Tales from Sacramento Creek Ranch

Spring continues to tease its arrival!  As we wait out the weather’s final decision, it’s tough not to turn to thoughts of green shoots, budding plants, and early spring blossoms.  For the students at High Rockies Community School (HRCS) based at Mountain Area Land Trust’s (MALT) Sacramento Creek Ranch, warm weather flowers were top of mind for several weeks during the coldest, darkest days of winter.  The students dove deep into their thematic unit centered on the plant life cycle and tied their learning into a project that will provide an educational benefit to their community.

Early on, during the students’ investigations into how and why plants use energy to grow and reproduce, they learned about a project taking shape at the entrance to Sacramento Creek Ranch (SCR).  Back in the Summer of 2024, MALT staff and employee volunteers from Breckenridge Grand Vacations spent two days landscaping and planting Colorado high-country native plants in the budding Native Plant Demonstration Garden near the ranch gate.

Species included in the first round of planting include Colorado Blue Spruce, Tall Mountain Sagebrush, Kinnikinnick, Rocky Mountain Penstemon, Common Yarrow, Wood’s Rose, and Native Lavender Beebalm, and Colorado’s state flower, the Rocky Mountain Columbine.

The garden is intended to serve multiple purposes.  It will welcome visitors to the ranch with a colorful diversity of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers throughout the seasons.  It will provide ecological benefits to the surrounding area including food, shelter, and pollination for numerous high-alpine wildlife species, while simultaneously helping to reduce the presence of non-native vegetation that populated a disturbed and eroded area of the ranch.

Finally, fitting in with MALT’s mission to use Sacramento Creek Ranch to serve the local community as a hub of educational programming, the native garden will also work as a resource to educate visitors on the benefits and beauty of plants that thrive in the harsh climate here.  Throughout the past year, MALT staff have selected hundreds of plants for the garden based on their ability to thrive in the region’s dry, windy environment and rocky soils. MALT staff hope that neighbors and locals will be inspired to incorporate native species into their own gardens, choosing plants suited to South Park’s unique climate.  They also encourage visitors to learn about the native plants that thrive near their homes.

As HRCS students investigated the characteristics of the plants chosen for the native garden, they were simultaneously discussing ways to contribute to MALT’s educational plans for the garden.  In partnership with Jeff Jordan, MALT’s Sacramento Creek Ranch manager, the students began to gather facts about native plants and practiced illustrating the berries, blossoms, and leaves of some of the most common species in the garden.  The collaborative goal was a series of student-designed educational signs meant to highlight the visual and ecological benefits of gardening with native plants.  The students combined scientific facts about pollination and soil preference with human uses of plant to create educational signage.  Alongside detailed and colorful hand-draw illustrations, the students’ written descriptions provide an impressive and visually attractive addition to the garden.

The installation of the signage is planned for early June, during the final weeks of the school year.  The students will assist MALT staff in identifying where plant species are beginning to sprout and will place their signage accordingly.

While students eagerly await the garden’s bloom, MALT plans to introduce over a dozen new species in the coming months to enhance its diversity and visual appeal.  With the help of community volunteers, shrubby species including White Snowberry, Sulphur Flower, Tall Blue Rabbitbrush, and Native Chokecherry will be planted during the 2025 growing season. Meanwhile, native high-alpine and montane wildflower seed mixes sown during the brisk autumn days of October will begin to sprout and bloom among the newly planted shrubs.

MALT is proud to be a community partner alongside local education and stewardship minded organizations that utilize Sacramento Creek Ranch as a base for their programs and events in the community.  Additionally, MALT is grateful to our partners at Breckenridge Grand Vacations – Gives, as well as The Summit Foundation, for financially supporting this transformative native garden – as a benefit to the South Park community.  As the native garden continues to grow and develop, MALT’s hope is that neighbors and visitors to Park County alike will appreciate the ecological benefits of the native flora and fauna found in this beautiful corner of Colorado.

