Posted by Jesse Speer on July 31, 2007 at 11:51 AM
OK, so maybe they just invaded my composition. The talus field I saw through my tiny viewfinder was not really a talus field, but a San Juan herd of sheep.
Tundra slopes near Dolly Varden mountain ... technical illustration to follow.
Posted by Jesse Speer on July 31, 2007 at 11:52 AM
... as promised ...
Posted by Todd Caudle on July 31, 2007 at 11:56 AM
Yeah, the San Juans are crawling with 'em right now. I accidentally got too close to the gigantic Newfoundland sheep dog near Stony Pass and backed away very slowly and deliberately.
Jesse, I sure hope you stayed off that tundra!!! It's very fragile.
Thanks for adding the technical illustration. I was having a hard time finding the talus slope!
Jesse, I stumbled upon the same thing on the south end of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness right between Avalanche Pass and Silver Creek Pass. I though I was hearing things at first. The only other encouters with sheep I have had in Colorado were in the San Juans too.
Posted by Scott Borger on July 31, 2007 at 4:57 PM
Jesse, glad you made it home in one piece. Those sheep have been known to take limbs when provoked.
Almost as good as being in the Serengeti! We run into them regularly up in the Beartooths, mostly when we're driving and they're crossing the road. The only thing you can do is sit and wait.... Nice pic by the way - the side-lighting really pull out the detail and contours.
Posted by Jack Brauer on August 1, 2007 at 12:24 AM
The hooved locusts attack!!! I was in the Weminuche one time when the herd passed right by the tent... they have to be the most ridiculous sounding animals in the world. The sheep dogs looked mean until we started feeding them beef jerky... then they were very friendly.
Another killer sheep update!! I just returned from the SJ's and we went up to Porphyry Basin. This was the first time headed up there so I was pretty excited having seen all the awesome shots up there. We make it past pucker point, and get up to the top. What do I see - SHEEP (and lots of sheep dip)! There were so many areas just trampled to death - it was extremely sad to see. The classic waterfall shots near the top with some flowers in the FG were pretty much no good as the sheep had stomped that area to the left of the falls.
I know I was a little late in getting up there for peak bloom, but there were still a lot of decent areas before the sheep. Had this been a week earlier - there would have been a lot more sad photogs up there... It's not like the whole area was trampled, but there were certainly some nice areas that got stomped unfortunately.
Posted by Doug Andrews on August 4, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Thats a nice shot and the herd of sheep is like icing on top.
Discussion
14 repliesTundra slopes near Dolly Varden mountain ... technical illustration to follow.
Cheers,
Thanks for adding the technical illustration. I was having a hard time finding the talus slope!
I do like my wool blankets in the winter though.
I know I was a little late in getting up there for peak bloom, but there were still a lot of decent areas before the sheep. Had this been a week earlier - there would have been a lot more sad photogs up there... It's not like the whole area was trampled, but there were certainly some nice areas that got stomped unfortunately.