a walk into fall
canyon bursting with color
sunshine is warming
on my skin and in my heart
do I return, winter waits
~A Walk into Fall~
Category Archives: Photos-Landscapes
~Coyote Ridge Natural Area~
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!
The Backbone…..
On September 24, 2013,
My neighbor Shari, invited me to go with her on a hike to the Devil’s Backbone Open Space area. The Backbone, as locals call this area, is located less than a mile to the west of us.
It is a gorgeous, 2,198 acre, open space area with jetting flatiron formations, and valleys filled with varied grasses, lichen covered rocks and prickly pear cacti. The trail system accommodates hikers, bikers and horseback riders.
In the morning we are heading out again on a hike, this time we are planning to go a little further down the trail. It is getting cooler here in northern Colorado so hopefully we won’t have to worry as much about the Rattlesnakes.
Tomorrow will be chilly, so I hope the Rattlesnakes are listening to the forecasters and planning to stay “under a rock!”
Here are a few scenes from our hike on Tuesday:
Challenge: Key Hole: A Kyrielle Sonnet
Key Hole: A Kyrielle Sonnet and Challenge
The winding trail that leads us there,
We walk together as a pair,
Enjoying this day fresh and new;
When and how the sun shines through.
The canyon, filled with grasses,
Color, shades of molasses,
Sunlit sparkling drops of dew;
When and how the sun shines through.
Wind, rain creates the key hole,
Gorgeous views you must behold,
White puffy clouds, sky so blue;
When and how the sun shines through.
The winding trail that leads us there,
When and how the sun shines through.
Photo taken today, while walking a trail, just to the west of my home. This photo, as all my photos , not enhanced.
~transitional~
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