This past week registration went live for MALT’s annual summer teacher workshop held at Sacramento Creek Ranch. This workshop, which brings together educators from across Park County and Colorado, provides teachers with professional development opportunities in environmental education topics and credit toward re-licensure requirements in the state of Colorado.

The four-day workshop, hosted in partnership with Colorado Open Lands, features field sessions led by professionals in forestry, water, wildlife, and agriculture. Each day educators take part in discussions with peers and expert staff, develop hands-on science and outdoor skills, and complete projects that apply learning from field activities to classroom lesson plans.

The workshop is hosted by Mountain Area Land Trust to promote environmental literacy and a strong conservation ethic in our state’s educators. By providing a professional setting for teachers to develop and pass along an understanding of the natural environment to their students, MALT is helping to continue a legacy of environmental stewardship in our current and future leaders.

Educators earn 3 Continuing Education Units (CEUs), equivalent to 30 contact hours, from Colorado State University – Pueblo for completion of the workshop. The workshop is open to all Colorado K-12 grade-level, special education, interventionists, and specialist educators.

More information about the workshop and registration can be found here.

This past week has been especially cold, with temperatures in the low double-digits during the day and windchill temperatures reaching below zero overnight. The turbine at Sacramento Creek Ranch has been constantly turning, sometimes powered by gusts reaching 40 or 50 miles per hour. It’s the kind of weather that can be difficult to brave without the right clothing or mindset. There are days when pulling on layers and facing the teeth of the wind coming out of the west is a daunting prospect.

Despite the harsh weather and unforgiving cold, there is something about getting outside in winter that fills me up in a way that other seasons can’t. Often the wind settles towards the end of the day as the sun sets, the ground temperatures cool, and conditions stabilize. The light and shadows during the evening hours are subtle and spectacular at the same time. The pastel hues of pale indigo, pearl, and silver-grey that paint the horizon at twilight are enchanting. I make a point to pause during my dog walks during this time each day to watch the clouds and sky morph from cobalt blue to slate because this period is fleeting. Often, only a few minutes pass between when the incredible light recedes, the landscape darkens, and I need to click on my headlamp.

The fleeting change of evening color against the immense stillness and vastness of the landscape is a wonderful contrast that seems to pause everything in the vicinity. The creek has long ceased to murmur, the mountain chickadees have retreated to their cover in the pines, and the wind has dropped. The moments of quiet are invigorating and magical.

During my most recent evening walks I have come across incredible scenes at scales large and small. A recent hike along the lower flanks of Pennsylvania Mountain at tree line brought spectacular sights of ancient bristlecones and views across the South Park Basin. The vastness of the space around me is inspiring and overwhelming no matter the time of day. The full moon illuminated the landscape and allowed me to explore well past sundown.

A few days ago, while crunching through the drifts along Sacramento Creek I came across the unmistakable signs of sapsuckers at work on an aspen leaning over the ice. The birds, a species of woodpecker, tap rectangular holes into living trees to harvest the sap that flows just under the outer bark. The birds’ calling card is the repetitive, neatly spaced rows and columns of sap wells tattooed across the trunks of trees. These birds are most likely Red-naped Sapsuckers, and can be seen throughout the spring and summer at Sacramento Creek Ranch. At any other time of year, I typically wouldn’t wander through this area of the creek, mostly because my feet would be underwater or deep in mud. But during the cold months, my winter walk led me to discover something unexpected in a familiar place.

Perhaps that is why this past Monday, January 20th, was designated National Take a Walk Outdoors Day. Sometimes these pseudo-holidays are the nudges we need to remind us of the benefits of experiencing the beauty within our home state no matter the season or the weather.

Recent visitors to Sacramento Creek Ranch have been treated to a gorgeous display of color and light. Cooler nighttime temperatures have arrived and the willows along the creek have responded by beginning the gradual process of shutting down operations until next spring. The vegetation along the creek began its subtle transition several weeks ago and features layer upon layer of fading golden-brown leaves.

