Backpack Training: Weeks 1 & 2 - Bald Eagles
It has been years since we've seen bald eagles in the wild and only a few times in our lives, so we were so excited to see not one, but three bald eagles during our backpack training hikes! It just reaffirms our decision to try to get outside more and enjoy the wonderful state of Colorado that we live in.
For the first two weeks of our training, we walked the open space trails close to our house for the short five mile hikes twice a week, mostly Broomfield Commons, Metzger Farms and Big Dry Creek Trail. These do not have much elevation change and are fairly exposed, but we enjoy them, not just because they are so close to our house, but also because they have wonderful views of the mountains in the distance and contain ponds and streams that attract wildlife like coyotes, geese, ducks, great blue herons, prairie dogs and hawks. These past two weeks, we did catch a glimpse of a couple of coyotes, but we mostly saw Canadian geese and prairie dogs, not the most exciting wildlife to see because we see those all the time. However, I'll take common wildlife over buildings and pavement any day.
For the ten mile hike for the first week, we chose the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Perimeter Trail. The main reason we chose it was because we needed to drop someone off at the Mile High Flea Market and the Rocky Mountain Arsenal is not far from there. The other reason is that Rocky Mountain Arsenal is a national wildlife refuge and I was hoping to see some buffalo. We didn't see any buffalo, but seeing a bald eagle made up for it. Since the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Perimeter Trail is over 22 miles long, we only did part of it. We started on the trailhead on the north side, headed east, followed the trail as it turned south and turned around after we had completed about six miles, so we actually hiked close to twelve miles instead of ten. The trail is mainly used by cyclists. We were not impressed with the trail as a hiking trail before we turned south, as the trail is way too close to 96th avenue, with the traffic noise from the semi trucks and the garbage trucks heading to and from the dump near the airport. The trail was much better once we turned south along Buckley Rd, since vehicle traffic is no longer allowed down the road. However, the trail is very exposed, as confirmed by the pile of tumble weeds piled up against the fence that encloses the wildlife refuge. Thank goodness it was not very windy that day. It was along Buckley that we spotted the bald eagle, up on a utility pole. It always amazes me how easy it is to identify a bald eagle from a distance, that white head really stands out, even on a gray, cloudy day. The eagle probably saw us before we saw him and took off before we got close. Although the eagle was the highlight of our wildlife sightings, we also saw a few hawks and a couple herds of deer. So despite the traffic noise during the first couple of miles, it was a very enjoyable hike. However, we probably won't go out of our way to hike it again, although we were thankful of the closeness of 96th avenue on the way back, as we appreciated the street lights as we ran out of daylight near the end of our hike.
The highlight of the first two weeks of training was our hike to Stearns Lake, hands down. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground, the sun was shining during most of our hike, the views were gorgeous and the wildlife sightings were many. We parked our car at Country Estates Park, then walked north on Aspen St. to catch the Lake Link Trail heading west. We made a loop using the Rock Creek Trail, which branches off of Lake Link and then circles back around to connect to it again after going by Stearns Lake. We've been on these trails many times, but usually on our bikes. A long time ago, we nicknamed Lake Link Trail as the roller coaster trail because it constantly rolls up and down. We wanted to get more elevation changes in our training, so we naturally thought of this trail. Within the first mile of the Lake Link Trail, when we got to the bridge where the trail pokes out of the neighborhood of houses and starts the roller coaster section, we stopped to enjoy the wonderful view of the open space below us and the mountains in the distance. I smiled and thought "this is going to be a great day"! And I was not disappointed.
As we approached Stearns Lake, we saw quite a few people with binoculars, scopes and cameras. As we were trying to figure out what was going on, a kind gentleman informed us that there had been a sighting of brant geese. We had never heard of brant geese before, so it gave us something to look up when we got back home. Apparently, brant geese are normally found near the coast, so we're assuming it is quite rare to see one this far inland. However, we were already mostly around the lake and we did not see any brant geese. Of course, we didn't know what we were looking for, either. It also would have been hard to pick them out on the lake, because the lake was covered with Canadian geese, literally. The lake was partially covered in ice and I don't think there was barely a square foot of ice that didn't have a goose on it.
We saw all kinds of wildlife, from prairie dogs and geese, to hawks, ducks, American kestral and, not just one, but two bald eagles! I always find it interesting to observe the behavior of animals. You would think that a black bird would be afraid of a big, strong red-tailed hawk, but usually when I see red-tailed hawks in a tree, they are often accompanied by a flock of black birds and that was the case on this hike as well. I didn't see any of the black birds harassing the hawks this time, but I swear the hawks looked annoyed. I'm sure the abundance of birds of prey in this area was due to the lake and to the abundance of prairie dogs. We saw the plumpest prairie dog we've ever seen. It looked like someone had taken a prairie dog and blown it up like a balloon. I'm surprised it had not been snatched up as a juicy meal yet. However, perhaps it may have some kind of medical condition and the predators knew that somehow.
When we made it back to the roller coaster section of the trail, the sun started to set over the mountains and gave us a nice show. Despite hiking through a couple inches of snow with over fifteen pounds on our backs for ten miles, by the time we finished I felt refreshed. There is just something about fresh air and feeling like I'm a part of nature that gives me energy.
(RB)