Mother Moose with Offspring, Pinedale, Wyoming

This summer we discovered by accident the CCC camp outside Pinedale, Wyoming, en route back to Salt Lake City, Utah. This wonderful park (Fremont Camp) has several short trails that go around various pond settings. Because I was not familiar with a marsh habitat, I chose to walk the Marsh Trail. In June, it was a bit buggy with mosquitoes, but it was well worth the itchy bites. The highlight came at the end of our walk when my husband and I were almost to the parking lot area. Above you can see our prize view of a mother moose with her youngster feeding in the Marsh Pond!

After creating my own YouTube video, I found another very informative one on Sublette County and Pinedale, Wyoming. This area is definitely worth a return visit - and you might even want to skip Yellowstone's crowds and instead go hiking and fishing in "real" cowboy country.

Tracking Little Foot in Torrey Pines State Park

 

      

Bighorn Sheep at Anza Borrego - Walking Gait and Foraging

In my focus on tracking wildlife, sometimes I forget to look for the living animals that make the signs I look at. These days I pause much more to listen for unusual and identifiable sounds (in Palomar Mountain State Park recently, I was able to hear wild turkeys calling though I couldn't see them across the valley) and to see some of the wildlife I've never seen before. I previously posted some views of Bighorn sheep, and here are a few other videos of the sheep in action by the parking lot at Anza Borrego State Park. This one is of the walking gait of Bighorn Sheep on the desert floor, and the following one is of bighorn sheep foraging. Hope you enjoy these views - my first at close range.

After the sheep left, my husband and I did try to make out tracks in the sand, but other than having just seen the sheep walking there, it was virtually impossible with our still unskilled eyes to recognize the sand indentations as sheep vs. any other kind of animal. I'll keep practicing, though.