Denver Zoo

Denver Zoo
Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Two zoos in one week.  A record for me!  I probably preferred the Denver Zoo over the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  Lots of great animal photos today.  I think the animals were just better for viewing and photos and there were more of them.  The cost was about the same.  No sky lift today, but lots of sun and heat.  I liked that there were more cafes, restrooms, and fountains.  But snack/lunch costs were about the same.  Not a lot else to say about a zoo; we stayed from about 10:15 am to 3:15 pm and I think we saw everything.  Here are  the photos.  I'm posting lots more than usual...

First here's the map of the zoo.  It's right down town.

Now the animals...

The burro and the ostrich merit a few words.  The ostrich sat down soon after we arrived.  The burro was wandering around the area and every so often would closely approach the ostrich.  At that point the ostrich would snap/squawk at the burro, who would back off. I don't know if the burro wanted to irritate the ostrich, whether the ostrich was sitting on its spot, or whether the burro just wanted to play.  It reminded me of our border collie sauntering towards a feeding deer in our yard.  He walks slowly and carefully towards the deer until the deer moves away from its feeding location.  Intentional activity both by the border collie and the burro.

That's about it.  I'm not real patient at animal enclosures.  The fact that I got so many good shots (relative to my previous zoo visits) suggests that the Denver Zoo does a good job of showing off the animals.  I would highly recommend this zoo.

Have a good day!

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and Pikes Peak

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument & Pikes Peak
Monday, July 20, 2015

Today we drove down through the mountains to the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument.  The direct route was on the interstate.  I thought the mountains would be more scenic.  They were, but it took a lot longer.  First, Google Maps did a bait and switch.  It gave me three options with the mountain route being the last.  I took it and we started off.  I was having some trouble getting the vehicle bluetooth audio working, so we pulled over.  When we pulled back out, we were on the interstate route, and Google Maps no longer showed the mountain route!  So we got to the mountains the old fashioned way with just the map.  Then we hit a four to five mile stretch in the steepest (15 degree) section with only a gravel road.  So instead of the 1.5 hour interstate route, we ended up taking about 2.5 hours to get there.

The fossil beds were created by a volcanic eruption around 35 million years ago.  The lava/mud flow wiped out a large redwood forest, and today the huge, fossilized stumps of the redwoods can be seen on about a 1 mile hike.  You also see lots of plant, insect and small animal fossils in the visitor center.  And of course the usual short video.  Rainstorms were threatening so we didn't try the longer hikes.

Here's a couple of maps of the national monument.

And here are some shots of the fossilized redwoods.

The very large stump two shots above was actually located behind a lodge many years ago.  They positioned the lodge so people would have to pay to see the stump.  The lodge isn't there any more.

At the end of the valley, there's a homestead that was created about 1872 by a single mother, the Hornbeck Homestead.  Here are some shots of the homestead.

On the way back, we passed Pikes Peak.  My wife had talked about going, so we drove up.  We expected the toll to be a few dollars.  It was $12/person.  The car in front of us had kids, and they turned around.

It was a 19 mile drive.  We didn't do the planning, so we didn't really have the choice of taking the cog train up to the peak.  The threatening clouds were getting bad, so we didn't stop on the way up.  Here's a map of the route.

We did see some bighorn sheep.  They seemed to be licking up some liquid I think a driver tossed out.

We didn't get into the clouds until a couple of hundred feet from the top.  At the top it was 39 F, windy, and somewhat dark.  Since we hadn't planned to drive up, we just had wind shirts.  It was cold!  Here's some shots at the top.

As soon as we started down, it started to rain.  With the steep switchbacks, it seemed pretty slick.  My wife was driving, so we went down pretty slowly--though I would have driven slowly too.  Just below the peak, the rangers were stopping cars from coming up, and turning them around.  We later found they were stopping cars about 5 miles down too.  We pulled over to let one tail-gaiter go by, and a ranger pulled up next to us and told us to slowly make our way down.  I did get a couple of shots on the way down.  Here is one.

The drive back was pretty bland with some sprinkles.  I enjoyed the fossil beds, and they would be good for a light day's activity.  Pikes Peak is an interesting drive, a little expensive for views you could get backpacking.  But don't go in bad weather!

Have a good day.

Crag Crest Trail and Mesa Lakes, Grand Mesa CO

Crag Crest Trail, Grand Mesa CO
Friday, July 17, 2015
Mesa Lakes [Resort]
Saturday, July 18, 2015

After we broke down our tents on Friday morning at Saddlehorn campground, we drove east to the Grand Mesa area just east of Palisade.  I had reserved a cabin for the five of us Friday night so we could hike longer and put off the 4+ hour drive to Denver till Saturday morning. The plan was for the guys to hike the 10.5 mile Crag Crest Trail while the ladies finished up their town visit.

Today's hike went much better than the Rattlesnake Arches attempt yesterday.  The Crag Crest Trail is a national scenic trail, much better marked, and in a very different ecological area.  This trail has lots of trees except on the 11,200' crest.  It also has lots of lakes.  Here's the track for today's hike.

We started at the west trail head, which adds a 1/2 mile to get to the loop.  We then went clockwise, climbing to the crest and along it in the morning.  Here are some shots that include my brother-in-law and nephew.

The trail wound down through a boulder field when descending on the east end of the loop, and we stopped for lunch at the lake just down from the crest.

It was a leisurely day, with my nephew having lots of fun on the trail.  The lower (10,400'-10,600') trail back to the trail head was mostly meadows and forests, close to several lakes.  There were also several sections of uniform blow-down that looked like micro-cells had hit in the past.  But I didn't take any shots of those.

Here are a couple of shots from the lower half of the trail, including one where the clouds are clearly reflected in a calm lake.

This was a fantastic hike.  The crest part of the trail was long and unique (in my limited experience).  And it's a nice doable hike with minimal stress.  We got a few minutes of light rain on the crest, but it quickly cleared up.  It looks like the east (I would have called it south) trail head is near a campground and a lake with boating and swimming.  It seems a nice option for those staying overnight.

But I had reserved a cabin at Mesa Lakes Resort earlier, so we joined the ladies at the Avalanche Grill at the Powderhorn Ski Resort for dinner (only one open after 5:00 pm), then headed to the cabin.

The next morning, I got up and walked around the lakes (at 6:45 am).  Then my nephew wanted to walk around too.  So I went twice.  Here are some shots.  My nephew was in shorts, t-shirt, wind shirt, and blanket!  It was cool, but not cold.

That's about it for the Grand Junction area and this part of the trip.  After breakfast at the lodge, we headed back to Denver.  Have a good day!