Hatcher's Pass

I took my guest from Denver up to Hatcher’s Pass yesterday for some hiking around the old gold mine up there. What a beautiful day it was: crispy cool temperatures, sunny spots to warm up in, and lots of wildlife to observe!

Rich, the guy visiting for a week, really wants to see some Dall Sheep. He is a scientist who is studying the Argali seep over in Mongolia, which are related to our Dalls, so it’s really more than just a personal wish. However, we have not yet been able to find any. I had thought we might up there, but no such luck.

What we did find was a nice little trail that meandered its way across the mountains, in and out of rock outcroppings and over the various creeks that flow through the area. There were all kinds of flowers out, so he got to take lots of close-ups with one of his cameras.

The man has three cameras, by the way. One small one for the close-ups; one medium sized one for the everyday shots; and one serious one for the really important shots – and that one has multiple lenses that he switches out all the time.

We also saw a lot of birds. Rich is an avid birder, and is always on the lookout for one he’s never seen before. We managed to spot an owl perched on top of a small spruce tree way, way, way over across a creek gorge at the entrance to the park. We looked at it thru his binoculars, but didn’t get a very good look at it – binoculars are only so good, even the best of them. He thinks it might have been a short-eared owl.

The best treat, at least in my mind, was coming across a hoary marmot in one of the biggest rock out-croppings! He was so cute – out sunning himself on the rocks. Rich managed to get relatively close to it and got a whole bunch of pictures. When it ducked back down into it’s den, I sidled up next to Rich and we both sat there quietly till it came back.

My camera is not nearly as good as his, but I did get some really good photos that I’m rather proud of. If anybody wants to see them, just let me know. I’ll figure some way of showing them off perhaps.