Waterton Canyon was created by the Platte River. There is an access road up to a dam 7 miles up from the access point in a southwest suburb of the Denver metro area. The only cars permitted are workers at the dam and otherwise it has been designated a recreation area for hikers, bicyclists, horseback riding, fishing, rock climbing, etc... It is a very popular area where there is a bit of wildlife such as deer, elk, Bighorn Sheep, bear, mountain lion, birds, etc. I used to go there a lot but less lately. At the far end of the road the Colorado Trail begins and goes for 600 miles across the Rockies and crosses the Continental Divide in 13 places at last count. It is a rugged terrain with limited access so once on it, it is miles to the next access point. Some people bike it but most hike it.

During the mating season the Bighorn Sheep can often be seen close to the road up the canyon since they come down to get water from the river. October and early November is a good time to visit if you want Bighorn pictures. I got a few using my SX50 and intended to go back with my 5DMkII but that didn't happen. At 78 and with limited ability to walk long distances I ride my bike up in there and often encounter critters along the way so I got a GoPro wannabe called a sj4000 camera that shoots 1080p video for my bike and caught a "Woot off" of a double lens camera being liquidated and mounted both on my handlebars. This trip a friend and neighbor rode along with me. You can cut and paste the following into your browser to see the video if you choose: http://youtube.com/watch?v=B1oBqjZHpzc . I won't include the entire url so it won't be put in the Links section here in uhh. (Well, it looks like someone added the entire url back in. Admin maybe?) Probably won't make the digest anyway.

As we were riding up the canyon on Oct 16 we encountered a splinter group of young Bighorn Sheep herd coming along the canyon road to a point to where they typically enter the river. I stopped and remained very still let them go by me. This is not a petting zoo. These animals are totally wild but during rut they tend to ignore people around them. If you watch the video which is two minutes and eighteen seconds you will notice at the end of the split screen mode I took off pretty quick. I won't say I was "white-knuckling" but my knuckles were at least light pink when those two split and headed for both sides of me, I was prepped to move out. In the full screen replay you will see that the oldest, largest of the rams stopped just on my right and turned toward me, eyeing my right side so that's why I exited rather quickly, having seen those guys butt each other. I apologize for the quality of the video. It's not a very good video because I was heading straight into the sun with 170 degree lens which were taxed to get a good picture because of the light and it can be pretty choppy if you select 1080p and don't give it time to load before you play it, depending on your computer.