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| Snowshoeing Bear Lake | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A little encouraged by how close I was able to get the grey birds by camera, I wanted to know if they would come down and feed from my hand. I picked a piece of bread off of my sandwich and held it out. They curiously eyed my offering and before I knew it, one was down and feeding from my hand! Now I realize that feeding wildlife is not quite according to the rules but I was still thrilled! My love of birds is extreme and though I have a healthy respect for the wild, this interaction was a highlight for me and the very first I have ever had with wild birds. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| They were light to the touch and their delicate claws felt spindly and gentle on my hands. While one of them grabbed the food and took off immediately to the safety of the tree, the other stayed for a moment to consume the bread and then when finished, flew back up to the tree and looked on for additional handouts. It was so sweet! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Really wanting to move on as it was getting cold just standing around we packed up our gear again, made sure our trash was put away and headed out again. The trail went up and up and Debra decided the trip wasn't for her. Tom and I continued up a little ways, encountering a few other hikers who assured us it wasn't too far up the path to the sign and a split in the trail. When we reached the sign, this was the scenery that we had a view of... breathtaking! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Taking a breather at the top, I took a few photos and then had a few photos taken with the Colorado Rockies as a backdrop. Today was really fabulous to experience as a first day out... but we weren't done | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| yet. We still had the trip down to finish. On the way down we opted to stay off trail and blaze our way down through the woods and uncharted paths. Let me tell you this was a riot! Snowdrifts were deep and on the first off trail we took I found one. Hip deep in snow and unable to move, I had to maneuver around on my hands and knees to crawl out of the drift. Laughing all the while, I felt like I was 12 all over again... it was such fun! I soon got the rhythm of blazing trails and walking down the steeper trails became easier as I went along. We finally made it down to the bottom again and met up with Debra... what a great day! We headed for home. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A day in the wild of the Rocky Mountains wouldn't be complete without spotting wildlife and that's exactly how we ended the day. We encountered several herds of elk and the one pictured here wasn't more than 50 yards or so off the road. We pulled off with the rest of the gawkers and snapped a few pictures just before our fingers became frozen. I forget how cold it gets when the sun goes down. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| And so ends my first day of snowshoeing... what a wonderful first experience! I look forward to having many more. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Updated July 22, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||