SNAKE … eek

Yes, I did see one and it was semi close. On this outing there were animals that we had rarely seen or been able to capture with the camera. I need to mention it was another rainy day. We drove around it after I got a picture of course. (I try never to let a photo-op pass me by). Roy asked if I wanted to get out for a close-up or a selfie. My response was um, no I have a zoom for that plus my selfies need practice. Seriously, though if anyone can identify the snake I would be happy. This is one of those instances when you hear we have snakes in the park so be careful where you step, my thought was sure. My thought is I guess I will be careful when I step out of the car especially around the prairie dogs because that is where they hang out.

I had never thought about it before, but where do adult turkeys come from? Before you answer I bet you never thought about it either. Yes, they come from baby turkeys. The other day when we were driving around we saw an adult turkey with chicks but were not able to capture them on camera. (Dash cam doesn’t count in this case.) So I now have pictures after they crossed the road and dash cam of them crossing the road. So you see they do exist in the wild. We would have never captured these if it wasn’t for a detour to the Needles Highway in search of mountain goats.

I think the fact I caught the mountain goat was a one in a million shot. I am hoping on making it a two in a million shot. So the answer is no we did not see the goat. It was raining and windy at the needle eye. I did however get a few landscape pictures on the way back to camp. The sky opened to show a tad bit of blue and some detail on the needles. We also stopped at a place called ‘hole in the wall’ It was just that a hole in the wall of a rock face. So this detour led us to the turkey chicks. (not to be confused with the Dixie Chicks).

Now what brought us to even thinking about a detour and mountain goats was our trip around wildlife loop on a rainy day which was pretty much a bust. We got to the visitor’s center and saw traffic on a dirt road that buffalo usually are hiding, so off we go. The only thing we were lucky enough to see was a prong horn grazing by the side of the road. U-turn back to the visitor center, we spot a food truck check it out. We both had a buffalo brat and were treated to a buffalo sighting right in front of the car. (This is a case of dash cam counting because I have photos). Side note I talked to a family who was out here enjoying leave with their active military father. They were also lucky to catch a glimpse of the buffalo. From here we started to head back to the campsite but not before seeing the snake.  Once back at camp we decided it was not time to head in so that is where the detour came in. Mixed throughout the day we spotted deer and I was able to get a few of these also.