Early Birds Catch the Wildlife

There is a beautiful church not far up the Peak to Peak Highway from the ranch that I had been trying to photograph all week. It is aptly named the Church on the Rock, which you will see why when I post photos. Each time, the clouds and light had been bad so I decided to wake early and do it early in the morning. I woke about 6:10 and looked out our deck to see a gorgeous sunrise – Mount Meeker was a beautiful shade of pink with gorgeous clouds above. I quickly dressed, grabbed my camera gear and the car keys, and raced outside to catch the light on Meeker. I got a “grab shot” but that was all I could manage before the light starting getting too bright. Then, I headed out the highway to the church.

I decided to do a bit of exploring since it was still a bit early for the light to reach the church and I was hopeful I would see the herd of Elk again and maybe some other critters – I had yet to see a Stellar's Jay. First, I drove up the road towards Longs Peak hoping to get a nice early morning view of it. Instead, all I saw was a line of cars parked on each side of the road leading up to the parking area. Even at 6:30, the parking lot was already full and there were not many spaces along the access road to park. (I talked with one of the uber-hikers later, Mary Beth, and she said she has been up there at 3:30 am and parked in the last spot in the lot!)

Next, I drove up to the pond where we had seen the Elk yesterday, and sure enough, they were there again. So, I pulled into the next road to turn around, and there was a gorgeous coyote, peering across the road at the Elk. I managed two quick photos out the window before it decided it could not handle the herd on its own (Yes, they do hunt Elk but usually in packs and usually they go after the very young or elderly.)

After turning around, I pulled off the road and took a few photos. Mostly, I watched because I had a decent number of Elk photos already and I wanted to see if they did anything different. But, soon, I decided it was time to head back to the church, and I was right. The sun was lighting it nicely and there were some nice clouds behind it. I spent about 30 minutes doing various shots of it before heading back to the ranch. Figured it was about time for Ali and Rebecca to be up and I was getting a bit hungry. Of course, when I got back, Rebecca was up playing on her Nintendo DS while Ali was still lazing in bed….

Next up – Mine #1 and Pleasant Valley