Beautiful Prints and Other Things

 These are the most clear, beautiful bobcat prints I've seen yet.  Interesting note - cats tend not to show claw marks unless running, or pouncing, but when the do show claws, they tend to show all 4. Coyotes tend to almost always show their 2 middle claws, and have a longer, narrower print, while cats are wider and rounder. And lastly, when in doubt, cats have 2 indents on the bottom of their pad, while dogs/coyotes have only 1.  Oh, also, these were out past Little Pine Pond out of Castle Rock.

 Also interesting, all claws were showing, and there were lots of other animal prints in this same muddy spot, like the little ones above. The kids also noted this and were a little concerned that the cat ate well that day. Some of those above prints are quite wide set for deer which had me thinking it could have been small hogs rather than deer. If you make it bigger you'll see what I mean, and there's a large hog print below.

 Above, I loved this print!!

 Below, lots and lots of hog prints all over this trail.  Similar to a deer, but the bigger the hog, the wider the print, they don't come together in the front, and the bigger hogs show 2  marks, almost like 2 holes behind the print.

 This was a separate run/day running out of Mitchell Canyon. Heading up Back Creek I saw something so cool that I hate to even try to explain it because you kind of had to be there to understand how cool it was. Also, I just stood and watched, I didn't take a picture, but I took this selfie afterwards to remember the moment.

 Above, I catch a fair share of these random moments when I look up at just the right time to catch a pretty scene before I take 2 more steps and it's passed. The light was so pretty with the rays coming over the ridge and the hills different shades of blues, and my trail marker just hanging out in the darkness at the bottom of the picture....but if I had kept my head down 5 more seconds I would not have noticed the beautiful lighting, it would have looked different even by the time I reached that trail marker. It really is amazing to think of how much beauty there is out here and I only catch such a small fraction of it.

 Above, a little bit of the trail is gone, slid down into the creek.

 I came around the corner near the end of my run and ran smack into this pond. It's been gone for so long, almost 2 years. I was not expecting there to be any water there and it shocked me. And it was beautiful.

 I always love this old water tower.