Made it through the winter

Now to get some of that weight back!

Rocky Mountain Bighorns

Instead

Today I set out for a short hunt for deer at a favorite place not far from home. There were no deer there today but I encountered these big guys instead. I will take that substitution any day!

Today’s flora & fauna

On today’s walk with the canine member of the family:

Prairie Smoke, Old Man’s Whiskers, Purple Avens, Geum triflorum

Field Chickweed, Cerastium arvense

Early blue violet, Viola adunca

Long-flower Bluebells, Mertensia longiflora

Bighorn Sheep, Ovis canadensis

From October, 2009

Yesterday when reviewing a file of photos of an area in which I plan to do some backpacking next summer I ran across this photo that I had not posted before, and it’s one of several that I really like. I stalked this big guy for about a hundred and fifty yards on my belly through tall grass until I got close enough for this thirty-yard shot and then to realize that he had long been aware of my rather clumsy approach, and was just plain not afraid of me.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep photographed at the end of Sundance Ridge

One thing leads to another and…

Thinking today about the winter conditions in our mountains, how the trees can tolerate the elements, and the tracks in the snow on Buttercup Ridge, I remembered I had not posted this photo from last February of another species capable of surviving in severe weather, the Big Horn Sheep. (On many winter days I wouldn’t mind having a jacket like the one he’s wearing!)