Moscaline: A May commute

5/13/2011

A May commute

On May 10th, I got up very early and watched the sun come up as I did some data analysis for a tight deadline. I then got ready to ride to work around 9. I watched a storm front hop the mountains and roll over town as I had one last espresso. It was probably about 40 degrees and overcast as I rolled the mountainbike down the block. I took the long way in. Over the neighborhood, on the trails.

At the highpoint of the ride, I paused to watch a small coopers hawk in an aerial battle with a much larger raven. Then it started spitting snow.

I rolled on toward the Quemazon trail, watching a coyote scurry away ahead of me. Did a small loop through the woods on the edge of the canyon.

Crossed the bridge, hit the trails on the opposite side of the canyon and looped around the tiny connector trails before dropping into the canyon for the final leg to work. I was warming up, but the day remained grey and cold.

Startled one more coyote, followed fresh elk track through pine needles, paused again as I was enveloped in a flurry, and then popped up on the road and headed to the office to continue my working day.

4 comments:

Chad said...: You somehow missed seeing the mountain lion?

On my commute, I see cows and horses and smell pig manure (they stay indoors). Pretty cool I think for our small town.; 5/13/2011 11:17 AM
mindful mule said...: A beautiful commute. Been enjoying the blog for a while and finally commenting. Thanks.; 5/17/2011 9:55 AM
Tarik Saleh said...: Chad,
I still have seen neither mountain lion nor bear in los alamos. I did see some more might be mountain lion tracks, but they are always nebulous. I never see pigs, cows or horses on my commute. I do see chickens and bees though. I am not really sure if there are cows in los alamos county. Maybe in pajarito acres or the stables?

MindfulMule,

Thanks for reading and commenting,

Tarik; 5/17/2011 10:00 AM
mnature said...: Tarik - I live up in North Community, and we had a bear in the yard last summer who bent a metal fence gate in half and then killed our ducks (and ate them). From the tracks we found (paw was larger than my hand) it was probably about a 300 pound bear. It left scratch marks on the porch door, at about 5 feet up. Deep scratch marks.

This spring I nearly ran over some deer that walked into the road just as I was backing the car out. They weren't going to move, even when I rolled down the window and yelled at them, so I gradually maneuvered around them. I often see small herds of deer in the neighborhood, but most have the common decency to stay off the road.

Then there are the raccoons. I like them, think they are beautiful animals, but they keep coming in through the dog and cat doors. The cats hide, and the dog has fun chasing the raccoons around the house. We let her do it long enough to teach that particular raccoon to not come back in the house.; 6/08/2011 9:36 AM