As everyone in Colorado knows, quaking aspens are the main event when the summer weather slowly begins to turn cooler. A walk through the forest along the Hershey Trail in the early evening is a dazzling overload of green and gold hues. Views from the Mount Sherman overlook bench is particularly beautiful in the evening as the entire Sacramento Creek valley reflects the low western lighting. Burnt orange and golds cover most of the hillside opposite the bench, although many aspen groves have yet to transition from their summer greens, so hikers looking for a perfect fall photo will likely have several weeks of color still to enjoy.

Mountain Area Land Trust (MALT) hosted a fall colors hike on Friday, September 20 for supporters and locals alike and our friends were not disappointed.

Another notable feature of the past few weeks has been the formation of an entirely new set of ponds and wetlands midway between the two footbridges along the creek. Beavers have created an impressive dam system that has completely changed the look of the valley floor and have left their tell-tale signs of industry along the hillsides north and south of the creek. There are numerous freshly chewed aspens and mud slides slightly upstream from the dam. Both the trees that have fallen and the scale of the change to the creek are incredible. MALT’s wildlife camera has captured the newest beaver family hard at work creating their new lodge and pond system.

Impacts from the beavers’ activity in August and September can be witnessed closer to the MALT Fairplay office as well. The main channel has much more water running compared to earlier in the summer. The beavers have begun to plug holes and leaks in their dam, which has helped distribute the water across all three main channels on the creek.

On Thursday, September 26, MALT and Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative will host an educational hike with author Ben Goldfarb that will allow visitors to learn about beavers and the importance of their presence on headwater streams in Colorado. Goldfarb has published a book titled: “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” that dives into humans’ evolving understanding of the important role beavers play within ecosystems. The event will begin at 5:45 p.m. and the hike will be followed by a discussion and book signing. The evening start time will hopefully give visitors a chance to see some beavers in the ponds at a time of day when they are more active. The event is free and open to members of the public.

While visiting the property you may also see some signs of another industrious species: elementary aged-school children. Since early September, MALT has been happy to partner with the High Rockies Community Charter School to host classes several days a week for local students. The children use the indoor and outdoor spaces of the property for learning and play; and visitors to the property may come across their play structures built from rocks, sticks, and pinecones near the creek or in the forest near the yurt. MALT is proud to have so many great community partners whose initiatives support MALT’s mission at Sacramento Creek Ranch of advancing conservation focused education, high-alpine research, and public recreation.

Wildlife is abundant at Sacramento Creek Ranch (SCR) throughout the year, but not always visible during the day from the trails. Many species are nocturnal, including the beavers that are constantly shaping and re-shaping the creek corridor and wetland areas along Sacramento Creek.

I’ve had the most success spotting beavers in the SCR pond between 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. this month. Check out these night photos of the beavers swimming in the main pond and repairing the dam earlier this spring.

The game camera also captured this momma moose cow and her newborn calf in early July. The calf was born earlier this spring and will stay with the mother for at least a year before becoming independent. This pair hung out at the ranch for several weeks in June and July before moving up the watershed.

I also happened to come across this set of black  bear tracks this morning. The bear probably passed through the property last night or early this morning and left these muddy prints along the creek.

Summertime at Sacramento Creek Ranch is the busiest time of year for MALT and our social calendar has been packed with programs and events for the past two months.

In mid-June, our friends at Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative (MRHI) brought 40+ Park County kids out to the ranch for their WILD Week Nature Science Adventure Camp. For four days, the kids had a classic summer camp experience playing games, hiking, making friends and spending time outdoors. MRHI does a great job of bringing in local educators who make the magic of camp happen. They also had a fantastic group of guest experts with knowledge in ecology, hydrology, geology and native plants stop by to share their knowledge and love of the natural world with the campers.

