See Beautiful

Every month when "See Beautiful" Day comes around, I am reminded of how much seeing the beauty of the world is a state of mind. Despite tumultuous winds, I saw nothing but beautiful during my hike up above treeline with Shyla this week.

Someday, she and I will climb that beautiful peak behind her but the wind was too strong the other day. We would have been blown off of it!

We're approaching the end of leaf season here at our elevation but I spotted this gorgeous medley of leaves.

As fall is starting to give way to winter, the animal patterns are changing. I've photographed very few bears recently but I was thrilled to capture this big fat bear twice in one night. This beautiful bear rubbed all over the tree but never went up on his hind legs. I have a video of him marking a tree that I'll post in the next few days. Autumn tree-marking is a slow-motion dance compared to the frenzied dances of the mating season.

Miles away, he passed through a notch in a hogback that I've staked out with a camera. He showed us his huge rump.

A mountain lion who was intrigued with my cameras passed several of them. He climbed up on a log to look at one.

He peeked at another with a beautiful gold eye.

Then, he contemplated the camera. He is beautiful to me.

There is so much beauty that we miss every day... so I love be reminded to notice it!

A Celebration

On Sunday, we visited our pack's favorite lake. It's a small lake in a very popular hiking area but it doesn't appear on any recreational maps. We have to bushwack to get to it, and we always have it entirely to ourselves. It's our tradition that we go there for K's birthday. We did last year. This year, of course, we have a newly configured pack. Shyla was with us for our celebration of life this year.

As soon as we arrived at the lake, Shyla was excited and curious. It was special to see her there. All of our Labs, except our very first one, have played at this lake.

Shyla wanted to try the water, so we let her go in by herself for starters. It's a shallow and warm lake so it's a good place to learn about swimming. She churned and created lots of splashes but didn't swim very efficiently. We've seen this style of swimming in every single one of our Labs when they were first introduced to water.

By comparison, R was flat in the water and made no splashes. We remember when he swam in Shyla's naive style as a puppy. She'll learn with time, and I'll try to take her to another easy lake by herself before winter freezes them all.

We played fetch, throwing sticks into the water. Just like all our young labs in the past, Shyla decided to take the role of waiting on shore and then "helping" with the last bit of the fetch through the shallow water. Indeed, last year, K was still winning many of the water fetches, and R played the role of "spoiler". It's ironic to see the cycle repeat itself but with R as the older sibling.

But, every now and then, R would turn on his turbo jets and escape with the stick all by himself, evading Shyla.

He'd start shaking the water off with the stick still in his iron jaws.
And then, he'd do K's favorite thing, rolling in the soft vegetation of the alpine world.

Sometimes, he'd taunt Shyla with the stick after he arrived on shore. She stole it from him a few times. You go girl!

Our vet likes to say that R is the "Lance Armstrong" of dogs. He has an incredible cardiovascular capacity (a huge heart with a resting heart rate of less than 28 beats per minute) and can also sprint like the wind. He's the most amazing athlete of any of our dogs.

He sprints at top speed when an object is thrown into the water for him to retrieve. I could watch this boy run all day long. He is so graceful and so fast.

It was a fun day with a tinge of sadness. As I said to the Runner, last year on K's birthday, it never occurred to me that she wouldn't be here this year. Yet, it did make us smile to see that our puppy is becoming part of our pack's traditions. She's also becoming part of the fabric of our hearts. Shyla is so loving - just like our K was.

I can't help myself - here is just one nostalgic photo from last year of R and K... the Labraduo.

Unbridled joy

We have a favorite spot, a little lake that sits at around 10,000'. The best part is that it has no trails that go to it. We hike cross-country (a relatively short distance) to visit it year after year. We call it "Dog Leap Lake". Can you figure out the origin of the name from the next photo? Look for the stick flying through the air above the trees.

Since there are no trails that go to this lake and it doesn't appear on any "recreational" topo maps, we always have it all to ourselves. Our dogs adore it.

I laugh and giggle as I watch them frolicking. The unbridled joy of a Lab Duo playing in the water is unmatched.

Every dog who has ever been part of our pack, except for Rover who died before we moved to Colorado, has visited this lake. As our dogs played with this stick, I wondered whether it was the same stick as our previous dogs had fetched many years ago. Probably not - but it was a wonderful thought.

As the sun started dropping toward the horizon, it was time to hike out across high elevation meadows dotted with ponds that are still being fed by melting snowfields.

This day was part of our celebration of K's birthday. We believe that you can never celebrate a wonderful dog too much!

Autumn alpine hike: the story

K and I took a hike up high on the day before her birthday as a way of celebrating our years together.

I was elated that she was able to be climbing the rocky slopes with me for, one year ago, she was having a toe amputated. She seemed to feel fabulous right from the start. When we were still down in the land of green and red vegetation, she sparkled, ready to climb high.

Alas, I rapidly realized that I was the weak partner on this hike. Every step hurt like someone putting a hot iron against my back and then sending electrical jolts down my leg. Often, however, I am surprised to find that I get better as a hike goes on. So, I kept hiking upward with my girl.

I forgot everything else as I reveled in the autumn color of the tundra and K's reddish chocolate fur.

We rapidly exceeded our highest hike of the season to that point. We gazed down upon places that we'd hiked earlier this summer.

