Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska

We enjoyed the Sandhill Cranes at Monte Vista NWR so much, that we decided we needed to travel to Nebraska to see the greatest concentration of them in the world. There is an 80 mile wide migration "flyway" located roughly between Kearney and Grand Island through which 80% of the world's population of Sandhills travel in March and early April. This means up to 600,000 cranes enjoy the safety of the Platte River at night, while fueling up mostly on corn in the neighboring farm fields.



The weather was great for viewing and we saw temperatures well into the 70's. Monday evening we arrived in time to see the birds arriving from roadside viewing platforms near the Rowe Sanctuary and Audubon Center. As the full moon rose, wave after wave of birds filled the skies in layers, from directly overhead to as far out on the horizon as you could see. The magnitude of their numbers was inescapable as their calls surrounded us with sound.

We spent the night up near Grand Island so that Tuesday morning we were closer to the Nebraska Nature and Visitor's Center, where we had scheduled a 6AM Crane Tour. After a brief and informative orientation, our friendly and knowledgeable guide escorted us on a short drive to the viewing blind parking area. A 10 minute walk in the dark got us to the blinds, modified truck boxes which were a little noisy in the morning breeze off the river. At first the birds were mostly still, chatting quietly amongst themselves. As the sun rose, it was fantastic to see them waking up and start their "dancing" with crescendoing calls heard up and down the river. We stayed until 9AM by which time most of the birds had flown off, enjoying our own conversations with other folks in the blind.

After a late breakfast, we drove around the local farmlands to watch the birds feeding in the fields. All along the route we would see them "loafing" as well as flying overhead here and there. We ended up at the Rowe Sanctuary viewing blind in the afternoon, where we enjoyed watching shorebirds and spotted a Belted Kingfisher fishing. Afterward, we listened to their Crane 101 program and visited with volunteers at the Center.

The visitor centers and viewing blinds at both the Nebraska Nature and Visitor's Center (http://nebraskanature.org) and the Rowe Sanctuary (http://www.rowesanctuary.org/) were very good and even if you don't want to pay for a blind tour, they are worth a stop to gather information and view their displays. When we go back, we will be sure to check out the Cranes from Hike/Bike Bridge located at Fort Kearny State Recreational Area. A small fee to park and a 300 yard walk is all you need do to access this old railroad bridge over the braided Platte. Even though the peak viewing for 2010 has passed, there is still very good Crane viewing in early April. And the Prairie Chicken leks are just getting started!

Wild Turkeys in Rocky

Not really a hike, but definitely about local wildlife. We were on Bear Lake Road yesterday geared up to try to photograph a sunset, and instead came across a rafter of wild turkeys practically on the road.

We pulled off, quickly changed lenses and then got as many shots in as we could with the low light and nervously retreating turkeys. Susan was more patient than I was and got the best shots. Here are a few of the best of what we got (click on slideshow below to see full size web album/images).



I went back to previous Estes List emails about wild turkeys and I'm guessing this rafter is the one often seen around Giant Track mountain. We were less than two miles west of Giant Track. There were probably at least a dozen (got 10 in one photo), and one of them was the beautiful gold color previously reported.

Susan did some research and believes these could be Merriam's wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo merriami)
http://www.nwtf.org/conservation/bulletins/bulletin_04_5-20-09.pdf
or
http://tinyurl.com/yc4mljc

This PDF has a US map with ranges of other wild turkeys.

Rabbit Mountain Open Space Park hike

Susan and I are always looking for new places to hike, especially in the early spring when there's still so much snow in Rocky. We've driven by the Highway 66 turnoff for Boulder County's Rabbit Mountain Open Space Park many times, but had no idea what was back there.

It was a warm day and some parts of the trails were pretty muddy.

We hiked pretty much all of the trails in the Park and enjoyed the scenery to the east, toward Boulder, and the views of Divide, Longs/Meeker, and Indian Peaks. We had hoped to see some raptors as there are a couple of areas of the Open Space that were closed from Feb-Jul for raptor nesting, but we didn't see anything except a raven. Susan read somewhere that there is nesting bald eagle pair on Rabbit Mountain, but we didn't see a nest or any eagles.

Here are some photos we took, including a couple of panoramas I stitched together.


And here's a GPS track log/map of the hike/area.

