As you can see behind her, the snow wasn't completely melted yet. However, the exposed ground seemed quite dry despite the recent snow melt.
Believe me, that dryness was about to be remedied. Within a few days, the rains were upon us. The flowers loved it!
We recently had a significant date for me - it was the date that two of my best dog friends died, in different years. Fourteen years ago, Acadia died on July 15. Her successor, my chocolate angel K, died exactly nine years later.
Each dog teaches me a whole new world of things about dogs, myself, and love. I miss both of them terribly. The loss of K, more recently, still pierces my heart when I realize, yet again, that she's gone from my daily life forever.
But I don't forget to revel in the lives of R and Shyla, our current sweet Duo.
I'm thankful for every one of our dogs - they make me smile.
We recently tried to take a trip to the high mountains. It was a comedy of errors. We made it to a great campsite...
Within the first 24 hours after leaving home, I had the good fortune of meeting one of my virtual friends and her dog. I took out a camera to take a photo when I met her but then I left the camera on the roof of her car. Despite lots of effort by her to retrace her route and contact every lost and found in town, it was gone forever.
Then, we drove to the nice spot shown in the first photo. I headed out for a bike ride. When I tried to shift gears, my chain jumped into my spokes, breaking everything in its path. It broke enough spokes to totally destroy the wheel. I wasn't smiling at that point.
So, 24 hours led to a lost (and probably destroyed) camera/lens and a destroyed bike wheel. At least I met my friend and her dog!!!! That was the one bright spot in that day.
The generous Runner owns the same model of bike as I do. He rapidly donated his rear wheel to my bike, and then spent hours helping me fix myriad other problems that had suddenly emerged with my bike. We replaced the chain and the front chainring before we returned the bike to an operational state.
Shyla and I did go out for a ride within that first 24 hours (just before sunset). Yipee!
What was going to be a 10 day trip was shortened by endless bad luck. However, I'll save the rest of the bad luck for another post!
Another mountain lion visited a water hole in front of my trail camera. He visited twice. The first time was in the wee hours of the morning.
The second visit to the water hole was one week later during daylight!
He looked very strong and noble.
He took a very long drink of cool and clean water. Then, he started to walk away, and I saw that he had a serious limp. The water hole has a small stream feeding it, and he had to step over it as he departed. You'll see him limp as he crossed the stream, clearly protecting his left hind limb.
I hope that he's okay. Even a week without being able to kill prey like deer is serious for a mountain lion.
Here's the video, which you can watch here or at Youtube.
I live at 8200' in the Front Range of Colorado. I love exploring nature
in the mountains while riding my mountain bike and romping with my
two Labradors. Photography is another passion, including both "normal" photography and trail camera photography of wildlife.
My two dogs are Shyla, a 4-year-old Chocolate Lab, and R, a 8-year-old Black Lab.
