Alpine Autumn

A week ago, we were high in the Rockies, enjoying camping in a place where autumn had blossomed in all its glory.

We awakened to a beautiful sunrise, reflected off a lake below us, early one morning.

Just after sunrise, the sun's rays lit up Shyla's fur, making it look reddish. I love the light at sunrise!

We went back to sleep after sunrise because it was still below freezing in our campsite. When we finally found it to be warm enough to leave our sleeping bags, Shyla and I went for a mountain bike ride.

The golden aspens on the slopes around us shined brilliantly.

It was hard to keep moving. I kept wanting to stop and take photos. The combination of rugged peaks and golden aspens is incredible.

While I took photos,  Shyla kept zooming around, filled with incredible happiness.

Shyla continues to surprise me with her new trusting and outgoing attitude. While we were at a beautiful viewpoint, a pair of BIG guys wearing helmets and other gear rode up on ATVs. Instinctively, I started to assess how to prevent Shyla from being scared by them.

While I was forming a plan to keep Shyla from being scared, she trustingly wandered over to greet them as they got off their ATVs. They were super nice to her, petting and playing with her. After meeting them, she was so happy about her new friends that she did zoomies in a circle around the two men and their ATVs. I just smiled and laughed - and I didn't explain to them how amazing her behavior was. I think it's time for me to stop telling people that Shyla was fearful. It's a label that we can leave behind, especially when we're in her home territory - the mountains.

She is so at home in the mountains that I almost never see any signs of fear anymore. The city is a different story but that's not where we live. Even I get stressed out in the city!

Her zoomies made her pant in the warm sun so she cooled off by splashing around in a small pond surrounded by autumn-colored willows. You can barely see her tail in the right part of the pond in this photo.

Then we headed back toward camp. To my delighted surprise, I noticed a Fireweed still blooming inside the ruins of a mining cabin. The logs and foundation rocks must hold enough heat to help a plant keep blooming so late at over 11,000' elevation.

It was a relaxing and gorgeous trip. I hope that we can do even more autumn traveling in future years!

Autumn waning to winter

'Tis the season when winter starts knocking our door. We've had our first hard frost and our first snow. Today, the air felt like winter, with a chill, a breeze, and a mist hanging over the mountains behind Shyla.

As many of you know, I adore watching our bears via my trail cameras. I've been hanging onto a few photos of Mabel and her cub, hoping that I would "see" them one more time before they go into their den. I'm losing hope on that front so I decided to share them.

As the flooding rains took over our world, the two walked along a familiar bear trail. This is Mabel's cub. I'm not sure if it's a male or female. If it's a female, we'll probably see her grow up over the coming years in this territory. If it's a male, he'll disperse to another area and we may not see him again on my cams.

Mabel and her cub are still together so Mabel ambled along next. You can barely see the cub's rump in the far left of the photo. Sorry about the photo quality - there was a deluge underway at that time.

The camera is pointed at a tree often marked by bears. Moreover, the base of the tree is a spot that mountain lions tend to rub their faces and shoulders to leave their scent.

Then, Mabel departed, walking toward her cub. I do hope that we get to see them once more this year. There's still a chance!

Mabel will den with her cub this winter, and they'll stay together until the start of mating season next year (May or June). Then, Mabel will troll this bear trail, marking trees and looking for a mate. I predict that next year's mating season will be very active because Cinnamom, another local female, will be "on the market" too. The two females may even have some territorial conflict.

The end of "bear observation season" always makes me sad because I love watching them so much. There's still hope that a bear will choose the rock den that I know of this winter. I'll be checking the den for bears after our world is freezing and covered in deep snow. If there is a bear in it, I'll put a trail camera outside the entrance. Those of you who followed this blog a few years ago know that the footage from outside a bear den can be incredibly entertaining, especially in the spring.

For the moment, I am trying to focus on the beauty of autumn that still surrounds us.

I love seeing Shyla romp in the golden aspens. It makes me grin, ear-to-ear!

K romped many times in this same aspen grove, and I love that continuity between the two. I feel K's spirit when Shyla and I are in the golden world of this grove. Sometimes I wonder how I was/am so lucky to have two such amazing chocolate labs in a row. I am grateful.

Live with the joy of a dog

Do you ever wish that you could freeze time? I often feel that way in the autumn, as the very last wildflowers bloom in the midst of changing leaves.

As the leaves change color and hang golden in the cerulean sky, I want to freeze them in place so that they don't fall to the ground.

As we have our last warm days of swimming and playing in the mountains for this year, I wish that I had the power to stop time like the camera shutter did, showing us the individual drops of water flying through the air in the photo below.

Alas, we can only be certain that we have today, and I'd like to seize it with the enthusiasm and joyfulness of our dogs.

Dogs don't worry about the fact that they're getting a few gray furs on their faces. They're happy in the moment, not worrying about how short days, seasons, and lives are.

And, dogs don't stop for a melancholy moment watching brilliant aspen leaves wash away in a trickling stream.

Rather, dogs leap in the stream and have fun today! I need to learn how to live like a dog.