We met with a park ranger and took a bird walk along with a group of other campers. We heard and saw lots of birds but they were too quick for my camera. The ranger had discovered a dragonfly, that, according to him was about to go to the big aviary in the sky in the next several hours. He looked fine to me.
Note: click the pictures to make them larger to see things not visible in the current presentation
We also saw some quaking aspen trees with bear claw marks (from several year ago) but we were sufficiently warned and apprehensive about actually seeing one on this trip. (we heard there was one by our campsite on the final day of the trip, but we never saw her)
We saw some interesting trees as well. Here is the trunk of a pinon pine, it had such nice texture I couldn't resist getting a shot of it.
Later in the afternoon, we went into town and stuffed ourselves with steak fajitas, then on the return trip we pulled into a gravel road that went uphill with many switchbacks for 3 miles. We then hiked into the mountain on the Zapata Falls Trail for a half a mile to discover a series of waterfalls. Each one more interesting than the previous one. Of course I chickened out of the opportunity to walked through the water and into a cave to catch the 30 foot falls. Chuck went and had the souvenir of wet shoes for 2 days. (go to his site to see the pics). This is how to get used to the altitude, and I can already see that I have made great progress.
Finally, a picture from the trail of the valley and the dunes in the background.
That night we went to listen to one of the ranger talks. The best was one on fossils. While the photo below is not a fossil, it is from an animal that has been on the earth for over 10,000 years. The ranger had his own name for it: Sally Mander. What a guy!
We were so full from the afternoon stuffing that we skipped dinner. So no gourmet cooking pictures today.
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