K found snow, fresh snow that had fallen in the previous few days. She stopped at each patch to cool her belly and eat a birthday snow cone.

I was feeling a familiar high altitude happiness except for that awful soul-shaking pain. My back pain wouldn't leave me alone, not for a single step. Although I tried to ignore it, I found myself emitting loud sighs of pain which evoked worried looks from K. When we reached the point in the hike shown in the photo below, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to climb to the top of the mountain. I climbed it last year with no problem. Not this year...

K didn't seem ready to give up on the climb yet.

But, being an easy-going dog, she was also happy to play on the tundra, leaving the peak for next year.

I found the mental strength to climb up to the edge of the mountain, where it appears that the far side of mountain fell off, leaving jagged and steep cliffs, covered in a glacier that feeds turquoise lakes.

K expected that we'd keep climbing, and she focused on the peak as I tried to explain to her that I couldn't go up there.

I took lots of photos of her in the glowing alpine light. You can see the fresh snow clinging to the cracks in the mountainside to the right of K.

Finally, she turned around as I pointed us down the mountain.

Oh what amazing views. I wished that I could stay there, on top of the world, forever.

We descended as the sun fell lower in the sky. I knew that we had plenty of daylight to make it to the car but I'd brought a headlamp just in case...

We chatted with a family of marmots on our way down (we hadn't seen any humans since the trailhead parking lot). They looked fat and ready for a long winter's sleep which will undoubtedly start soon. It won't be long until this mountain gets its first real coating of snow.

As the sun fell behind a pointy mountain, I captured a soulful look from K, my gorgeous birthday girl. Despite my back pain, I was giddily happy to have spent the day above treeline with her.

On that day, I wondered which of us was aging faster. It might very well be me.

Celebration hike and mountain lion visit

A long time ago, I earmarked today to have K's birthday adventure, an outing for the two of us to hike up high into the alpine tundra. It's been our annual tradition but, last year, K had to have surgery on her birthday due to what we eventually learned was a bone infection in her toe. In the end, it led to the amputation of her toe. The vet said that K might not be able to mountain bike or do tough hikes after the amputation but, to my giddy delight, K still does those things without showing any pain. I've just scaled back the length and difficulty of our hikes and rides, and it's worked beautifully.

This year, I am determined not to miss her celebrations (we also plan to celebrate as a pack in the near future) but I have a very sore throat this morning. I'm going to try to pretend that I'm not sick so that we don't miss our big day. I hope that we can hike up above treeline since we both love it so much!

Earlier this week, I mentioned that a mountain lion had passed through the middle of our trail network at 4 PM on Sunday, a relatively busy time for human hikers on our trails. The lion visited a scentpost where numerous animals have marked over the past year, including multiple mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes. Both deer and elk visit the spot to sniff the markings. This mountain lion was drawn to the spot like iron to a magnet.

After sniffing, he set up to scrape the ground with his hind paws and urinate, looking very Zen as he did it.

But then, something startled him - I'll never know what it was. I suspect that a hiker passed by on a trail that sits about 50 yards away from this spot, and the lion whipped his head in that direction.

He walked directly to the position where it's possible to see the trail without being seen by whoever is on it.

Then, he stood there for a long pause before walking onward.

I believe that I've photographed this lion many times in the past (examples include January, August, and earlier this month). Interestingly, this lion is active in daylight more often than other lions. I've never seen him mark his territory before. Generally, males mark far more often than females so I'm now guessing that this is a male.

Only one other mountain lion has ever marked this scentpost. All the others sniff it and walk by without leaving their calling cards. The lion who marks it possesses bulging  muscles and has avoided being collared over the two years that I've photographed him. I suspect that he's *the* dominant cat around here. You can see his behavior here and here.

I made a flipbook video of the recent mountain lion visit which you can view here or at Youtube.

I absolutely love getting photos of these elusive creatures.

Alpine hike

K and I had a glorious hike up high yesterday, reaching the thin air over 12,000'! Below the true tundra, the grass still glowed green and flowers bloomed. Alas, only a few bedraggled Columbines remained but the world still radiated beauty and peace.

Storm clouds circled us throughout the hike, creating magical light in which the grass beamed green and K glowed red.

Many crevices of the mountains held snow that doubtless will last until the first snow falls sometime in the next month.

K and I climbed up and up. This is one of the easiest routes to the Continental Divide.

As we crested the Pass, we paused, and I gazed down into the valley that we'd started from.

K looked happy but hot! The heat of the summer even reached the high altitude area where we hiked.

Up on the saddle, the arrival of fall was undeniable. Look at the autumn color of the low plants and grass.

One of the great parts of this hike is that it has amazing views of the surrounding mountain ranges and a lake for K to swim.

She romped with abandon!

It's a gorgeous lake that's still fed by snowfields nestled in the north-facing nooks of the mountain walls. We lingered for a long time by the lake, hiking around it and exploring its shores and scents.

I think that the lake was K's favorite part of the whole day!

On the way down, we stopped for a joint photo with angry storm clouds gathering behind us. I'm not hiding behind K - I'm whispering secrets in her ear!

 

Here's to more summer adventures before the snow flies! Our motto is "Carpe Diem"!