Glorious spring and bear play!

Last night's sunset reflected the tumultuous weather that has buffeted our forest recently.
However, those clouds cleared out overnight setting up an amazing spring day on the Front Range! I started my morning on my bike, feeling sluggish but happy. I even found some singletrack trail open and dry for riding. Alas, it remained snow-free for only about a quarter mile. At the end, coyote tracks marched off into the distance in deep snow and a crystal clear winter view serenaded me.
After I rode, I took the Labraduo for a hike. We started in a meadow that had a unique mountain view.
In the meadow, I found an ancient vertebra from an animal long gone from our world. As I philosophically contemplated it, thinking about my spine problems, K sniffed it. I happened to capture that instant with my camera. What a juxtaposition of a beautiful nose with the body part that has caused me so much trouble!
Shortly later, we followed our noses up to a ridge where the duo posed in front of the unblemished blue sky.
I spotted a Clark's Nutcracker posed on a tree skeleton, enjoying the view of the mountains and the springlike day. As I watched him, the scent of wet pine needles, drying in the sun, wafted up to me. What a sweet spring smell!
We had a glorious, but hot hike. I had winter gear on but the sun heated air soared to the high 40s. Whew, it's a heat wave! I even spotted one of our summer birds who had arrived, a flashy male Williamson's Sapsucker. I'll tell you more about him tomorrow.

Later in the day, I spent some time with my trio of bears, via my collection of photos of their play. Here's a movie of unfettered joyful playing by a pair of mismatched yearling cubs. It is amazing how much bigger one of them is. I haven't yet found out if male yearlings are typically much larger than females. Does anyone else know if that's true?