nature, centers me

absent, I would not be whole

be, in its wonder

My friend Shari and I went on a hike, this past Wednesday, in the Coyote Ridge Natural area, located between Loveland and Fort Collins, Colorado.

We hiked about four miles round trip. This area is beautiful and we had a fantastic view of the Hogbacks sitting majestically to the west!

It was a gorgeous, sunny day with blue skies and a few white puffy clouds. We had a great time. We passed and said hello to bike riders, other hikers and runners all enjoying this natural trail system.

We also encountered a few four-legged animals enjoying the area as well. 

This photo looks a little odd to me, as if I took the head of another deer and placed it on this deer’s body! She was standing up hill from me as I was trying to take her picture from the trail below.

We spotted a few birds, but not many. A Black-billed Magpie riding the wind, an American Robin sitting in a pine tree singing a tune and a Northern Flicker just being a Flicker, making a lot of noise! All of which were fun to see.

Hogbacks are defined as, a ridge with steep sides formed by dipping strata. Dipping strata are stratified layers of rocks lying at an angle.

The name, Hogback, comes from the ridge resembling the high, knobby spine between the shoulders of a hog.

In most cases, the two strata that compose a hogback are different types of sedimentary rock with differing weathering rates. 

The softer rock erodes more quickly than overlying hard rock. Over time, the softer rock retreats to a point where the hard and soft rock strata are adjacent. This creates cliffs that steepen as the softer rock continues to erode. (info taken from web)

Bye for now!