Idaho Springs, Colorado.
About 13 miles (21 km) from the town of Idaho Springs, a 14,000-foot (4267 m) mountain sports the highest paved road in North America. In a future post, I will feature a drive on the scenic byway. In the rarified air at the top, visitors can “hobnob” with the mountain goats (though the goats will have a lot easier time breathing than many of the human visitors.)
This particular mountain goat didn’t mind hanging around for photos, indeed, he tagged along behind me for a bit as I walked around, no doubt looking for me to take another photo. On his way by, he stopped to admire a new Tesla. Actually, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but what I heard is that they like to lick the cars to pick up any road salt that might be present. I didn’t see this goat in that behavior. Maybe he was just being respectful to the new car.
I noticed the condition of most of the goat’s coats. It appeared they were in the process of shedding their warm winter woolies, though it was July 25 when this photo was taken. Of course, at that altitude, summer is surely a short season.
About the photo: Our photographer friend, Fred, and his wife, Ellen, hosted Lynn and me on the trip to the summit. We were only moments from parking the car and stepping out with our cameras when this goat approached the front of the Tesla. I hadn’t gotten my Nikon ready to shoot yet, so I pulled out my Samsung S20U and captured a few images knowing that at least one of them would end up here on Cellpic Sunday. This image of Fred getting ready to capture the moment is my favorite of the batch.
Processing was the usual trip through Adobe Lightroom, then into Luminar AI for final touches. To get a better view of the image in 2K HD, click on the image to see it on my Flickr site.
I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge-response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment.
John Steiner
Flare Legend Adventures
Looks like quite a traffic jam up there near the summit? Do the goats never butt the visitors, I’m always wary when near them. My husband was once attacked in Turkey by a goat who considered his territory had been trespassed upon and this has made me super-careful when around them.
You never know what wildlife will do, but these goats seem to be pretty tame. The only signs I saw related to not feeding the goats.
That little guy followed me around for a time as I explored like he was a little puppy dog. 🙂
Nice that you made a new friend then!
[…] Sharing photos (except Sedona Rocks–most taken with my Lumix) for Journeys with Johnbo’s Cell Pic Sundays. […]
That is a great shot, John! Interesting the goats are that tame. There is so much to see in Idaho, can’t wait to explore more of the state. We’re just an hour away from Couer D’Alene. Linking to your post as I am back to Sunday Stills today after my three-week break: https://secondwindleisure.com/2021/09/12/sunday-stills-going-back/
Welcome back from your travels! Couer D’Alene is a beautiful area. On our road trip (in progress now), we are likely to head through that area in a couple of weeks.
Thanks, John! Always great to be home even as much I love exploring other places. We were just in Coeur D’Alene yesterday…keep me posted when you think you’ll be there, perhaps a blogger meet-up?
Will do!
[…] post is part of John S’s Cellpic Sunday Photo […]
Beautiful scenery really is just that more marvelous when there’s wildlife included in the frame!
It’s not so often that we can safely approach wildlife, though in this case, they approach us. It does leave me with some concern that they may be dependent upon those who might feed them.
That certainly is always a concern, John, and people often don’t realise how potentially harmful it actually is to feed wildlife, both for the animal and other unwitting human visitors.
Indeed. I don’t really know how much of a concern that is on Mount Evans, but I didn’t see any instances of that the few minutes we were on the top.
Nice photo, I like the sense of action given by the photographer, Fred, getting into position. He could have just as easily stood there and it wouldn’t have made much difference to the goat’s benevolent attitude. But, no, he has to lean forward as if taking the picture requires this physical effort to be worthy.
Indeed. It is always fun to catch someone in the image just being themselves.