The St. Vrain Greenways Trail has been completed from Golden Ponds to Sandstone Ranch, and several other Greenway trails have been built including the Lykins Gulch Trail (1 mile) that connects Golden Ponds to Airport Road.

Cannon Loop Trail has been renamed Legion Loop Trail.

Marshall Mesa Trailhead has been moved to the southeast corner of the intersection of SR 93 and Marshall Road.

Singletree Trail in Superior has been extended to connect to the Marshall Mesa trails.

At Heil Ranch a new loop called Wild Turkey Trail (2.9 miles) has been added. It connects to the Ponderosa Loop. Picture Rock Trail (5.2 miles) is a new trail starting on the east side of Wild Turkey Trail and connecting to Red Gulch Road in Lyons.

At Betasso Preserve a new loop called Benjamin Loop Trail (3.12 miles) has been added to the north end of Canyon Loop Trail.

Goshawk Ridge and Spring Brook Trails have been built west of Doudy Draw and southeast of El Dorado State Park. Check the Open Space online map for various access points.

Several new trails have been built leading off from the main Flatirons Vista North Trail starting on SR 93.

At Caribou Town Site the old sign for road 505 is gone. Since the old jeep roads and trails in this area are confusing, we formerly used this sign as the clue to the beginning of the route to Caribou Hill. A USGS topo map is useful if you’re exploring this area.

–Ruth Carol Cushman 3/13/12

Colorado Authors Open House and Book Signing will bring together over 70 Colorado authors to sign their books and talk one-on-one to visitors on Friday, April 13, from 2 to 5 p.m. Just a few of the other authors who will be there are Sylvia Pettem, Ron Baird, Phyllis Perry, David Baron, Rex Burns, Carol Cail, and John Shors.

Stephen Jones is author of The Last Prairie, a Sandhills Journal and co-author of the Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie, Wild Boulder County, and Butterflies of the Colorado Front Range. His consulting work includes breeding bird and resource inventories for city, county, and state open space programs. He has taught nature classes for 30 years, and he taught in the Boulder Valley Public Schools for 33 years.

Ruth Carol Cushman, a retired reference librarian and amateur naturalist, has hiked, skied, backpacked, and observed the natural world of Colorado with her husband, Glenn for over fifty years. She coauthored Boulder County Nature Almanac, Colorado Nature Almanac,The Shortgrass Prairie, The North American Prairie, and Wild Boulder County.

By the authors of Wild Boulder County: Ruth Carol Cushman and Stephen Jones

The Arapaho call it “Ice Breaking in the River;” the Osage call it “Buffalo-Pawing-Earth;” and the Pawnee simply call it “Green Grass.”

Mink sightings have zoomed in the past few weeks. They have been spotted along Boulder Creek and St. Vrain Creek and at Sawhill and Walden Ponds. Although mink usually stay close to water, one was even found under a home south of Valmont Road.

Mink, Beavers, raccoons, porcupines, and weasels are born in April and May. Prairie dog youngsters should soon appear above ground.

After the snowiest February and the driest (and second warmest) March on record, nature seems a bit out of kilter. Wildflowers were late this year, but now mahonias, Pasqueflowers, spring beauties, yellow violets, and candytuft are in full bloom in the foothills. Common mouse-ear, chiming bells, and various species of milk-vetches and mustards will soon augment the wildflower display.

An American dipper started building a nest in February under a bridge over Boulder Creek (near where one of

the minks was seen). The birds completed it March 20 and have been singing loudly enough to almost drown out the overhead traffic. We hope to see fledglings later this spring.

Ospreys have returned from the south and are guarding nests on platforms that were built for them near Boulder Reservoir, Valmont Reservoir, and Lagerman Reservoir. Golden eagle chicks should hatch soon.

Burrowing owls are returning from Mexico and the southwestern United States; Swainson’s hawks, from Argentina. Broad-tailed hummingbirds should return from Central America by late in the month. Watch for courtship and territorial displays.

Goldfinches and meadowlarks have transmuted drab winter plumage into gold. Look for goldfinches feeding on thistles and for meadowlarks singing from fence posts.

Wild asparagus will sprout along irrigation ditches late in the month. This is a feral version of the species we buy at the supermarket.

Plains cottonwoods are “dripping” with flowers that look like red chenille tassels (male) or strings of green beads (female).

Cabbage whites, sulphurs, skippers, and Melissa blues  are joining the butterfly brigade that includes hoary commas, mourning cloaks, and Milbert’s tortoiseshells that took wing in March.