Two weeks later, MALT hosted a workshop designed for local teachers who are interested in providing better environmentally focused education to their classroom students. These teachers spent three days at the ranch learning how to incorporate lessons about wildlife, forestry, and water systems into state and national science standards. The small-group of teachers brought incredible energy and prior knowledge to the workshop which made for engaging peer-to-peer learning sessions.

The workshop was hosted by MALT and facilitated by Colorado Open Lands (COL), which has a proven track record of facilitating similar long-running educator focused workshops in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. MALT and COL staff worked to bring in local experts to lead discussions and field-based lessons on MALT’s Sacramento Creek Ranch and Pennsylvania Mountain Natural Area properties. Our guest experts included folks with extensive backgrounds in native pollinator ecology and in stream restoration.

MALT staff plan to continue partnering with COL and hosting more teacher workshops in 2025 and the years beyond – all part of a larger plan to continue to utilize Sacramento Creek Ranch as a hub for outdoor and natural science-based education in Park County. A big thank you to South Park National Heritage Area, Candi Galen and Dirk Rasmussen for their help making this workshop to benefit local, Colorado teachers happen!

July has been a great month for wildflowers at Sacramento Creek Ranch and each habitat area on the property has been showing off an incredible array of native alpine wildflowers unique to the location on the property.

In the lodgepole pine forest along the upper trail Rocky Mountain Columbine continue to be the showy attention-grabbers. Beginning in mid-June, the Columbines began to appear in the sun-dappled, cooler areas of the forest. Their bright blue and white blooms can be found throughout the property but are most prevalent amongst the juniper and pines and along the ridges above the creek. Keep an eye out for huge clusters below the trail as you look across the main beaver pond to the north.

Across the creek valley on the drier, south facing slopes of look for the delicate white petals of the Mariposa Lily, also known as Sego Lily, scattered amongst the sagebrush and aspens. These beautiful flowers with three soft petals form a deep “bowl” that allows bees a spot to gather plenty of pollen when they land. Often, each flower I see seems to be inhabited by one lucky insect rolling around in its own private collection of pollen.

In the same area as the lilies, look for the bright neon pink “trumpets” of scarlet gilia, the pink, five-petal wild geraniums, the light purple and yellow clumps of tansy aster, and the deep purple Rocky Mountain Penstemon (aka Rocky Mountain Beardtongue), lavender colored Boreal Sweetvetch, and a personal favorite, the bright burnt orange prairie-fire (aka paintbrush or Indian paintbrush).

A walk to the west along the northern side of the Sacramento Creek Trail features so many colors and species scattered across the hillsides amongst the bright yellow blossoms of Shrubby cinquefoil, woods-rose, and the sea-foam greens of big sagebrush and silver sagebrush.

Below the ridge in the riparian wetlands and along the creek, keep an eye out for mountain bluebell, the soft white tufts of willow blossoms, mountain harebells, and the green fronds of horsetail. I’ve also begun to spot a personal favorite, elephant’s head lousewort, which features dozens of small pink-purple spikes that resemble the trunk and ears of an elephant. These plants love damp, cool areas at high elevations – exactly the kind of spot found in the wetlands at Sacramento Creek.

Lastly, the Sacramento Creek Ranch “front yard” is now in bloom too. This area tends to reach full bloom later in July but is worth the wait. Blanket flower, lupine, cinquefoil, penstemon and Boreal sweet vetch all showoff in this trailhead area and make for a great welcome to SCR.

Despite the recent heavy snowstorms and wind, Sacramento Creek Ranch (SCR) has been the site of plenty of activity and events over the past few weeks. Local students and teachers from Park County School District have made several weekday visits for “Snow School” field trips to study and explore the snowy landscape at the property.

Snow School is a partnership between MALT, Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative (MRHI), and Park County School District to introduce local elementary aged students to the magic of winter in their own community. Volunteer adult instructors from MRHI lead students across the property on snowshoes and teach lessons on a range of subjects from temperature to moisture content to wildlife behavior.  A recent first grade trip included an introduction to using snowshoes (with plenty of stumbles, faceplants, and laughter) and a short hike along the creek observing the natural world along the way. Students looked for animal tracks, studied the way wind and temperature shaped the snow, then listened to a short read aloud while resting near the footbridge. After heading back to the trailhead there was a chance for hot cocoa and a warmup in the greenhouse before piling back onto the bus.

