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mistressofmuses) wrote2024-08-14 09:04 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2024-08-14 09:04 pm
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Tuesday, July 30: Roxborough State Park
(How am I so behind that this was multiple weeks ago now?)
A couple of weeks ago, we also went on a hike to Roxborough state park. It was before the smoke from the fires was too bad, luckily, though the second of the big three had just started that morning.
It was hot, but not horribly, and it was a nice day for a hike! It was also nice to get out and Do Things two days in a row.
The most exciting thing we saw:
A prairie rattlesnake! :D
I was also excited to see acazador tarantula hawk wasp. I've seen them several times, but rarely in Colorado.
Isn't she pretty?
When we first got there, we saw a turkey out across the field from where we'd parked. She was too far away to get a good picture, but when we mentioned it at the visitor center, the ranger asked if we saw the babies. We hadn't, but were told she has quite the group of little ones with her.
A nice racerunner lizard, near the path up to the visitor center.
These seedheads were really interesting. I do not know what plant this is, but they were really cool to look at.
A bit distant, but you can see the smoke from the two fires that were active - the Alexander Mountain fire and the then-new Stone Canyon fire.
We made it down toward the historic farmhouse and outbuildings. There's a nice bench there that's in the shade, so we sat down to have a snack and a rest. There were three deer that came across the hills on the other side of the trail, though too far away to get good pictures of. (This was the same bench we were at when we saw the very close group of deer the last time we hiked here, ha.)
Then I started to hear what very much sounded like wind through the long grass of the field next to us. Except... there wasn't really any wind, and the grass wasn't moving at all.
And then, out of the nice long grass...
Looking toward the farmhouse, but down at the bottom of the picture...
A beautiful prairie rattlesnake!
I'd guess he was about three feet long, and when we saw his tail, he looked to have about six or seven segments on his rattle. (Which is not really an indicator of how old the snake is, per se; it's how many sheds the snake has gone through. But still an indicator of a snake that's been around for a while.)
He was a very polite snake! I leaned over to point the snake out to Alex, and as soon as I moved, the snake stopped. He sat there for quite some time, then eventually just turned around and went on his way.
The instant he was back in the grass he was completely invisible, traveling kind of under the mat of dead grass that covers the ground, so certainly glad that we didn't encounter him IN the deep grass. :)
No rattling, no one having a bad day, 10/10 rattlesnake interaction.
(This was a much mellower prairie rattlesnake than the ones we encountered up on the plains when I was in college; those would sometimes absolutely lose their shit rattling from yards and yards away. And one of the times I think I was startled the worst in my life was one just exploding into rattles when I stepped on the opposite side of the prairie dog burrow that it was sheltering in. Damn near gave me a heart attack...)
I started to feel the heat a little bit more after a bit, but tried to stay well-hydrated.
Coming up the other side of the trail loop it gets both a little cooler and more humid, as there's closer water.
There were lots of nice milkweed stands, and I spotted one of the snowberry clearwing moths that I never ever get good pictures of. I still didn't get a picture of it, but while I was trying and failing, we saw:
A tarantula hawk!
As mentioned above the cut, I have seen tarantula hawks before, but rarely in Colorado. I've seen lots in New Mexico and in Utah, and my dad has sent me pictures of them from Arizona.
She was so pretty, and a really lovely metallic blue!
I realized, when we paused to take a break again, because the heat was starting to get to me, that I hadn't taken any nice landscape pictures.
Unfortunately, I'd picked a terrible place to try and do so, because it was the worst sort of backlit that just washed everything out, ha. But oh well - the rocks are still cool!
Adorable little lizard! Probably a prairie lizard, though there are a few species that look pretty similar. He was also not afraid, and let me got pretty close.
As we got back down to the parking lot, we started wondering about the turkey we'd seen, and whether it was the same one with the babies...
And suddenly!
The turkey! With babies!
I think she had about eight babies with her? Quite a few, and they were very cute.
I didn't want to get close enough to upset her, so didn't get a fantastic picture of them, but they were adorable. They kind of look like tiny ostriches.
And one more picture of the mother turkey. She was quite pretty.
