Years ago during my honeymoon in Yosemite National park I stumbled across a strange creature. It was small perhaps guinea pig sized, but looked like a giant hamster. It was adorable. I told Adam about it and we learned about the rare and mysterious Pika on a trip to the visitor’s center.
Pikas are rare, in the Sierra Nevada they are endangered. We did see another that trip, a solitary critter on a hike up mount Dana. Adam was not as excited as I was, but he did acknowledge that “yes, we would never see that in New Hampshire.”
So the rock rabbits remained this elusive animal to me. A creature that hovered on the edge of mythical. That was until we went to Colorado this summer.
The Colorado Rockies are infested by Pikas. In a good way!
Every hike we did was full of encounters with the little furry creatures. And when we didn’t see them, we heard their cries of alarms as we proceeded up the trails. We even encountered families of them along the way.
They are quite quick to hop along among the rocks, so it is difficult to get a good picture of one when your primary goal is to reach a summit before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. I did get a couple great pictures of a Pika on a rock with a deep background, and I am always excited to see it. The exotic animal from my Western adventures.
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