At the end of the afternoon, the consensus among the seven-year-olds was that being outside is fun and playing in the snow is a lot of fun. Many students enjoyed seeing bunny tracks along the trail and agreed that even though putting on snowshoes was tough, chasing their classmates through the snow was still a great time. For many kids it was their first time using snowshoes. The laughter and squeals of surprise when toppling over into the powder was enough to make anyone smile. Despite the challenges of moving through powder nearly up to their waistlines, the first graders adapted well to the conditions. Each student persevered and everyone figured out how to use the tools on their feet to stay on top of the snow. Credit must also be given to the teachers, volunteer leaders, and parent chaperones who helped strap dozens of snowshoes onto little feet, zip coats, and make the day memorable for some awesome, high-energy kids.

Bundling up and heading outdoors isn’t just a way for kids to blow off steam. The benefits of outdoor play and exploration are well documented. Studies abound about the positive effects of play on overall health, creativity, focus, emotional development, cognitive development, motor skills, and independence. Exploring and observing the natural world is a great way to connect to learning in the classroom too. MRHI adult volunteers bring thermometers and scientific instruments out onto the trails to help students measure and collect snow for closer study. Using scientific tools to expand their observations helps students learn about the natural systems that govern their world. It prompts questions that lead to more curiosity, knowledge, and learning as they get older.

Learning and exploration aren’t limited just to school-age kids. In early March, MALT hosted an outdoor adventure for adults that got some first-time snowshoers out on the snowy SCR trails. We met on a sunny and slightly windy Saturday morning and had a great time navigating through the forests, meadows, and creek valley. Many of the same questions about the natural world, challenges of navigation, and reactions to the conditions, beauty, and scale of the location were shared by kid and adult participants alike. It was a great reminder that spending time outdoors, being curious, and finding fun are important to the well-being of any person, no matter age, background, or ability. Of course, as both students and adults agreed, having good snacks is super important too!

SCR has almost three miles of trails that make for a great introduction to Colorado’s incredible mountain scenery and environment. MALT is extremely proud that the property is open and accessible to the public for non-motorized recreation and exploration. We are happy to see more locals in Alma, Fairplay, and the surrounding area as well as visitors from across the state coming out to visit our conserved property.  No matter your background or experience level in the outdoors, a trip to the property provides a fantastic opportunity to discover an amazing corner of Park County.

Throughout the rest of the school year and into the summer, MALT will be hosting numerous events for students, adults, and the public at SCR and other public access properties across the six-county service area. Stay tuned to MALT’s newsletter and social media channels for more opportunities to join MALT staff for events, hikes, and conversations with experts across a variety of fields.

February at Sacramento Creek Ranch has been the month of the moose. Most mornings as I head west along the creek, Lula and I will begin to spot fresh tracks and sign that moose have been active in the early hours of the morning. The moose on the property stand around six feet high at the shoulder and their tracks are easy to spot in the deep snow in the bottom of the creek drainage. Their gangly legs and long strides allow them to move through the deep drifts to reach the bare twigs and bark of the willow and aspen saplings.

The moose aren’t interested in munching on the conifer bark or needles of the lodgepole pine and other conifers in the forest but will take advantage of the protection they offer from the storms and wind that blow from the west over the Mosquito Range. Many mornings, we’ll stop to examine the bathtub size imprints and scat left behind by the two families that are most frequent in the valley.

