Young Gulch to Myself

What to do when school's out due to "inclement" weather? Bundle up and go play outside of course!

I arrived at the empty Young Gulch lot to find I was the first visitor this morning.

There wasn't tons of snow, but there was a sort of snow 

"fun factor" - with yesterday's rain most of the trail was frozen...

snow on top of ice made for interesting travels.

The stream that crosses Young Gulch was open in a few spots. In most spots

however I could just hear the water gurgling underneath the ice.

In a few spots I had to be really observant to even suspect I was 

crossing the stream!

Young Gulch was quiet (except for the near-constant gurgling.) Every 

once in a while I'd hear a calling Solitaire or Chickadee.

I made it a little over a mile in before I decided my fingers and toes

were about done for. I hightailed it about as fast as my snow boots 

would let me on the way back.

Also enjoying the sub-zero weather today: Several Brown Creepers, Juncos, 

an irritated-sounding Flicker, one Robin and some noisy

Clark's Nutcrackers. There were LOTS of great foot prints in the snow: Rabbits, rodents, 

birds and one small cat or doggish print....bobcat?

Leaving at lunchtime....the still blissfully empty parking lot.

and on the way home....

I was thinking about Dippers on my way in this morning. Those Polar

Bear swimmers have NOTHING on these guys!

Birds.

Birds; I'm definitely learning about who I am as a birder. Today would've been the day I'd have gone down to look for the Ross's Gull (if I'd been motivated to do so...) As I contemplated going down I kept thinking "Well if it was an owl, I'd want to go down immediately!" Granted there were all these great excuses: I'd just been in Littleton yesterday...It's COLD....I would've been stuck in Denver all day and probably would have succumbed to SHOPPING...you get the idea.

I decided I would feel best getting outside and moving a little after the Turkey Day bloat. I'm aware that while I started my excel life lists last spring I haven't updated them in months, even though I've seen several new species.

Here's another thing I'm realizing: I can appreciate the visual of the bird itself, or I can appreciate it somewhat abstractly. Today I got some more opportunities to watch some Golden-crowned Kinglets. They're fabulous - they have a sweet tiny sound and they're very fast. While continuing to fail at capturing them on "film" I'm enjoying some of the visual abstractions my failures make.

I did get some better glimpses of the tiny birds...but still not the shot I'll keep hoping for. 

They might be like the elusive Belted Kingfisher shots I've never really gotten.

Also at Young Gulch today:

Dark-eyed Juncos

Townsend's Solitaire

Stellar's Jay

Clark's Nutcracker

Mountain Chickadee

and a Mystery Raptor

Ice.

Ice; Cold today at Young Gulch! My Camelback waterline froze an hour into the hike. I don't remember being at Young Gulch before with the stream in this state.... After I bit I grew brave and started walking on some of the shallower ice - even enjoying the startling feeling when my foot would sink an inch. Cool to practice just barely touching the ground as I stepped. Kind of exciting, though I did keep hoping for a bit of sunshine!

A Great Fall Day at Young Gulch

Almost November and really wonderful weather for a hike up the Poudre Canyon at Young Gulch. On a Saturday, you've got to get there early if you want avoid crowds. I arrived with perfect timing just before 7:00.

The coolness of having multiple cameras on hand:

The Moon at Sunrise from the Little camera...

and from the Big one.

Mostly, a quiet hike. Chickadees, Nuthatches and several Townsend's Solitaires. I focused on the hike and decided to be a slightly less lazier bum than usual and hike the whole trail.

After reaching the trail's end, I happily turned back and headed for home. I was moving and not paying tons of attention when I spotted a light-colored bird across the stream sitting on a branch in the sun:

Oh my gosh, so not-just-any light-colored bird!

My very first [un-assisted] Small Mountain Owl sighting!! A Northern Pygmy-Owl!! Oh MY Gosh. This would be the point at which a great hike became a fantastic hike!

More on the way home:

Clark's Nutcracker making a general commotion

Mountain Chickadee

Exciting Trail Growth.

More photos from today's hike:

Perfect Day for Young Gulch

That little hint of rain this morning - I knew it'd be a great day for a hike at Young Gulch. Most days at Young Gulch, the stream (which you cross at least 30 times if you hike the whole trail) is pretty wet. Today, it went past my knees several times. Wet, fun and a little exhausting!

Highlights included bunches of Western Tanangers, MacGillivray's Warblers and a Black-headed Grosbeak:

Last summer the MacGillivray's weren't nearly this cooperative!

On the move...

I think I was watching two male Tanangers duke it out for a

couple of minutes...pretty cool.

Mystery empid (they're all mysteries to me - I do believe I saw 

a bunch of pewees today)

Black-headed Grosbeak

Some more critters....of course I'm always hoping for a bear:

The only snake of the day! 

(unusual for Young Gulch)

First Dragonfly of the season

More photos from today's visit: