A wintry view of the riparian area in or near Santa Ana Pueblo, photographed from Amtrak's Southwest Chief on November 20th. Brokenleg (Pueblo of Santa Ana DNR)Deer, you say? That might be a… Read More

News release from Colorado Parks & WildlifeDENVER- Reclaim Nov. 29 by avoiding the shopping hysteria and getting outside for a breath of fresh air! On Fresh Air Friday, Colorado Parks an… Read More

Gert Boyle (Outside).Reading a post in Outside online about Gert Boyle, who built Columbia Sportswear from a little hat company to what it is today — and who passed away November 3 at… Read More

A small Stihl saw dangling from his harness, Jesse nips bits of the problembranch from between the electric lines.All summer I had been noticing that some branches from one of our pine trees… Read More

If you buy something from Backcountry.com, you get a mountain goat sticker with your order. You may have seen these on gear like my water bottle, on car windows, etc.If I had a r… Read More

Not too far from where I live, a steep ridge crowned with rimrock separates two drainages.  On the right hand side (upper photo) or left side (lower photo) was ranch land controlled by… Read More

I missed my favorite Colorado seasonal brew, Odell's Isolation Ale, completely last year. By the time that winter had arrived, it had vanished from the stores!As the owner of a small Pueblo… Read More

Hunter walking a North Dakota tree row.Beginning in the 1930s, government programs helped prairie farmers to plant shelterbelts (a/k/a tree rows or windbreaks) in order to reduce wind erosio… Read More

Split into six or eight or ten pieces, each round might last a mid-winter day.A big (by foothills standards) ponderosa pine blew down several years ago, breaking into two with the top sectio… Read More

The Green Roof Farms honor-system farm stand. Your money goes in the white-painted ammo box at lower right.Scott's working 1950s Farmall Cub tractor, perfect for the small operation.M. was a… Read More

Something weird happened last month while mushroom-hunting. I still have not quite figured it out.During mushroom season, which peaks in August hereabouts, there is a ridge in the Wet Mounta… Read More

Some shots from this year's Chile & Frijoles Festival in Pueblo, still going on through Sunday. My visit was early, while the sun was still up and before the bands started playing, so it… Read More

My little rural fire department got a call on Wednesday — a report of a smoke column up in the mountain subdivision that I call Deathtrap Mountain Estates, because there is only one ro… Read More

Fisher's Peak Ranch (Nature Conservancy photo).The sale of a big ranch outside Trinidad, Colo., means that 19,200-acre state park will open soon.For generations, the 9,633-foot-high Fisher&r&hell…Read More

If you see something, say something: Josh Brinkley and Daniel Lucero say they definitely "saw something." (Photo: Taos News) I am writing in northern New Mexico right now, but before I left… Read More

Pholiota squarossa, shot with the Nikon Coolpix.On a hunting trip last fall, I lost my camera.But aside from a really artistic shot of aspen-bark graffiti, which would have appeared on this… Read More

The short focal-length iPhone camera exaggerates his size a bit. On the 21st of August, M. and I were having brunch on the veranda when I saw something moving out in the unmown grass. A… Read More

M. and I were talking to a friend at the laundromat today. We don't use it anymore — we finally decided that our well could support a small washing machine — but we drop off maga… Read More

There was a herd of Black Angus cattle near our campground last weekend at State Forest State Park — I will be writing more about the park itself soon.Tuesday morning they were right d… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, my friend R. and I were talking about trailers and RVs and such (maybe because he had recently gotten a new-used boat), and we both had the same question: When did pic… Read More

The county Road and Bridge department put this up on the road that I travel now and then. I appreciate what they are trying to do — in a county full of gravel roads, maintaining them i… Read More

This is Sarcodon imbricatus, known to its friends as hawk's wing — or hedgehog mushroom, but there are no hedgehogs in North America, ergo we don't use that name.Some people say they c… Read More

Another fir seedling. It is not growing from the stump'sroot system, but from a seed that started in the decayed sump.A mushroom. Yes, it is attached.A rock. I figured it was attached as wel… Read More

ILiatris punctataThe Liatris are starting to bloom, which marks beginning of Late Summer here in the foothills. Funny thing, with last spring having been so wet, I expected a wildflower expl… Read More

Farmers market in Westcliffe, Colorado.A few years ago, we had a membership in a CSA farm on "the mesa" outside Pueblo. In the summers, we planned our weekly shopping/library trip to coincid… Read More

I was reading The Raw and the Cooked, a book of food-related essays by Jim Harrison that appeared mostly in Esquire magazine in the 1980s and 1990s, when a partly full packet of 34¢ pos… Read More

I have just started reading Above the Waterfall by Ron Rash.Rash, a poet and novelist, has deep roots in western North Carolina. I chose this book because I like "natural resource mystery no… Read More

Bobcats. Photo by Tom Sanders, Wet Mountain Wildlife.Two  bobcat kittens (Felis rufus) came into the local rehabilitation shelter a year ago. Actually, at one point there were three, bu… Read More

That mysterious box at lower right.My friend Galen has been visiting the Lodge at San Isabel since boyhood; me, I probably came first in the late 1980s. On a fishing trip last week, we stopp… Read More

It was time to dump out, sort, and organize all the fishing tackleand to discover things that I did not know that I had.After a humongous spring runoff, southern Colorado streams are clearin… Read More

Helitanker over the 416 Fire (Inciweb).The federal government has filed suit against the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Co., a major southwestern Colorado tourist attraction… Read More

I was going to review two new free smartphone apps from Colorado Parks and Wildlife today, but I will be reviewing only one, because I am having problems with the other.First up is CoTrex, "… Read More

That suppressor says we are not in the USA.OK, readers, I have more saved links than I can turn into blog posts. So here they are, short form.You will need a big spoon. • I mentioned La… Read More

Photo: Terry Milne, Porter Creek Secondary SchoolIf you thought that yesterday's post on experimental archaeology and cutting up deer with stone tools was too easy, then send your high-schoo… Read More

Prof. Schindler shoots a stone-tipped arrow.(Photo: Washington College)Anthropology professor Bill Schinldler starts with students like these:The skills prehistoric peoples depended on seem… Read More

. . . and he will spend a while trying to stack them into a balanced cairn.I say "man" because the boot tracks down here were pretty large, just in case you are questioning my gender assumpt… Read More

To be loyal to my bioregion, I have should have this license plate, but . . .In August 2018 the state of Colorado announced an addition to its growing collection of specialty license plates… Read More

That Look. It is the one that makes you say, "Oh, poor puppy! Would you like part of my sandwich?"It's evolution at work, say some scientists.A paper published today in the Proceedings of th… Read More

Buy CBD products with spiritual benefits. Ledoux Street, Taos, New Mexico Read More

Along Main Street in the little resort town of La Veta, where sandbags are piled (sometimes) in front of the shops, in case the Cucharas River floods due to run-off from the area burned a ye… Read More

One strong visual memory from the two summers that I spent working in the Taos, New Mexico, area during my undergrad years — away from Portland's drizzle -- was orange Oriental poppi… Read More

Part of Carpios Ridge Campground from an overlook.As I turned into the Carpios Ridge Campground at Trinidad Lake State Park, pulling the little pop-up trailer, I saw this tall building with… Read More

"Stinky" in November 2018. Last November, as described in a post called "The Mountain Lion Who Hated Everyone (With Reason)," I talked about the vomit-covered kitten that we picked up f… Read More

Penstemon virens, low penstemon — I think.This spring has been unusually cool and wet. The "wet" means that all of Colorado is now officially out of drought. I kept thinking locally th… Read More

Right here is when (most of) the dinosaurs died.Things you learn. Not being a paleontologist or a geologist, I did not know that that the K-Pg boundary — Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary… Read More

I was climbing the steep dirt road up behind the house, following the dog, mind off somewhere (probably volunteer fire department stuff) when I ran into a wall of lilac scent.There it was &m&hell…Read More

Wendy, the visiting German wirehaired pointer, is a  .  .  .   pointing dog. She is impressive on pheasants, but she cannot pass up a robin in a city park either.Tonight… Read More

We are used to "false spring" along the Eastern Slope of the Rockies.Maybe now, with the last snow melted, this is the real spring, but I am still calling this dish pasta falsa primavera &md&hell…Read More

Colorado Parks and Wildlife photo, as far as I can tell.Cats — you can never trust them. [Colorado Parks and Wildlife] said that while the cat was being lowered down, it awoke from the… Read More

A presentation of raccoon meat resembling the scene of roadkill created by the late Moto executive chef Homaro Cantu and Chris Jones, chef de cuisine, at their now-closed restaurant at Ful… Read More

American robin (Cornell)Want to Build the Right Nest Box for Your Area's Birds?The Cornell University has an interactive guide that will help you download appropriate building plans and plac… Read More

Sand lilies, Leucocrinum montanum.Spring beauty  Claytonis rosea (says the guidebook).Dropped feather from a Eurasian collared dove, busy breeding already.Pasque flower, Pulsatil… Read More

Earlier this month I was in a bar in San Marcos, Texas talking about Bigfoot, as one does. Some friends who teach at Texas State University there had organized a conference on "monsters" in… Read More

Author Ed Abbey talks about his park ranger days at Arches National Monument (now national park) in the 1950s, the experience that produced his landmark book Desert Solitaire, in this 1985 s… Read More

• Plan now for the Mountain Plover Festival.You’ll get the chance to mingle with farmers and ranchers who choose to live in the local community and learn about their lifestyle.Ea… Read More

I found this video in a Facebook group. It was made by Jerry Lofy of Colorado Springs and uploaded to Vimeo.It starts with a view of the old Colorado Fuel & Iron steel mill in Pueblo &md&hell…Read More

I could have been a contender!Fisher, my Chesapeake Bay retriever, loves poop. Every off-leash ramble in the woods is a chance to diversify his gut bacteria.Only now do we learn that he coul… Read More

Let Siri pick a route and turn on the cruise control.I am driving through West Texas in April, so it is highly unlikely that GPS directions would leave me stuck in a snowdrift or run me off… Read More

Heavy snow this summer has been causing avalanches in the Colorado high country. Interstate 70 was closed on Vail Pass early this morning, in fact.Here is why there are so many avalanches:Th… Read More

Part 1 here Part 2 here Infrared image of a mountain lion. Scroll down to learn aboutmountain lion photography from an expert. (Photo: Stanford University)My first face-to-face with a mounta… Read More

A small pine has grown in a U shape, trying to reach sunlight from insidea thicket of Gambel oak. I could show you the same thing on my place,but this photo was lifted from the What's Up, Ar… Read More

Here is Travis Kauffman, who recently fought off and killed a mountain lion that attacked him while trail-running in the foothills west of Fort Collins, Colorado.The size of the lion, once a… Read More

Filmed in the southern Rockies, the Wet Mountain Valley to be exact Read More

Goodbye, little bear. Your luck has been good until now. I hope that it holds.You and your litter mate were found in central Colorado Springs last summer, victims of some unfortunate events… Read More

Adult mountain lion  (Colorado Parks & Wildlife).Screens all over America, even at political websites, lit up yesterday with the news of a trail runner attacked by a mountain lion w… Read More

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt — he prefers that title to "President" now that he is out of office —stopped by the annual meeting of the Colorado chapter of the Wildlife Society down… Read More

Evening grosbeaks eating black oil sunflower seeds.Australian scientist Darryl Jones answers questions about bird-feeding for Cornell University's "All About Birds."At first, it was pretty m… Read More

 A news report on today's bear release.I did not sleep well last night because I knew that I was getting up earlier than usual.Wash, dress, walk and feed the dog, fill a go-cup with cof… Read More

In 1956, if you owned a Type I Volkswagen Bug in South Dakota, you had yourself an off-road vehicle.Here is Dad's VW with evidence of a successful antelope hunt on the roof rack and his frie… Read More

Ubi sunt?"Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?" asked the medieval French poet François Villon. Usually that is Englished as "Where are the snows of yesteryear?"And where are the d… Read More

An article about how to stack firewood, and it's fine, but number 4 made me laugh.Think forest fire and keeping fuel away from the house, not termites.Actually, I hardly have a woodpile righ… Read More

Two smoke-phase wild turkeys were part of a small flock.Two days ago I bumped in a small flock of Merriam's wild turkeys in a residential area of eastern Custer County. Mixed in with the nor… Read More

Two little graves in the San Isabel National ForestUnlike the graves mentioned in "Graves in the Woods (1)," these are not human graves, I think — unless they were infant twins —… Read More

Moormans River, near Free Union, VirginiaM. and I rolled in Sunday the 30th after a long train trip to Virginia to see (most) of her East Coast relatives.Cabin chimney abovethe Moormans Rive… Read More

It's time for Southern Rockies Nature Blog's seasonal gift guide.• Booze and smoked meats are always good• I like books. Maybe you know someone who would too. Two that caught my ey… Read More

It's better in the winter — this is early DecemberI was over in Fremont County, south of Cañon City, in an area where I used to wander some twenty years ago. Back then, a hike m… Read More

Lip balm distributed by Colorado Parks & Willife.A friend was visiting Denver from northern England earlier this month. I urged her to bring sunglasses — just tell your European fr… Read More

 A good article from Appalachian Magazine: "Though less than forty years have passed, I am often astonished to see just how drastic the world has changed from the time I was a small bo… Read More

I received a news release a few days ago about a wolf that had escaped from a "sanctuary" near Divide, Colorado, in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.The missing Mexican wolf.On Sunday… Read More

"When I am bigger, I will eat you." Mountain lion kitten reclines on a donatedfur coat at Wet Mountain Wildlife rehabilitation center.Yesterday's wildlife-transport gig has already been turn… Read More

Via Patrick Burns' Terrierman blog:Biologist Heather Reich of the the Nevada Department of Wildlife is not afraid of grizzly bears in Montana or black bears in Nevada, but she's terrified of… Read More

"Wolfy" aspen tree, Wet Mountains, ColoradoA "wolf tree" has nothing to do with Canis lupus. It is a tree that has grown larger and broader than normal for its kind.A New England definition:… Read More

A Canadian Ranger shoots his Lee-Enfield rifle in .303 British.I like shooting old wooden-stocked bolt-action military rifles, so I was a little sad to learn recently that the Canadian Range… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, this was me (less the abnormally straight backpack) calculating whether there was sufficient time to eat supper on our WSW-facing verandah before the sun went behind t… Read More

Ruins of coke ovens at Cokedale. Coke is made by heating soft coal in an airless atmosphere,so it is to coal as charcoal is to wood, sort of.Today us  Halloween, which means that newspa… Read More

Along US 20 in the Nebraska Sandhills"Pastoralists often have the same distinct qualities of personality regardless of the region of the world in which they live.  Specifically, men… Read More

Leaving Pierre for Fort Pierre. You know it is pronounced "Peer," right?When I re-crossed the wide Missouri at Pierre, South Dakota, homeward bound, I stopped to see a historical spot that I… Read More

Harvested cornfield and corn bins, North Dakota"As centuries, then millennia passed, the areas open for retreat [back to a hunter-gatherer way of life] dwindled, and farming culture became i… Read More

Looks like the perfect place for a Halloween pop-up store, right? I just wanted to post this because it permits me to say that I was there with the guy who used to be married to the step-dau… Read More

Near Finley, North DakotaThere's a song to go with this image (tip of the Finley Farmers Elevator ball cap to Jeremy Climer) Read More

The bridge across the Missouri River on US 212 near Charger's Camp.Friday found me driving through western South Dakota's buttes county. There was the famous Bear Butte — state park an… Read More

It was big news in paleontology circles in the 1990s when private fossil hunters in western South Dakota unearthed an outstanding Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton that was given the name of Sue, a… Read More

Northbound, breaking free of the Colorado Front Range corridorI don't drive Interstate 25 north of Denver very often, but when I do, it reminds me more and more of Interstate 95 in New Jerse… Read More

• Craig Childs' Atlas of a Lost World: Travels in Ice Age America won a special jury award at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.  This is a book that I have read once, loaned out to… Read More

You may not like trapping.  Or you may have no problem with trapping as long as trappers follow the rules.Regardless, these videos contain information that you can use — especiall… Read More

Grey-phase Abert's squirrel.Unlike some bloggers, especially a certain gunwriter who never updates her blogroll even when someone dies (cough cough), I think of my blogroll as a resource for… Read More

• What could be romantic than coming from Texas to Colorado and proposing marriage on a mountain peak? How about getting lost on the way down? That sure will test your compatibility!&bu&hell…Read More

Some tiny lambsquarters seeds and a book that has nothing about lambsquarters in it.M. and I ate a lot of lambsquarter (lambsquarters? lamb's-quarter(s)? anyway, Chenopodium album) this summ… Read More

I took a break this afternoon to walk up one of the nearby roads. The sumac is turning red already. It can't wait. Somebody always wants to be at the head of the line.Saturday night when we… Read More

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Keda with a Czechoslovakian wolfdog that plays Alpha (who has a surprise for the humans)Just to save you the trouble, I will list some things that anyone familiar with hu… Read More