Last Day and RMA

October seventh was the last day of my trip to Colorado and Wyoming. I planned a an early afternoon flight out of DIA so that I could spend one last morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal before my flight out. It's a pretty convenient location because the airport is only ten or fifteen minutes away when traffic is light. The arsenal is in Commerce City virtually in the shadow of Denver. You can see both the Rockies and the skyscrapers of Denver when you are driving around the refuge. On my flight out I had a western takeoff and I was seated on the south side of the plane so I got to see the Arsenal from the air. The roads are lined with cottonwoods and there are several good sized lakes. There are some good trails to hike and a plenty of subjects to photograph. You are required to stay in you car in the Bison area which is a pretty good idea if you have ever witnessed how fast they can move when they really want to. Hands down my favorite subjects are the Black Tailed Prairie Dogs. I had a great time photographing them as you can see I have plenty of images of them. They are a key species here providing food for predators as well as building homes for rabbits, snakes and burrowing owls. In addition to the Prairie Dogs I also photographed a Magpie on a Bison as well as a Mourning Dove, Meadowlark and a House Finch on some sunflowers. I saw quite a few deer both Mule Deer and Whitetail but I didn't seen any bucks like I did on my trip here a few years ago. I had an absolutely wonderful trip and I'm looking forward God willing to a trip back here in the future. On my drive home after my flight I was treated to a wonderful sunset as I drove up the Ridgewood Grade in Mendocino county where I call home. God bless and enjoy the images, chris All images created with a Canon 7D and a variety of lenses.

In the Shadow of the City

The city of Denver, Colorado has a gem hiding in it's shadow. Less than eight miles northeast from the cities core lies Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge.The largest urban refuge in the United States. It is adjacent to the suburb of Commerce City. The refuge has its origins during WW II after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army turned the area into a chemical weapons plant called the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. As production slowed down at war's end, a portion of the plant was eventually leased to Shell Chemical Co. for the production of agricultural chemicals. The Arsenal was later used for the manufacture of Cold-War weapons and the destruction of part of the United States stock of chemical weapons.It officially closed in 1992 and was a Superfund Clean up site. The refuge opened in 2004 and is home to one of the most intense and successful shortgrass prairie restoration programs in the nation. Refuge biologists are working hard to return the prairie back to the refuge's landscape. They are replacing 8,000 acres of former cropfields with buffalo grass, blue grama and many other species of grasses, wild flowers, and shrubs that are native to Colorado's shortgrass prairie.It is also home to a bison herd and numerous other animals. It abounds with deer, Prairie Dogs,Cottontail Rabbits, Coyotes and numerous raptors including Golden Eagles. When I got off of my flight from San Francisco and rented a car it's the first place I headed. It was beautiful to see Bison grazing with the city of Denver in the background.It also has a wonderful visitor's center chock full of information about the history of the refuge and information about the animals that live there now. I spent a lot of time over the next three days exploring and photographing the wildlife and scenery within it's boundaries.If you are in the Denver area it is a great place to explore. I highly recommend it. God's love and blessings to all, chris