Finally in the woods

Friday we went out with Eric again. This is the view of Gross Reservoir from the hillside where we collected data. You can see all the trees in the foreground killed by fire. We gathered data on the vegetation so that the Forest Service knows how to treat the area to prevent out-of-control wildfires (fire prevention is the main job of the Forest Service in this area. They reduce the fuel load either through controlled burns--more ecologically friendly--or through thinning). Another view from the city park overlook.

This is the view from an overlook in Boulder Mountain Park. Not bad for a city park, eh? Kind of puts Patriarch Park to shame. You can see Longs Peak, it's the snow-capped one on the far right.

Pasque flower, very pretty.

Oh, yeah. That's right. I now live where cacti grow naturally. Pretty cacti.

This is a hillside that succumbed to forest fire a few years ago, pretty typical in these mountains.

On Thursday Christian and I went with Eric, who is on the fuel reduction crew, to scope out some plots for vegetation sampling. After driving around for two hours, trying to figure out how to get the car to where we needed to be, we decided just to park and hike. This is Gross Reservoir. Notice how incredibly low the water level is. The muddy bank was dotted with animal tracks: deer, wild turkey, coyote. I also found some coyote scat filled with seed from someone's bird feeder--just goes to show that coyotes will eat just about anything.

Ok, so this doesn't have anything to do with field work, but my roommate Emily is dog-sitting for someone and earlier in the week she brought Pua to the bunkhouse. Pua is the sweetest dog I've ever met. Sweeter than Maxwell, even, because she doesn't try to play-bite your hand when you go to pet her. She just head-butts you like a cat starved for affection, tail wagging furiously.

Here, Christian and Will (who works for the city of Boulder) check out the ruins of an old farmhouse that we stumbled across.

Above is a wildflower (I haven't been able to identify it) that grows in dry Ponderosa woods like those at Heil Ranch.

This is a random pond in the dry Ponderosa woods where we were setting up plots. It is full of cricket frogs, which were loudly chorusing away until I got close enough to take this picture.

Here is the creek that flows through Heil Valley (I forget its name at the moment).

So on Wednesday, I finally got the chance to go out and do some field work. The day was absolutely gorgeous (as most days have been here), 65 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We went to Heil Ranch, a Boulder County park, to assist a Boulder County and a Boulder City employee in setting up some points for cowbird monitoring. Above is our trusty field vehicle, a Chevy Blazer. Around here, I think people are justified in having SUVs, because some of those mountain roads are, well, lets say, my fuel-efficient Honda Civic wouldn't stand an icicle's chance in hell.

Views of Nederland

This evening I came across a good opportunity to take some pictures of the town itself, from across the reservoir. The sky was cloudy, as you can see, whereas before when I attempted these shots the sun was shining directly into my camera.

Nederland is a cozy little mountain town, just the sort of place where I'd like to have a cozy little mountain cabin someday. Wouldn't want to live here year round, though, because I don't think I'd get along well with the snow. Oh yeah, this is exciting: a couple of guys at the bunkhouse said there were four moose right outside the other night. I want to see a moose!!! If I do, you can be sure I will blog about it.

Getting down to business

I started my job yesterday, and so far, so good. My boss, Deanna, and my coworker, Christian, are both very nice and easy to work with. Which is good because it's just the three of us on the wildlife team. Christian is an avid birder, which is also good because my bird skills are kind of shaky. Bring on the mammals, I say! Yesterday morning, my first day of work, I awoke at 6 am to this gorgeous sunrise:

Believe me, it looked a lot better in person. This morning, I woke up to this:

Which, in case you can't tell, is about 6 inches of newly-fallen snow. By afternoon, it had all melted. (Sorry that some of these pics are sideways; I haven't yet figured out how to rotate them).

Nederland and Boulder Canyon

The Nederland reservoir--I walked to its edge, getting my feet all muddy and practically ruining my shoes. I thought maybe I could get cell phone service out there, but alas, it was to no avail. Lots of people had dogs here; Maxwell will enjoy playing fetch in the water.

A view of majestic snow-capped peaks--practically in my own backyard!

Boulder Creek winds its way down Boulder canyon, flanked by a jogging/walking path the whole way.

This is Boulder Falls, along Boulder Canyon Road on the way to Nederland. My reaction was "Meh. It's ok." After you've seen a 400 foot waterfall cascading down a sheer moss-covered cliff face surrounded by lush tropical foliage, it's hard to be impressed by a waterfall. But it's pretty nonetheless. You know, for a 66 foot waterfall.

The Journey

My bedroom in the bunkhouse. It's so tiny I couldn't back up far enough to get a shot of the whole room.

Here is the bunkhouse in Nederland.

Mountains!! Whoo-hoo!

Finally--Colorado! Home sweet home!
In Nebraska I drove below hundreds and hundreds of sandhill cranes migrating north. Enormous flocks of white pelicans too!

I hit the road early Saturday morning, and was greeted by a beautiful sunrise over the rolling plains of Nebraska.

For about 30 seconds, the sky turned bright pink as the sun was setting.

I had to pay a visit to the old Kum & Go. Unfortunately they had the old-timey pumps so I was too lazy to get gas there. If it doesn't have a spot to swipe a card, not interested.

Trying not to get lost.

The Journey

I left Ann Arbor at 10 am yesterday morning and headed west. I drove across Michigan, through the bumper-to-bumper Chicago traffic, through Iowa and spent the night in Lincoln, NE, in a crappy but cheap (and bedbug-free!) motel 6. Here was the view from the road toward the end of the day.