Wordless Wednesday - Autumn in our World

View from Hug Hill as unsettled weather arrived

Running through a golden aspen grove

Playing games in the autumn splendor

Summer Days High in the Mountains

During our August trip, we arrived back in Colorado after a long haul from Wyoming. We finally made it to one of our favorite campsites in the world. As we pulled in, a double rainbow emerged in the sky. Wow!

We awakened the next morning energized to enjoy the trails in this amazing place. The Runner took both pups for a run, and I took a long bike ride to a flowery trail. It was very late for wildflowers but some waited for me!

It's a flowy trail that can be ridden fast. However, I love the flower and mountain views so much that I tend to stop a lot to soak them up.

Even Blue Flax were still blooming next to the trail.

I love riding in that area but it's hard. Our campsite is tucked in a quiet spot at over 11,000', and it's by far the best one that we've found in the area. However, my favorite rides end with 3,000' of climbing to return to our campsite. I am ready to rest when I arrive back at camp.

But, our campsite is surrounded by lakes so the dogs must dive and swim! I didn't do enough resting because we played so much. I'm not complaining although I think that I'm paying the price now.

They would play in the water all day if we let them.

That first day in camp was capped off by another rainbow sunset.

And we had a clear view of the Milky Way over our LabMobile!

During those summer days high in the mountains, we fully realize how lucky we are to have found a life that suits us so perfectly.

Bear Cub Acrobatics!

The black bear sows and their cubs have stayed close to our area this late summer and fall. The mothers are marking trees a lot, and that lets us see that they are still lactating. That's part of why their cubs are so big!

This is our sow who has a single cub. We've followed this pair all spring and summer.

Then, as they moved on from that dancing tree, they found another one that had been marked. Mom checked it out.

Her cub sniffed the lower branches carefully.

And then she climbed it to smell the bears who had marked the top!

The big surprise came in late August. A brown mother bear arrived at a marking tree. You can't see it in the still photos (it's in the video) - but she had TWO cubs! It was her first appearance this year. Again, you can see that she was still lactating. (that counters the argument that it's fine to hunt bears at this time of year because the cubs don't need them anymore).

Then one of her cubs imitated her! It made me laugh.

The same sow visited the same tree within the past week, and she roughhoused with her cub!

Most of these photos are frames from the video that I am sharing below. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did! It's also on Youtube.

As you know, I love observing bears. I'm overjoyed that two sows have managed to bring their cubs this far. It isn't too long until they den for the winter.

Sunset Sunday

At one campsite perched on top of a cliff, we could see storms as they came at us. One was almost upon us at sunset, producing incredible light.

Shyla glowed...

And the sky over the mountains was a work of art.

I could see a curtain of rain moving toward us across the valley below our campsite. Just after sunset, torrents of rain fell upon us.

I love the raw fury of mother nature. Because its so exposed, I think that this campsite is my favorite!

Back to Colorado - Mountain Swimming for the Labraduo

After the eclipse was over, we decided to cruise back down to Colorado. We would have loved to explore Wyoming more but we heard that the Grand Teton area, which we were most curious to visit, was still crowded with eclipse viewers. We'll go there soon!

It took 2 days but we made it to one of our favorite campsites that sits at the base of a big mountain that still has patches of snow...

And has lakes all around it.

We had an idyllic time there. It was sunny and warm. The mountain biking and running trails were fabulous (more about that later). And the dogs could swim every single day!

I think that swimming is their favorite thing in the world to do! R gets big air whenever he can. No need to worry about his elbow because he lands in water.

And he has a distinctive landing style that he uses every time!

Shyla likes to leap flat like an arrow. It's fast!

I love seeing the Labraduo SO happy!

It is rapidly becoming autumn here so these photos are making me wistful for summertime!

Wildflowers after a Wildflire

On our journey to the eclipse zone in Wyoming, we visited an area that neither of us was familiar with. We drove down two lane rural highways with 65 mph speed limits, looking for tiny dirt roads leading into the National Forest. Our hope was that one of those roads would take us to a quiet place to watch the eclipse.

Somehow, we ended up doing some of this exploring in the dark. When we finally arrived in the zone where we planned to watch the eclipse, we turned onto a tiny forest road that our map indicated might lead someplace good. We knew that we were in the right place when the forest service sign had this funny picture on it!

We were bone tired that night, and we camped in the first clearing next to the road that we spotted. Imagine our surprise at finding a camping spot easily in an area where we'd read that the entire west might be flocking to in order to see the eclipse. We mumbled to each other that we might find out why the campsite was available when it was light outside. In other words, there might be something bad about it that we couldn't see.

We were right. We were smack in the middle of a charred forest that had burned up last summer.

It sure wasn't scenic but the Runner immediately noticed that vividly colored wildflowers were already blooming on the forest floor, just a year post-fire.

What an amazing hopeful sign in a forest that seemed almost devoid of life.

Large areas of the forest floor were bedecked in bright colors! I know that it will be a long time before the forest regrows but the flowers made us smile.

Needless to say, we moved on that morning to an unburned section of the forest. The locals were wonderfully kind and gave us great advice about places to camp. We found a place that was not burned, had nice views, and was quiet!

Shyla leaped over some Yarrow in glee!

It was an area with grizzly bears and wolves so we kept the dogs on leash except when we were doing training sessions with them.

Happy Flower Friday! Even burned forests have incredible wildflowers, much to my surprise!

Thankful Thursday - Our Incredible World

When you spend a lot of time outdoors while camping, you get to see some of the most beautiful things in the world, simply because you are outside and aware.