Bull snakes (also known as gopher snakes) mate in April and May, coiling together in what looks like a writhing wrestling match. Hatchlings emerge in late August through September. These beneficial snakes eat lizards, voles, and other small rodents. They sometimes prey on baby birds and eggs, but the tables may be turned later when they become a favorite tidbit for Swainson’s hawks.

Painted turtles mate in marshes, ponds, and other bodies of water with soft bottoms and abundant aquatic vegetation. The females dig a nest nearby and lay up to 20 eggs. The eggs hatch in late August, but most hatchlings overwinter in the nest and emerge the following spring. Adults often bask on partially submerged logs (sometimes a dozen per log) during summer but bury themselves in mud to spend winter in a state of torpor.

The Lyrid meteor shower, featuring spectacular fireballs, occurs around April 20 in the northeast part of the sky.

Go outdoors and enjoy! More information about these and other April natural events. 

By the authors of Wild Boulder County: Ruth Carol Cushman and Stephen Jones

The Lakota call it Sore Eyes Moon; the Arapaho, Buffaloes Dropping their Calves; and the Ponca, Water Stands in Ponds.

A mourning cloak butterfly was spotted by Peggy Oakes on Feb. 1 just before the huge snowstorm that seems to have delayed spring a bit this year. We hope the butterfly sheltered in a bark crevice and will be on the wing in March along with Milbert’s tortoiseshells and hoary commas that also overwinter in Boulder. The February 3 snowstorm inaugurated a series of storms, making February the snowiest on record for Boulder County.

In spite of the snow and wind, Pasqueflowers (Pulsatilla patens), Nuttall’s violets (Viola nuttallia), and sand lilies (Leucocrinum montana) should start to bloom on sunny mesa tops and hillsides by mid to late March.

Chorus frogs chirrup and mate in prairie wetlands late in the month. Sawhill Ponds is a good place to look and listen.

Ducks and geese return to thawing lakes and ponds. Cinnamon and Blue-winged teal migrate all way up from South America. A hybrid of these two species has been seen for several years at Walden and Sawhill Ponds plus a mystery hybrid (thought to be a cross between a green-winged teal and American wigeon) first reported by Cara Stiles last year and seen again this winter.

Sandhill crane feeding in winter wheat stubble field north of Arapahoe Road (Ruth Carol Cushman)

Snow geese and sandhill cranes pass over Boulder County on their way north. More than a half-million migrating sandhill cranes gather along the Platte River in central Nebraska from mid March to early April.

Flocks of mountain and western bluebirds flit over the foothills and plains. These early migrants nest in woodpecker holes and in manmade boxes in foothill and mountain forests. Watch for both species of bluebirds and for tree swallows in the boxes along the Meyers Homestead Trail.

The sweet, cascading songs of canyon wrens echo off redrock cliffs in the foothills. Steve Jones heard a first-of-the season canyon wren on February 25 this year. Pairs construct mud and stick nests in crevices and overhanging rock walls. Rock wrens nest nearby on talus slopes.

Snowshoe hares and long-tailed weasels begin their pre-vernal molt. From now through April they will gradually turn from white to brown.

Black-tailed prairie dogs are born. They come up to the surface in about four weeks and attain full size in about six months.

Black bears emerge from dormancy and begin to forage voraciously.

Rainbow trout (or steelhead) spawn in mountain streams. These colorful relatives of salmon were introduced into Colorado during the late-nineteenth century and have supplanted native cutthroat trout in most of our streams.

The vernal equinox occurs on March 20. Days and nights are of approximately equal length, and spring officially begins on most modern calendars.

Go outdoors and enjoy! More information about these and other March natural events.

Author Professor Matt Downey says:

The content of Discover Colorado is aligned with the grade level expectations for Grade 4 in the new History Standards. While exploring familiar topics of Colorado history, the book is grounded in such standards-based concepts as chronology, cause and effect, historical eras, and the interactions among people and cultures. The book and the Teacher’s Guide also address the grade-level expectations in the new standards for Reading, Writing, and Communicating, with reading comprehension strategies embedded in each chapter of the textbook. The newly revised Teacher’s Guide includes activities that use primary sources to engage students in historical thinking.

Download a PDF of how each chapter of Discover Colorado meets the new content standards

COLORADO

• Boulder Hiking Trails

• Wild Boulder County

• Telluride Trails

• Hikes Around Fort Collins

• Grand Junction Hiking Guide

• Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado

• San Juan Adventure Guide

• GPS Waypoints of Colorado’s Fourteeners

• Colorado’s Hot Springs

MONTANA

• Day Hikes With Dogs: Western Montana

ARIZONA

• Tucson Hiking Guide

BACKPACKING

• Go Backpacking

FISHING

• A Fly Fisher’s Guide to the South Platte River

• Fly Fishing in Southern Colorado