Coyotes, Foxes, and Rabbits, Oh My!

Technically, I did not see bears on my bike commute.  I was doing hill repeats in my neighborhood last weekend before commuting to my CPR class, when I looked up the hill to the place where the herd of deer usually hangs out . . . and there were two bears!  On the second repeat, another bear had joined the first two.   I think the bears were enjoying the sunrise just as much as I was.

OF COURSE, I did not have my phone, so I could not take a photo.  There is a great photo on the Colorado Parks & Wildlife website, which also contains a plethora of information about how to Live with Bears.

On other days, I have seen prairie dogs, coyotes, foxes, deer, rabbits, cows, horses, llamas (could be alpacas), chickens, mountain bikers, other commuters, dogs, runners, and roadies on my commute.  The rabbits and prairie dogs are especially active on my route right now.  The usually standoffish prairie dogs have been tearing across the paths right in front of me, which seems odd, but they must have somewhere important to be.

Incidentally, kudos to Tiffany for bike commuting for a whole year straight while wearing street clothes.  On the day I saw the bears, I showered and changed into jeans for my commute and found it more than a little unpleasant.   I was thinking about Tiffany today on my way to work while trying to figure out if I had packed all of my gear (had it - hooray!) and hoping against hope that no one was in the office shower when I got there.