We’ll make our way slowly along the creek, and I’ll watch the dog’s ears and body language to tell if we have any company around corners or nestled down behind the willow stands. She is always very curious to observe the moose from a distance and we’ll often climb up to the road or the top of the ridge to put some more distance between us and to safely watch the moose feed. In the wild, wolves are a natural predator of moose, so dogs are seen by moose as a threat or something to avoid. I keep Lula on a tight leash along the creek and am always prepared to turn back and take a different trail if we find our path blocked. Usually, the moose will hear or smell us before we see them and will warily move off to a safe distance to watch us as well.

It’s rare for a day to pass without seeing one of the two moose families that have been frequenting Sacramento Creek Ranch this winter. Most recently, a cow and yearling calf have been wandering up and down the creek providing me with lots of great photo opportunities. Cow moose give birth in the spring, usually May or June, and will stay with their calves for the first year of life. The young moose that has been hanging around the beaver ponds on either side of the road is probably about 9 or 10 months old and already towers above me. One recent afternoon it was standing up to its belly in snow, hidden behind the stream embankment near the driveway. I was hanging up new trail signage at the entrance to SCR and walked within 20 yards of the moose without realizing it was watching me. It only stood up and wandered away when it heard the buzzing of the cordless drill I was using to secure the signs. There is nothing quite like seeing a moose emerge from chest-deep snow. Their gangly legs and knobby knees are equally awkward and graceful at the same time. It’s not uncommon for several cars to stop for photographs on the road when the moose are active nearby.

The reliability of seeing moose at Sacramento Creek Ranch is a testament to the amazing habitat provided by the parcels of land all around the property. To the west, a huge tract of public National Forest land connects miles of riparian and forest habitat to the ranch. To the east, many private landowners have chosen to conserve their property to protect the land, water, wildlife, and scenic views. These important conservation properties provide space and habitat for large mammals like moose as well as numerous species like birds, fish, beaver, bear, snowshoe hare, elk, and fox. Together, the interconnected mosaic of public and private land has meant a huge portion of the Sacramento Creek ecosystem remains intact; allowing for the uninhibited movement of species like the moose and providing amazing opportunity for the public to observe wildlife in natural habitat that will be protected in perpetuity.

Enroute to Sacramento Creek Ranch on a recent evening, I make a quick stop at the grocery store for a bag of dogfood, coffee, and groceries before heading out through the swirling wind and empty darkness of Highway 285 over Kenosha Pass toward Fairplay. As I approach Como, 200 pairs of illuminated eyeballs beyond the fence on the periphery of my headlights remind me that South Park is a crucial migration and wintering ground for elk herds. I tense my grip on the wheel for a moment before realizing that the elk are not trying to cross the highway, but simply huddling for cover on the leeward side of a small rise.

It must be my night, because as I accelerate past the lights of Fairplay, I catch a glimpse of a coyote trotting parallel to the highway. It’s heading uphill along Highway 9, moving with a confident, measured purpose.

Pulling into the gate of Sacramento Creek Ranch a few miles later, I notice a solitary line of tracks heading dead west along the driveway and into the forest. It’s late and half an inch of snow has fallen earlier in the day. Despite a slight wind, the tracks appear fresh and show four nail marks above four soft pads. Could they belong to the same coyote? Probably not, the tracks are heading in the opposite direction; perhaps created within the past few hours. They are narrower than Lula’s, who wants to tug me down the trail into the dark to see where they lead.

The air is crisp and cold, but the wind has stopped, and the stars are overwhelming in their brightness. The creak of leaning lodgepoles and the occasional snap of a branch in the darkness keep my senses occupied. I’m aware there may be some nocturnal activity in the trees beyond the driveway where my vision is of little use at this hour. The dog and I strain to see into the forest, our breath rising in the starlight. Her sense of smell tells her more than I can see about what is happening across the creek, but I’m holding the leash, and my ears are hyper-focused on the sounds of my growling stomach.