It was definitely a nice day, and I was really glad that we got out. It turned out to be even better that we had, because this was the last somewhat clear day before the smoke got much worse. (It was late that night that the closer fire started, and the two farther north got steadily worse for a while.)
A couple of weeks ago, we also went on a hike to Roxborough state park. It was before the smoke from the fires was too bad, luckily, though the second of the big three had just started that morning.
It was hot, but not horribly, and it was a nice day for a hike! It was also nice to get out and Do Things two days in a row.
The most exciting thing we saw:
A prairie rattlesnake! :D
I was also excited to see a
Isn't she pretty?
When we first got there, we saw a turkey out across the field from where we'd parked. She was too far away to get a good picture, but when we mentioned it at the visitor center, the ranger asked if we saw the babies. We hadn't, but were told she has quite the group of little ones with her.
A nice racerunner lizard, near the path up to the visitor center.
These seedheads were really interesting. I do not know what plant this is, but they were really cool to look at.
A bit distant, but you can see the smoke from the two fires that were active - the Alexander Mountain fire and the then-new Stone Canyon fire.
We made it down toward the historic farmhouse and outbuildings. There's a nice bench there that's in the shade, so we sat down to have a snack and a rest. There were three deer that came across the hills on the other side of the trail, though too far away to get good pictures of. (This was the same bench we were at when we saw the very close group of deer the last time we hiked here, ha.)
Then I started to hear what very much sounded like wind through the long grass of the field next to us. Except... there wasn't really any wind, and the grass wasn't moving at all.
And then, out of the nice long grass...
Looking toward the farmhouse, but down at the bottom of the picture...
A beautiful prairie rattlesnake!
I'd guess he was about three feet long, and when we saw his tail, he looked to have about six or seven segments on his rattle. (Which is not really an indicator of how old the snake is, per se; it's how many sheds the snake has gone through. But still an indicator of a snake that's been around for a while.)
He was a very polite snake! I leaned over to point the snake out to Alex, and as soon as I moved, the snake stopped. He sat there for quite some time, then eventually just turned around and went on his way.
The instant he was back in the grass he was completely invisible, traveling kind of under the mat of dead grass that covers the ground, so certainly glad that we didn't encounter him IN the deep grass. :)
No rattling, no one having a bad day, 10/10 rattlesnake interaction.
(This was a much mellower prairie rattlesnake than the ones we encountered up on the plains when I was in college; those would sometimes absolutely lose their shit rattling from yards and yards away. And one of the times I think I was startled the worst in my life was one just exploding into rattles when I stepped on the opposite side of the prairie dog burrow that it was sheltering in. Damn near gave me a heart attack...)
I started to feel the heat a little bit more after a bit, but tried to stay well-hydrated.
Coming up the other side of the trail loop it gets both a little cooler and more humid, as there's closer water.
There were lots of nice milkweed stands, and I spotted one of the snowberry clearwing moths that I never ever get good pictures of. I still didn't get a picture of it, but while I was trying and failing, we saw:
A tarantula hawk!
As mentioned above the cut, I have seen tarantula hawks before, but rarely in Colorado. I've seen lots in New Mexico and in Utah, and my dad has sent me pictures of them from Arizona.
She was so pretty, and a really lovely metallic blue!
I realized, when we paused to take a break again, because the heat was starting to get to me, that I hadn't taken any nice landscape pictures.
Unfortunately, I'd picked a terrible place to try and do so, because it was the worst sort of backlit that just washed everything out, ha. But oh well - the rocks are still cool!
Adorable little lizard! Probably a prairie lizard, though there are a few species that look pretty similar. He was also not afraid, and let me got pretty close.
As we got back down to the parking lot, we started wondering about the turkey we'd seen, and whether it was the same one with the babies...
And suddenly!
The turkey! With babies!
I think she had about eight babies with her? Quite a few, and they were very cute.
I didn't want to get close enough to upset her, so didn't get a fantastic picture of them, but they were adorable. They kind of look like tiny ostriches.
And one more picture of the mother turkey. She was quite pretty.
It was definitely a nice day, and I was really glad that we got out. It turned out to be even better that we had, because this was the last somewhat clear day before the smoke got much worse. (It was late that night that the closer fire started, and the two farther north got steadily worse for a while.)