While riding on Tabby, a herd of perhaps a hundred elk was proceeding us up the mountain. We weren't trying to follow them, but they seemed to be taking the same path.
Steve took a video of the elk herd while mounted on Boss, which makes the viewing a bit unsteady. He says in the video that the date is April 28, but it's really taken on March 28.
You may be able to spot the herd of deer on the near hill. They, too, were heading away from us.
When we're not riding, we spend time with the grandkids on the Wasatch front. Here's Steve with our youngest grandson, enjoying a day at the park.
In this sign, Tworoose is mispelled, or else the map spelling is wrong. Hard to know.
On the way up, Steve stops to take photos while Boss grabs a snack.
We see a blue butterfly and a fly both attracted to moist dirt,
and a white butterfly on a flower.
A woodpecker looks down from an aspen branch.
Sometimes Mischief is slow on the hills. Steve and Boss wait impatiently...
As we approach the snowline, a herd of elk come into view. We see them in this meadow every spring at about this time.
The elk don't hang around to get acquainted.
After the herd scatters, Boss and Steve continue across the meadow. Snow stops us from reaching TwoRoose Pass. We'll come back in a month when the snow is melted.
Another great ride through wide open country starts just north of Currant Creek Reservoir, at about 8000 feet, and heads up various 2 tracks and elk trails along Coyote Ridge toward Scotty's Basin.
The terrain is mostly open, passing through meadows where old beaver dams have created terraces of rich soil. A few pools still exist, perfect for Daisy swims. Of course, Daisy isn't particular. A mud puddle works just fine for her.
We also rode near lakes surrounded by aspen. We could hear the boreal frogs' high-pitched croaks as we passed by.
Glacier lilies (also known as Dogtooth Violets) were abundant at 9000 feet where the snow has recently melted. Spring Beauty, Buttercups, and a few Bluebells were also in bloom.
A bluebird flew out of this cavity (above my hand) in a dead aspen. With a light, we were able to see a single pale blue egg in there. We moved off to try to glimpse the bluebird again, but he/she didn't return while we waited.
A female blue grouse sat on an aspen branch. We usually see them flying up from brush on the ground, but the bird book says they often feed on newly opened leaf buds in the spring.
We saw several deer and a lot of elk as we climbed steadily uphill. About the time we came to the edge of the melting snow, we spotted a herd of about 60 cow and yearling elk going over the ridge (about 10,000 ft) above us. Most elk in these parts have been hunted, and don't much like humans. They are intent on avoiding any interaction with our kind. When we saw the entire herd, they were 1000 yards away, keeping their distance! In national parks, a person can walk right up to elk, but not here.
Here's Steve's video that shows the elk moving over the snow to the top of the ridge. He mentions that we "drove" the elk during our ride. That was inadvertent on our part. We just rode, and they ran ahead. We had no idea the whole herd was moving ahead of us until we came out of the aspens and saw them on the ridge.
In keeping with Coyote Ridge's name, we saw 2 coyotes up on the snow, apparently trailing the elk herd as calving season approaches.
Yesterday, we rode up 5 Mile Draw (off of the Wells Draw Road) to the Bad Land Cliffs. The elk skull above, with the rest of the skeleton nearby, suggests a natural death. Note that the elk horns have been chewed by rodents. The skull must have been there for a long time.
On the way up, we traveled through grassy meadows. We spotted an antelope and a coyote.
We found a group of these tiny cactus (flowers about an inch in diameter) growing in a meadow. I think they're cushion cactus.
On his lunch break, Boss enjoyed tasty bunch grass under the shade of a huge juniper.
From the top, we looked down on a lot of rough country and into 9 mile canyon, world famous for its abundance of Fremont culture rock art.
About a week ago, we rode on Tabby Mountain Wilderness Management Area for the first time this spring. The gates were still locked to keep vehicles off the roads, but a horse gate is open year round. In the foreground of the photo above, you can see the brown rails of the horse gate. It's is too narrow for a 4 wheeler, but wide enough for horse and rider.
We saw one elk bachelor herd,
then another, smaller group. Both groups were at about 9000 feet, enjoying the first shoots of spring grass.
We ride into the high country on a trail leading to Tworoose Pass.
We go through open country,
and aspen forests,
passing a few giant spruce.
At 10,300 feet, we reach snow.
We trudge through about 50 yards of snow, some of it 2-3 feet deep, to a wet meadow on the other side. Elk tend to hang out in meadows near the snow line. They like to graze on the first shoots of tender spring grass.
Yes, there they are!
Eventually, the elk see us.
Daisy wants to play, but they don't stay around to oblige.
While riding south of Currant Creek Peak (north of Strawberry Reservoir) , we came to snow and boggy areas. Instead of following our usual route, we dropped to a lower elevation and followed a game trail through the aspen.
To the surprise of all concerned, we met up with a herd of elk.
Daisy ran toward them, but came right back to us. Maybe she was intimidated by the size of the herd.
She acted as an elk magnet. They didn't know what she was and were very curious. The whole group was calling (kind of a cross between a squeal and a crow's caw) at the same time. They were quite noisy.
They approached closer and closer, while our horses stood stock still, apparently as curious as the elk were.
The elk were so focused on Daisy, they didn't seem to see us. I looked up from my camera and saw a gang of them approaching, no more than 30 yards away. There were spotted calves as well as adults. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of any of the little ones.
Finally, they noticed 2 horses and 2 riders. They reversed direction in a cloud of dust and were gone in seconds.
The upper part of the Red Cloud Loop north of Vernal still has locked gates, preventing vehicular traffic. It's open to hiking or horseback riding, though, so we went to check it out, starting at about 9200 feet.
We saw elk in nearly every meadow. They were surprised to see us. A moose appeared briefly but we didn't get a decent photo.
Daisy had plenty of wet meadows for cool frolicks. The tiny white flowers that cover the meadows are marsh marigolds.
Above is a marsh marigold up close.
Steve hunted around and finally found a (boreal or western, not sure which) chorus frog, which is so well camouflaged and so wary, that it's hard to find the source of the loud croaks in the small ponds.
They're tiny little guys. No wonder they're hard to locate. They don't have webs between their toes, which is unusual. I guess they don't have to swim much in the shallow pools where they live and breed.
We rode toward Leidy Peak.
About 1.5 miles before we reached the end of the road at Leidy Peak trailhead, we came to deep snow and took that as a sign that we should turn around and head for the trailer. The total ride was 25 miles of incredible high country scenery.