Edward Abbey had a line that has resonated with me lately: “Simply breathing, in a place like this, arouses the appetite”. Standing out amongst the trees and stars has done it for me, and I want to fix some dinner, so I tell Lula we’ll hit the trail in the morning, after breakfast, of course. I’ve got an armful of groceries, popcorn, and hot chocolate on the brain and I’m ready to settle in. We ponder the sky and tree line for a few more moments and then head inside, where the dog is suddenly much more interested in the warmth of the blanket on the couch and the contents of her own food dish.

In the morning, it’s clear and the wind is light. The temperature won’t get above 18 degrees today, but we’ve got work to do outside. Stepping out, I immediately see that while we were sleeping, there was plenty of activity out on the trails and in the forest. Within a few feet of the front door, we spot rabbit tracks leading off into a stand of young aspen trees.

As Lula leads me across the creek and up the two-track of the Hershey Trail, the array of footprints in yesterday’s snow is incredible: squirrel, bobcat, deer, fox, snowshoe hare, moose, field mice, and coyote prints scatter through the forest ahead of us.

As we walk, I keep an eye out for other signs of wildlife. Winter is generally a time for hibernation in the high-country and many species migrate to warmer areas or lower elevations. However, to say that winter is lifeless here would simply be incorrect. There is plenty happening each day, especially early in the morning. The day-old snow provides a perfect medium to showcase the wildlife activity that is abundant at 10,200 feet if you know how to read the signs.

This morning is a good one for wildlife. We come across a pile of gray-brown fur and bright red blood spattered at the base of a conifer. A midden, which is a pile of pinecone scraps used by squirrels to store food in the winter, surrounds the base of the tree. It appears an unlucky squirrel met its end and some sort of small mammal, a marten, bobcat, maybe lynx, found a meal.

As we reach the top of the property where a small bench looks westward toward Mt. Sherman and the Mosquito Range, Lula tenses and her ears perk up. I can’t immediately see what she already knows is there, but I don’t have to wait long. Within a few seconds, I hear something large moving through the brush and willows below us. We crunch through the calf-deep snow to the edge of the trail to look down on the creek floodplain below.  Moving at a trot along the frozen channel is a large cow moose who has heard us approaching and prefers not to be disturbed. The moose moves quickly up the opposite hillside, crosses Sacramento Creek Road and heads north into the forest glancing back once to make sure we’re not following.

Catching a glimpse of a moose is always exciting due to their size and status as Colorado’ largest animal. They have been active around the property lately and their tracks are easy to recognize due to the huge imprint of their hooves and the trails they plough through deep snow. We stop for a few more minutes to admire the view before heading off on our ultimate objective: finding a place to set up MALT’s wildlife camera.

Some species are harder than others to spot. Today Lula and I are searching for a location where our camera will help capture images of the critters wandering through the forest when we’re not around. My plan is to find a place in the willow and alders along Sacramento Creek where signs of activity are abundant. The riparian vegetation offers good cover from the elements and a food source for ungulates like deer and moose. We travel along the frozen surface of the creek where the snow is only a few inches deep and a fox has clearly traveled within the last 12 hours. Moose trails meander through the willows and tiny field mouse prints leave feather soft paths between tufts of grass poking through the snow.

As we approach the main beaver pond, I spot a burrow hole the size of a volleyball at the base of a large cluster of willows. There are some snowshoe hare tracks leading past the entrance and the creek bed is only about 20 feet away. Lula seems interested in the burrow, which tells me it’s being used by some sort of critter. I position the camera facing the burrow through an opening in the vegetation and check its settings. The slope of the land and the coverage from the trees mean the snow drifts aren’t too deep in the area. My hope is that the mammals traveling through appreciate it for similar reasons. I won’t know for at least a day, when I return to swap out the memory card and download the images, whether the camera location has been a success.

Part of the beauty of winter at Sacramento Creek Ranch is that things can unfold slowly. The payoff of observing winter wildlife isn’t always immediate; sometimes a pattern of tracks over the course of several days is required to catch a glimpse of something special. Luckily, the combination of habitat and trail access at Sacramento Creek Ranch means that a little patience and quiet walking can be rewarded.