I got up a little earlier than usual and hung out in the office until J was ready to get up. After she got up, I made instant coffee to go and J started a mug of tea steeping and we left in the Jeep around 7:05 and headed up Mt. Evans.

We stopped so I could try to photograph some Bighorn Sheep rams with the setting near-full moon behind them. I hiked up the hill to get the correct alignment between the sheep and the moon, and they decided to move around the corner so the shot wouldn't work. Oh well, at least I got some exercise.

We stopped to photograph some Bighorn Sheep ewes and lambs between Summit Lake and the summit right next to the road. My favorite image is of a lamb against the blue sky (below left).

We went to the top and photographed the Mountain Goats. The adults were really starting to shed their winter coats, and I loved the way their fur blew in the wind sometimes. I could almost hear the adult in the image to the left say, "Look, I'm a horse" as it's shedding fur was blowing in the wind like a horse's mane.

Some of the Mountain Goats went down the mountain across a snow field, and we were able to get some good images of them there (below left).
We thoroughly enjoyed watching four Mountain Goat kids play on the rocks near the top of Mt. Evans. They all played "king of the mountain" together and ran around on the rocks. Occasionally, they'd stop for an interesting group photo op (below right). We left and started heading back down the mountain.


We stopped near Mile 7 so J could use her iPhone. There was also a decent Verizon Wireless signal, so I went online and posted a blog entry. Then I tried using J's USB727 stick, and I couldn't Activate it, but it was showing a green signal indicator that was something it hadn't done since it stopped working. As I tried to connect to the internet through J's stick, she called Verizon Wireless to find out if she could use her New-Every-Two deal to get a new USB stick for free in a store or if it had to be done online. It could be done in the store, but the rebate is handled through the mail if the upgrade is done in a store and it's instant if it's done online. I was almost able to get J's stick to connect to the internet, but it complained about a weak or intermittent signal. After J was done using her iPhone, we left and ...

Went to a pull off down from the upper trailhead of the Mt. Goliath trail to get a better Verizon Wireless signal. With the better signal, I was able to connect to the internet using J's USB stick. :) While I was doing that, J called the Verizon Wireless store in Evergreen (the closest to Idaho Springs) to see if they had a USB stick in stock. They didn't have the model J wanted, but the salesperson was willing to go pick one up at another store for us. J decided not to have him do it after she found out that her stick still works.

We went to the Echo Lake Lodge at 12:05 for lunch. We sat by a window near one of the hummingbird feeders, and enjoyed watching the Broad-Tailed Hummingbirds while we were there. I had a bacon cheeseburger and J had a shrimp basket. The burger wasn't anything special and the homemade fries were really greasy. I had a slice of homemade blueberry pie for dessert and it was on the sweet side.

We returned to the RV around 1:00. I downloaded the images I took this morning then downselected them in iView. I took a 45-minute nap around 2:15 because I was dead tired. It started raining lightly around 3:05 while I downselected the images I took this morning in Capture One (C1). J took a nap around 3:50. I processed some images for a stock submission.

J had popcorn for dinner and I had two Clif Bars and a banana — we had had plenty to eat for lunch and didn't want a regular dinner.

I processed more images for a stock submission, and completed a set of 200 to send off. Then I selected and processed four images for the blog.