…up near the bottom of Mt Carbon. I wasn’t sure what their fate had been following the floods at Bear Creek Lake Park, but I was very happy to see them. The last time I ran through this area, I didn’t see any evidence of prairie dogs - only their old holes, vacant and barren, but no chirp and whistle of the previous inhabitants. This time, I was able to run a bit further down the trail due to the water level receding, and as I was running up the base of Mt Carbon I heard it – a warning whistle from a prairie dog! I have a fondness for these guys and I was SO happy to know that at least some of them survived. They have dug new burrows out of the hard earth and are happily running around once again, whistling to give warning of hikers and bikers, just as before.
The landscape has been very much changed by this flood. The cottonwood and aspen hold a stark reminder of the water level – brown and dead below, bright yellow fall color leaves above. The fields where the prairie dogs used to live resemble the surface of the moon and smell like rotted vegetation. But, the trails are slowly opening to the bikers, hikers and runners. The water level has receded to normal levels, but the devastation is everywhere – I wonder what plants and trees will survive next year. Spring will be a telling time in Bear Creek.
The moonlike landscape.
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