I got up before J and got ready to go. J had said last night that she'd probably stay in the RV this morning. I made instant coffee to go and left by myself in the Jeep around 6:40.

I headed up Mt. Evans and had Clif Bars for breakfast.

I stopped about six times to photograph Yellow-Bellied Marmots before I found one that was cooperative. It turned out to be only moderately cooperative, and I didn't get any great images. After working it for quite a while, I left and continued heading up Mt. Evans. I stopped for another group of Yellow-Bellied Marmots, and they were much more cooperative. :) I was able to get a nice image of one up on a rock with a perfect background (left).

I reached the top of Mt. Evans around 8:55 and photographed the Mountain Goats there. The goats weren't doing anything too exciting, but I was able to get some basic portrait images (below left and right) that look very similar to what I've gotten on previous visits.



I had the most fun at the top photographing a Yellow-Bellied Marmot. It wasn't too sure about me following it, and it would periodically disappear into the boulders. I particularly like the image of it coming out of a gap between the boulders (left) because I was at its eye level and the lichen on the boulders makes a nice environment. While I was photographing it, an American Pika came up behind me and got within 5 ft (1.5m) of me. It was a nice encounter for the experience, but not for photography. I left around 9:50 and started to head back down the mountain.

I stopped at the Mt. Goliath Natural Area around 10:20 and went online through a slow Verizon Wireless National Access signal. It was good enough for me to send off the reply to the prospective participant in my my bat photo tour this August.

I returned to the RV around 10:45. I downloaded the images I took this morning then downselected them in iView. Then I downselected the images from last night in Capture One (C1).
I had lunch around 12:05. I processed three images for the blog then worked up a blog entry. I couldn't connect to the internet through the intermittent Verizon Wireless National Access signal, so I couldn't post the entry. I downselected the images from this morning in Capture One (C1) then took a nap around 3:30. I awoke around 4:05 when it started raining. I processed images for a stock submission and we decided not to go up Mt. Evans this evening like we had planned to do because there was a solid dark cloud layer.

We had dinner around 5:30 of J's Black Bean Burritos and fresh guacamole. We had Fritos Jalapeño Cheddar Cheese Dip in the burritos instead of the usually shredded cheese — I liked it and J didn't.

After I did the dishes, I processed more images for a stock submission. Because I still couldn't connect to the internet through the Verizon Wireless National Access signal even though J could, she suggested that I might be able to after activating my USB stick. The stick used to get activated automatically once a month, but it hasn't been doing that lately. I activated my USB stick, and I was able to get online and post the blog entry. I downselected the images from this morning some more in Capture One (C1) then processed four images for the blog before going to bed.