View Rabbit Mountain Open Space Park in a larger map

Penitente Canyon Hike

After visiting the La Garita Natural Arch we decided to hike into the Penitente Canyon.

This was an easy 2 mile hike, although the trail was either very muddy or snowpacked and icy. At almost the 1 mile point we were rewarded with wonderful views of the San Luis Valley and its snowcapped peaks. The rocks here reminded us of Lumpy Ridge.

The canyon was used as a place of worship for the Brothers Penitente and you can the painted image of the Virgin Mary on one of the rock walls. This is a very popular area for bouldering and climbing.

Here are some pictures from the hike.


Here's hiking track/map.


View Penitente Canyon Hike in a larger map

La Garita Natural Arch

Another attraction in the San Luis Valley was a visit to La Garita Natural Arch.

Not really a hike, but a very steep scramble up to the arch. We were rewarded with some fantastic views!

Here are a few pictures.

Zapata Falls Hike

After our hike in Great Sand Dunes, we decided to do the nearby Zapata Falls hike.

We'd tried to do this hike a few years ago, but you have to wade in the stream coming down from the falls and we skipped it because the flow was too high and we didn't have our trekking poles with us.

It was easy this time though, as the falls and stream were completely frozen. The hike was only half a mile each way on a snowpacked trail.

Here are a few pictures from the hike (click on the slideshow to see larger images).

Great Sand Dunes Hike

While Susan and I were down in the San Luis Valley for Cranefest, we took advantage of a gorgeous sunny day to hike again in Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA).

GRSA has the tallest dunes in North America, and we bagged one of the highest ones, at about 650 feet in elevation. There was some recent snow on the dunes, but it was melting rapidly in the 40+ degree sunny weather.

Here are some pictures from the hike (click on slide show to see the larger album).

Sandhill Cranes near Monte Vista, CO

Susan and I just got back from the San Luis Valley area near Alamosa, CO. The main attraction for us was Cranefest, and the chance to see thousands of migrating sandhill cranes up close in the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.

We did some hiking and will have more posts about this later.

Here's a selection of some of our photos (click through the embedded slideshow below to see larger versions).

Bridal Veil Falls

We decided to do another late-day hike, this time to Bridal Veil Falls, on the Cow Creek Trail, north of Lumpy Ridge. We really like the area north of Lumpy Ridge and have even hiked all the way around it (about 10 miles).

The first couple of miles the trail was variable, sometimes with no snow at all, and sometimes snow-packed and/or icy. The last third of the trail up to the Falls was mostly snow-packed and icy. We didn't use snowshoes, but Susan used her MicroSpikes with good success. Once we got to the Falls, I put mine on too, as it was very icy on the steeper sections in this area.

Bridal Veil Falls was of course frozen, with just a trickle of water running under the ice. The falls normally makes a lot of noise, but it was beautiful and quiet.

Perhaps the thing we enjoyed most on this hike was not seeing another human being on the trail the whole day! It was like we had the Park to ourselves.

This hike is described in Lisa Foster's excellent book, Rocky Mountain National Park, the Complete Hiking Guide, on page 145.

Below are previews/links to photos and a map (click either to see larger photos/map).




View Bridal Veil Falls Hike in a larger map

Hiking to "The Pool" in RMNP

The weather was warm and partly sunny today (and almost 50F), so Susan and I decided to get in a little exercise today in Rocky. We decided the relatively easy hike to "The Pool" would fit the bill.

Normally this hike, starting at the Fern Lake Trailhead, is about 3.5 miles round trip. When we headed down the road to the trailhead, we found the last .6 miles of the road was closed, so we parked and walked to the start of the hike. We got kind of a late start, leaving the car at just before 2:30pm.

We were surprised out how much snow was on the trail and although we didn't have snowshoes, we both brought our MicroSpikes. The snow was slushy and packed so Susan put hers on, but I didn't.

It was still warm enough to hike in our shirtsleeves and still partly sunny. We arrived at the pool at about 3:30pm, took a few pictures, and ate a few almonds. Then we headed back.

Got back to the car at about 4:40pm.

Total distance was almost 5.2 miles. Other details including an elevation profile are available on a map I created at Google Maps from the GPS track log.

View Hike to the Pool in RMNP in a larger map

This hike is described in Lisa Foster's book on page 37.