Not Long After All That Snow

It was just a few days ago that we had about 10 inches of snow. Then, as is typical for Colorado soon after a snow storm, yesterday it was in the low 70's and today in the 60's and quite sunny. I went for a lengthy bike ride and even got a bit of a sun burn. Not too bad, though.

I went up Waterton Canyon in hopes of finding some wildlife. I saw very few birds up close but I could see a lot of them near Chatfield Lake. I didn't venture over there to get any pictures. I wanted to explore the Chatfield Pond areas on my way to and from Waterton Canyon. There was not a single water bird in any of the ponds. Maybe the snow of a few days ago encouraged the migratory birds to head farther south.

In Waterton, I saw more Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep that I had ever seen up there before. I saw one group of 16 and another group of 10 for a total of 26 sheep!

Since Waterton is a canyon, the sun does not shine in there for a good part of the daytime so it was a bit chilly up there. Fortunately, today was almost windless. This also made for quiet ponds and in one place behind the diversion dam, the South Platte River was as smooth as glass. This picture turned out nice but it doesn't do it justice. The photo only captures a part of the scene.