Since the flash flood from the thunderstorm on the first night, the water was murky at best and the fish were down. We tried using our streamers for a couple hours and I had one fish flash on me when I wasn’t paying attention, but I can’t say I had any other action the last day. The environment lent itself to distractions, and I found lots of them in terms of insects , birds, and reptiles.
On the first night we watched a pygmy rattlesnake slither under a bush. The guides had to warn us about those from the get-go, but indicated they had only seen one in ten years. Guess they now had to say two.
The collared lizards were plentiful on one of the banks where we made a stop. They behaved as if having their photo taken every day was the norm. They actually seemed to pose for me while they brought back memories of my pet chameleon, Eleanor. Eleanor was my first attempt at having my own pet and would always change to a deep green whenever I pulled her from her terrarium.
In the heat of the day through the cool down at night there were a multitude of insects carrying on their lives. We observed a wasp stinging a worm until the wasp could carry it away for its supper.
Most interesting was finding ourselves at the top of the north rim of the canyon on the way home among the vultures diving for their prey. At first I thought I had spied a cormorant drying its wings but instead discovered that it was a turkey vulture. Is there anyone among us humans who hasn’t had the desire to soar through the sky and canyons like these large buzzards?
Another thunderstorm accompanied me on my ride home along the north rim. A fond farewell to three days on the Gunnison.
