I’m cheating a little. Earlier this month, the husband and I did this hike and I diligently brought the camera for the purpose of blogging about the trail. However…I must have been feeling a little lazy with the looming prospect of school starting so I never wrote a post about it. In fact, the SD card has been trapped in the computer for weeks, lonely and forgotten. Knowing I had already snapped plenty of pictures along this trail, I didn’t bring the camera today…and we saw animals. No camera and animals. Of course. I did have my phone, which takes crappy pictures, but that’s how my luck has been lately. At least you’ll get to see the animals. I love hikes that involve creature sightings. So today’s post will actually feature pictures from the trail we hiked today, just from a few weeks ago…plus some phone pics of critters from today. Confused yet?
Back to my luck. It will relate to this hike, just wait. The first day back to school, before I had even been exposed to kid germs, I woke up with a sore throat. The next day it was worse. I got a rapid strep test. Nothing. At least with strep they can give you drugs to kick it fast. Nope. This was a good, old-fashioned, chicken noodle soup, up all night cold. To make matters worse, I used a neti pot with TAP water a few days into my misery. What’s the big deal with that? The very next day I read an article about a young man from Louisiana who had DIED from using TAP water in a NETI pot. Brain eating amoeba (they really exist) somehow infiltrated his home’s water system and swam their way to his brain thanks to his seemingly harmless neti pot. The article stated that this is an EXTREMELY rare and isolated case but I was certain I was destined to be the next victim to succumb to a neti pot harboring killer amoeba infected tap water. That’s how irrationally my mind works (and it’s not even infected with amoeba). For days, I fretted about this. My husband was very patient. I expected the headache and nausea to begin at any moment. The only headache I got was caused by my incessant coughing several nights later when the cold moved into my lungs. I wanted to call in sick, but it was our first day switching classes for reading and sub plans take me hours. Then we had Open House the following night.
The reason I mention all this is because, obviously, this weekend I’m feeling a bit run down. That’s why we hiked Coyote Run. It’s only a little over a mile long. Perfect for a sickly teacher looking for some time outdoors after two weeks stuck inside a school building. The trail head is conveniently located at the Visitor Center. And it’s a loop, my favorite kind of trail. There are also several signs offering a wealth of information about coyotes, prairie dogs, mule deer, mountain lions, etc.
The beginning of the trail is surrounded by some scattered rocks and boulders.
Then it curves around and provides a nice overlook…
and winds through some trees.
Somewhere along here we could see a group of deer traveling from an open space to the cover of some scrub oak in the distance. When we neared the spot where the trail crosses the road, we came upon them. They were not frightened of us at all. Curious best describes their demeanor. They were so CLOSE to the trail and just watched us with pricked ears. I apologize for the poor quality. Cell phone pictures at their worst. I should have listened to the husband when he wanted to get the more expensive phones.
Shortly after, we saw a lizard sunning itself on a boulder. Geez, I wish I had brought the camera. Although I probably would have forgotten that the card was in the computer and been in the same predicament.
Now for more boulder pictures.
One of the signs explained that the bark of Ponderosa Pines smells faintly of vanilla. I smelled it. It does.
And that’s it! A short post for a short hike! My final two cents: I LOVE Cheyenne Mountain State Park! It’s so quiet and UNcrowded. Coyote Run is a short, fairly flat trail that’s EASY to hike, which is mandatory when you’re recovering from a nasty cold.
The Casual Hiker 
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