My husband and I went up to our second pika site, this one on Halfmoon Creek above Leadville, Colorado, last week, looking for the little rabbit-relatives. If you recall, last year we unexpectedly had to walk an extra six miles to the site and back due to a Forest Service road closure. This year, theContinue reading “2022 Pika Patrol, Part Two”
Tag Archives: tundra
2022 Pika Patrol Part 1
Every year, my husband and I look forward to hiking up to the high country to check on the pika that live there, as part of the Colorado Pika Projects‘ monitoring efforts. We’ve been doing it for five years now, but when pressed by friends as to what it is that we enjoy so much,Continue reading “2022 Pika Patrol Part 1”
2021 Pika Patrol, Part 1
It’s August, and so it is time for Pika Patrol! Every year, as part of the Denver Zoo’s Pika Project, my husband and I hike up to a couple of places in the tundra to see how the pika are doing. But before we go any further, I need to refer you to an articleContinue reading “2021 Pika Patrol, Part 1”
2020 Pika Patrol
Over the weekend, my husband and I went up to the mountains for the first time this summer. We’ve been trying to isolate ourselves, and the mountain trails have been busy with people trying to get out of their houses while being safe. We headed up to do our annual Pika Patrol for the DenverContinue reading “2020 Pika Patrol”
Pika Patrol, 2019 Edition
End of summer. It’s time for Pika Patrol! Due to complications last summer, my husband and I weren’t able to volunteer with Front Range Pika Project last fall. We were determined to make it this year. If you have been following my blog for several years, you might remember that two years ago, in 2017,Continue reading “Pika Patrol, 2019 Edition”
Need a break from the heat
Denver hit an all time high temperature of 105o F (40.5o C) on Thursday. Fires rage throughout the West. Politics are just as heated. I need a break from the heat. Although I couldn’t get to the high country recently, I still have some good photographs from my trip up to tundra last month. TheseContinue reading “Need a break from the heat”
Alpine Flowers
A couple of years ago, when I was giving presentations for my book (A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park’s Highway to the Sky), a member of the audience asked me where she could find wildflowers in the alpine tundra. I was a little nonplussed, because you can find wildflowers inContinue reading “Alpine Flowers”
Pika Patrol, Part One
What do you do when you are forced out of your home? How do you find another place to live, when the sites you need are already full? American Pika, small rodent-like rabbit relatives who live in the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains, are facing this problem as warmer temperatures force them ever higher.Continue reading “Pika Patrol, Part One”
Alpine flowers on Mt. Evans
I finally made it up to the tundra yesterday, not Trail Ridge Road this time, but Mt. Evans, outside of Denver. Mt. Evans is nearly unique in the world in that it is a 14,130 foot mountain with a road essentially to the top (you have to park and walk the last thirty feet orContinue reading “Alpine flowers on Mt. Evans”
Over Trail Ridge Road with Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio
Last week, I took Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio over Trail Ridge Road. As we drove, Nathan interviewed me about my book, A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road: Rocky Mountain National Park’s Highway to the Sky. (A Natural History of Trail Ridge Road) Our trip started with a gobble when we saw wildContinue reading “Over Trail Ridge Road with Nathan Heffel of Colorado Public Radio”
Amy Law, Science Geek 