Yesterday, we went for a family outing to Mueller State Park. It is west of Colorado Springs, on the west side of Pikes Peak. By now, all of the aspens had lost their leaves, but the park had a unique beauty to it. The evergreens, the dried grass, the crunching leaves underfoot. It was a beautiful day, temperatures in the high 50s, sunny, and blue skies.
We have three young children, so they come to the world with a perspective all their own. As we hiked several trails, they noticed all of the animal scat along the trails. No, we're not talking about jazz here. We're talking excrement -- aka "poop." The park has a display with model poop so you can identify which pile belongs to which animal -- elk, bear, mountain lion, coyote.
You might think this is a little weird, but, you might want to know if a bear or mountain lion could be nearby.
After a while, it became quite the adventure. Lots of laughs noticing the signs of life left along the trail. And maybe that's one of the most unappreciated blessings. Nothing is ever wasted. Even what we leave behind is a sign of life that can bring laughs and joy to others.
PS: In case you're wondering, we saw more signs of elk life than any other animal. The picture is one we took on our hike. You can see Pikes Peak (or Sun Mountain as the Ute tribe called it), and in the foreground is a place called Elk Meadow. And as of tonight, the whole park is forecast to be snow-covered.
4 comments:
Beautiful! I wonder how pretty it will be with snow on it!? Makes me want to cross-country ski.
Incidentally, my kids would be talking about the 'poop', too. 'Signs of life' is a much more pleasant way to reference it, but I never thought of it as entertainment before.
How beautiful. I have only been to Colorado once. Flew into Denver and drove to Vail. It was breathtaking. I was reminded of the Swiss Alps in Sound of Music which I loved as a little girl. That may be the closest I ever get to the Alps and have fond memories of the vistas. No photos tho. Before my picture taking days.
I bet your kids had a great time with all of that! What fun for you and for them, not to mention learning about the ways of our fellow creatures.
It seems Memories are also things we leave behind - ways to always have and hold eachother along with our experiences together.
Nice post, I had to laugh with you and your family, at Erin's comment too!
Peace
Keren
:)
We like looking at poop too when we hike through the woods. Sometimes we can tell what, or who the animal just had for lunch.
Spiritual lesson here? Hmmm . . .
Fun stuff. Beautiful picture too.
Thanks for the great story, Kevin.
The word "scat" jumped out at me among all the others because I saw some coyote scat the other day along a trail and my friend had never heard the term. In the winter you'll see a lot more fur in scat and in summer berries. Not that this is what your message here was about, but I personally get very excited by scat because I love knowing animals are nearby :)
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