This old tree at the top of our property has given up. But what a view it chose for it's final resting place! In the far distance you can see the snow capped peaks of the Snowy Mountains in Wyoming. Bull Mountain is iin the foreground.

Taken on our property.

This past week I started posting a photo every day on Facebook of photos I have taken around Sand Creek, the area surrounding our cabin. I am going to start doing the same here so they will be enjoyed by people not on Facebook with me. I am calling the series: "Around Sand Creek Park." So, here we go!

"SUNRISE, SUNSET"

Photos taken out the back door of our cabin. They have not been "touched up."

About ten years ago I spotted a large gray wolf while I was fishing down at the beaver pond. I looked up and saw a large gray dog-looking animal staring at me from across the water. It jumped with its front paws in the air and twisted to run away from me. And, it was gone. I was sure I had seen a wolf. It was too big and it was the wrong color to be a coyote. It was not one of my dogs which are black and can't move that fast. The whole episode took about 3 seconds. But, I was sure of what I'd seen.

I told this story to a few people, and none believed me (other than Lynne.) It was well known that there were no wolves in Colorado and had not been for decades. However, a couple of years later, a gray wolf was spotted along I70 between Denver and the Eisenhower Tunnel, and my sighting became more credible. It became even more credible when the department of Colorado Parks and Wildlife released a wolf sighting form to be used whenever a wolf was spotted.

Wolves have been reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park, and it is now believed that some of these wolves have migrated south. I'm including a video, below, that hypothesizes the impact this wolf reintroduction has had on Yellowstone.

Recently, a Sand Creek Park neighbor wrote me warning us to be careful with the dogs the next time we visit. Three calves (cattle) have been found killed near Bull Mountain. And, the kills have been confirmed as wolf kills. So, I guess we'll need to keep a close eye on the dogs, make sure they wear bear bells, and not let them wander outside alone.