I saw a shooting star over a mountain range. My camera shutter just happened to open at that instant.

We all got to see a double rainbow with pots of gold on nearby mountains. I still think of K, every time I see something mystical and beautiful like this rainbow.

And we got to see flying Labs!

Our Duo loves nothing more than leaping out over the water and belly flopping as they retrieve tennis balls.

I am grateful for their utter abandon and joy - for it reminds me of how lucky we are!

Wordless Wednesday

A Wyoming forest that burned 1 year ago but has a wildflower garden on its floor

An area of lush vegetation and a beautiful galloping dog!

A total eclipse of the sun!

Our trip to Wyoming was primarily to see a total solar eclipse, for the first time in any of our lives. We'd read about how stunning it was to experience totality. We'd also read about the crazy "eclipse chasers" - and we didn't understand why they'd go to such lengths, like traveling halfway around the world, to see a total solar eclipse.

Our experience showed us why. We'd seen a partial solar eclipse which we would have never known was happening without peering through eclipse glasses. We'd seen an annular eclipse in Utah which we thought was amazing. I wrote about it twice, here and here.

In Wyoming in August, we learned that a total solar eclipse is a million times more mind-blowing than a 99% solar eclipse. Darkness sweeps across the world like a curtain closing. The sky darkens so much that planets are visible twinkling in the sky. It gets really cold very fast. The darkness and cold sweep over the world much faster than at sunset.

As long time readers probably have guessed, I tried to capture it with several cameras. I had one camera shooting close-ups of the sun. I had another DSLR shooting time lapse video, which I haven't processed yet.

Here's one closeup during totality (more to come in a future post).

Then, at the last minute, I decided to set up my little GoPro to record totality in plain video.

That's what I'm showing you today. We made fools of ourselves with the ridiculous things that we were saying during totality. "Oh my God" was said more than a dozen times. Someone howled. I yelled in a crazy voice, "LOOK AT THE STARS". Then, as it got light again, I kept babbling that it had happened so fast that we must have strayed from the middle of the totality swath. It seemed like about 30 seconds of totality when we experienced it. However, my trusty GoPro shows that it was 2.5 minutes. I'm afraid that I couldn't bear to listen to our ridiculous comments in the video so I put music to the video.

You can watch it here or at Youtube.

As soon as it was over, we were trying to find out when the next total eclipse was. I doubt that we'll become crazy eclipse chasers but we understand why someone would do that now! It is a stunning experience.

If you ever have the chance to see a total solar eclipse, grab it and go! I hope that I am alive in 2024 for the next one in the US! And we just might travel further to see one that will have 6.5 minutes of totality in Egypt!

Deers, fawns, and mountain lions!

In today's post, I'm sharing some trail cam footage that was captured while I was gone. Today isn't about bears. It's about a mother deer, her fawn, and some mountain lions.

The mother deer walked very carefully in front of the camera, obviously totally unaware that it was there. Then, she decided to scratch her chin with her hind hoof, clearly showing that she was still lactating.

Then, the thirsty fawn showed up. The fawn pushed up on her mom's udder with such force, nursed a little, and repeated it. Both of the pair made noises - the fawn obviously enjoying the milk and the mom perhaps feeling some pain from her strong fawn.

I am amazed that deer and fawns survive. Big cats patrol our forests, looking for their food. Earlier this summer, Shyla found the remains of a fawn who had been killed by a predator. It's not an easy life out there.

A mountain lion walked past the same camera in the middle of the day. He kept walking, and my cams picked up his image along the way. He must have been very hungry to be out at that time of day. He's the one with an abdominal bulge (perhaps a hernia) who I captured footage of last December as he ate an elk who he'd killed. He looked much bulkier in December than now. I wonder if his health is still okay.

Enjoy the video of deer, fawn, and mountain lion action either here or at Youtube.

Wyoming Sunset Sunday

While in Wyoming, we saw an incredible sunset across flat ground. It was the white-hot sun, making an appearance before the eclipse.

After the sun dipped below the horizon, the clouds lit up. It was an awe-inspiring view.

It was fun to see the sun's art, especially as we were waiting for the eclipse! Happy Sunset Sunday!

Classic Summer Days in Wyoming

We enjoyed exploring a little of Wyoming near Lander and Dubois before the solar eclipse. On one night, we camped in a small meadow in the midst of a canyon and some mountains. We had a lake to our east that appeared to be close to falling into the canyon.

And we had two lakes to our west.

You can probably guess what we did the next day.

Shyla has become our pack leader when we're around water. The transition started to happen at the end of last fall, and, this summer, R began to completely defer to her when they retrieved in water. It's a bittersweet transition. While we love seeing Shyla be assertive about something given her fearfulness, we also know that R is creeping toward ten years old so he's probably a step slower than Shyla now. Believe me, this is the only way in which he's shown his age!

He still loves to play in the water but we bring two balls so that he can retrieve one when Shyla is occupied with the other one. His reconstructed elbow is still working perfectly. We didn't see a single sign of lameness all summer!

They happily chase each other around when one is hogging the ball.

That day in Wyoming was such a classic summer day. We went straight from the water to an ice cream shop and then onward to a new campsite.

I'm already wistful for summer and our days of wandering the west. 

Since we arrived home, it's been so smoky from faraway fires that the beauty is obscured. I know that others, in many parts of the country, are suffering terrible hardship right now, so living with smoky air is a small thing. I wish my friends who are enduring hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires the very best.