In the Footsteps of Giants

Here where you are standing
the dinosaurs did a dance...
- Talking Heads, City of Dreams

 

 

 

 

 


 

Rain clouds rolled overhead as I left Boulder and then Denver behind, heading south and then east. My destination was the northern unit of the Comanche National Grasslands in Otero county. While I was looking forward to seeing some of the cool amphibians and reptiles found in the grasslands, they were secondary to my primary reason for visiting this area. Down in one of the many canyons that cut deep into this country was the largest dinosaur trackway in the world, something I've wanted to see for many years. This would be no tourist excursion; the trackway was not easily accessed and I would have a long solo hike down into a canyon and out again, under a July sun.  Good physical condition is essential, according to a website. "SOLO HIKING CAN BE EXTREMELY RISKY". Perhaps, but it can also be a wonderful experience.

I drove to La Junta and found a hotel room for the next couple of nights. I dumped my luggage and headed out for a fast food joint to grab dinner to go, since the sun was falling and I had some road cruising in the grasslands to do this evening. As I headed out of town, jumbo-sized grasshoppers scuttled across the asphalt in number, making it difficult to swerve and miss them all. I was sure that a host of birds worked to collect the bounty left in the wake of automobiles. Nothing edible remains on the road for very long.

I swung onto one of the gravel roads transecting the grassland unit and tried to settle into a road-watching routine. The fading hours before sunset are good times for some snake species to be out moving around. I found myself distracted by the low, rolling hills surrounding me. The grasslands were beautiful in the late, low light - yellows, golds, browns and muted greens all pleasing to the eye. Some of the more pronounced hills showed a line of rimrock, like the exposed spine of a long-buried beast. To the west, the line of clouds I had drove through earlier in the day rolled towards me. A little rain on a July evening could be a good thing, from a road-cruising standpoint.

Just a few miles down the road I spotted the familiar form of a long snake stretched out on the road. It was a Bullsnake, soaking up the heat in that 'kinked' position commonly seen among road-basking snakes. I'm of the opinion that this kinking posture is an attempt to break up the 'serpent pattern' for any raptor flying overhead. The behavior is not confined to snakes on the road - I've seen snakes do the same thing  in other open and exposed situations. I took some close-up photos until the snake had enough of me and drew up into a rattlesnake posture, drawing its flattened head back into a striking pose while inflating its body. The tail beat a vicious tattoo on the road while the snake hissed at me. A couple more shots and I stepped back, letting the snake boil off the road and into the brush.

I continued driving along the rough roads running through the grasslands. Cattle grazed in some sections; not all of this land was given back to itself, at least not yet. I had to slowly honk my way through several herds unconcernedly grazing the roadside.
 

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