Our Airbnb host John was kind enough to offer us use of an ATV for our entire stay. These are used to access his irrigation systems and remote herds of cattle spread out across his huge land holdings. The ranch owns several sizes and types of these All Terrain Vehicles. We grabbed a backpack full of water and headed up into the mountains with Johns hand drawn map to guide us. We had previously scouted out some trails in our truck but found the going a bit unnerving in a big vehicle. The ATV was perfect.
The Ranch sits on a valley floor at almost 6000 feet with the mountains looming thousands of feet above. The temperature dropped 20 degrees as we climbed up the trail. We stopped by a trickling creek and hiked up a small canyon looking for wildlife. The creek side mud was full of deer tracks ( Elk?) and other creatures, the animals obviously were attracted to the water. I started to notice other large imprints and realized I was standing over a complete set of cougar tracts. The four tracks were perfectly lined up showing the animals pace length, this was a BIG cat. The Rancher has complained to me about Cougars killing his calf’s. He said his brother had lost almost 50 new born lambs to cougars but added that eagles had grabbed many of them .
As I stood there contemplating the cougar tracks, I noticed the canyon was getting narrower with more brush and tree cover. I’d
We saw several big Mule deer including a buck with horns in velvet. We also saw what we later identified as a Marmot. All so different from Vermont.
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