This morning, we headed into the park before 9. First stop was Alluvial Fan. This is the place where the dam broke in 1982. Then in 2013, more water roared through the area when 20 inches fell in 4 hours. Both dumped rocks and trees

We then headed over to Endovalley where we had a picnic lunch. No bears but plenty of mosquitos.

Up next we went to the West Horseshoe. That was really interesting because we got to talk with park volunteers. Zachary learned the difference between antlers versus horns…while others had more fun.

The volunteer told us that moose are now in this area. She also told us of an encounter between Rams and young coyotes. The young coyotes, still having not perfected their hunting skills, gave chase. She scrambled to stop traffic, while the Rams scrambled back up the hills. All occurring very close to the volunteer. She laughed and said the young coyotes will figure it out. She also told of them going after a moose. The moose chased them across the valley for 15 minutes.

I fell in love with these little birdies, five of them, nested over the ranger’s house. The father standing guard on the post while the mother made multiple trips to feed.

Our last stop of the morning tour was the other side of Horse Shoe. It overlooks the valley below and their feeding and water grounds. As luck would have it, we saw 2 mouse in the distance, heading left back into the brush. Pretty cool.