Staunton State Park- Colorado's Newest State Park

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is having a two day opening weekend for the brand new Staunton State Park.  The park was made possible by a generous donation of 1,720 acres from Frances H. Staunton.  She provided the land to the state with the stipulation that the land was to be "preserved in perpetuity" as a state park.

The new state park is located off of US Highway 285 near Aspen Park.  The two day grand opening events will be on May 18th and 19th.  For more information on those events check out the state's site here.  You can check out the map below for a general location and information.

Photo from http://www.parks.state.co.us/parks/staunton/Pages/Staunton.aspx

The information states that dogs and bikes will be allowed in the park, but I don't see any trail maps or specific information yet.  I always like to see new hiking and biking opportunities made available near Denver.  It makes it easier for people to get outside and away from the TV and computer.  

The event is this weekend, so if anyone makes it out there, let me know how it goes!

Grand Junction Geocaches

I found myself in Grand Junction this week with some time to kill. I enjoyed checking out the local Cabela's and found some decent deals. Since I haven't been to Grand Junction in years, I decided to spend some time exploring the town. The easy choice for exploration was a little geocaching. Geocaching is a great way to see parts of a new area that you might otherwise miss.

Below are a couple of the caches that I found, and don't worry, there aren't any spoilers.

Rocky Mountain Arsenal

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal is one of the largest urban wildlife refuges in the country.  It is located just a short distance from Denver and offers 15,000 acres of prairie and water features that is tailored for both wildlife and for people to enjoy and explore.  From bird watching, and photography, to hiking and fishing there are
many options for enjoying what the Arsenal has to offer.

Buffalo crosses the road at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal

During World War II the Rocky Mountain Arsenal was converted from farmland to a chemical weapons manufacturing plant.  Even during the production of military weapons, the staff noted that large parts of the unused complex were home to local deer, coyotes and a huge variety of birds.  As the cold war came to an end the land was the focus of massive environmental clean up efforts.  As the clean up continued, the focus shifted from manufacturing weapons, to creating a habitat for wildlife.

Today the Rocky Mountain Arsenal is the home to a herd of buffalo, as well as Mule Deer, coyotes, the Bald Eagle, Northern Pike and more.

I recently took my kids to the Arsenal for some easy hiking while parts of the front range were covered in snow.  My son loves to see bison and it was the highlight of his trip to Yellowstone National Park a few years ago.  The buffalo herd was one of the main reasons we chose to visit the Arsenal.  Unfortunately there aren't many places anymore that give you the chance to see herds of buffalo in what is a mostly wild setting.  We weren't disappointed and saw buffalo as soon as we entered.  As we drove through the Arsenal we had buffalo crossing the street as cars pulled off to the sides to watch them pass.  It is a scene that you would expect to see more in one of the more famous national parks, namely Yellowstone.

Buffalo graze along the Colorado front range.

As the photo to the right shows, we were able to see the buffalo grazing below the Colorado front range.  Although the buildings and power lines detract somewhat from the overall experience of seeing the buffalo, it was still impressive to see the buffalo roaming in an area that they have all but been wiped out of.

Mule Deer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

Near the herd of buffalo we observed a small herd of Mule Deer.  There were several nice sized bucks among the group.  They didn't seem to have any qualms about grazing around the buffalo.  We saw a few more deer throughout the Arsenal and while on our hike around Lake Ladora, but this seemed to be the largest concentration and the best bucks in the area.

Much of Lake Ladora and Lake Mary were still frozen during our trip on the trail around the larger lake.  While you can fish it during the summer, it was closed to fishing during our trip.  I have heard that the the lakes are well known for producing some of the best Northern Pike that you can catch along the front range.  I hope to come back later in the summer to try it out for myself.  If you decide to go to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to fish it, make sure you check out the current fishing regulations here.

Northern Pike at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

As we finished up our hike around the lake we noticed a patch of bare water near a building situated along the lake.  I decided to take the kids to the opening, just in case we could catch a glimpse of one of the Northern Pike cruising the exposed water to warm up in the snow.  Surprisingly there was a nice sized Pike relaxing in the shallows right at the edge of the building and the shore.  Seeing the Pike got the kids excited about trying to fish the lake come spring time!

Once we were ready to leave the park we decided to check the area for some nearby geocaches.  There doesn't appear to be any caches in the Arsenal itself, but there are quite a few around the perimeter and by the nearby Dick's Sporting Goods park.  We found several of the caches and as we were looking for one last cache at the nearby soccer fields we noticed a couple coyotes cruising along between the edges of the soccer fields and the road.  One of the coyotes appeared to have mange, but the second looked pretty clean.  I was able to get a nice shot of the better looking coyote at the edge of one of the fields.  Check it out below:

Coyote near the Rocky Mountain Arsenal

What are your thoughts of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal?  Have you caught any great Pike, or taken an amazing Bald Eagle photo?  Let me know your favorite part about the Arsenal in the comment section below.

Tips For Safely Releasing Fish

There are a lot of arguments that can be made about releasing fish after they are caught, or keeping them for the table.  There are times that I keep fish to eat, especially Salmon.  But more often than not, I would rather throw a fish back to give it time to grow bigger and catch it again.

If you choose to release your fish after catching it and maybe taking photos, the whole idea is for the fish to survive to fight again.  Let's take a look at some tips for making sure the fish you release will swim away for another day:

Land it quickly!  Starting with the fight to bring your fish to the boat or shore you can start preparing to release the fish safely.  The more tired a fish is when you release it, the lower its chances for survival.  Try not to fight the fish for any longer than you have to.  The more energy a fish has when you put it back in the water, the easier it will swim away.

Use a rubber coated net.  The next step is to choose a rubber net.  Both rubber coated nets and netting made out of rubber are more gentle on a fish's delicate slime layer.  Keeping the slime layer intact helps keep fish healthy when they return to the water.

Leave the fish in the water.  When possible, remove the hook without taking the fish out of the water.  This works best with smaller fish when you aren't worried about snapping a picture.  This reduces the amount of the time the fish is out of the water and unable to breath.

Wet your hands.  Another step to reduce the damage to the fish's slime layer is to wet your hands before handling any fish.  This again reduces the chances of damaging the slime layer, which improves the survival rate of the fish.

Brown Trout from Elevenmile State Park

Hold the fish correctly.  These days it is easy to find pictures of anglers holding fish by their gill plate.  If you are releasing the fish, you don't want to risk injuring the delicate gills.  Imagine someone sticking a finger in your lungs!  The safest way to hold a fish is with one hand on the tail and the other supporting the belly.

Take a quick picture.  It's best to get the fish back in the water as soon as possible, which isn't always easy when trying to take a photo.  When possible, try to have your camera ready and set to take your trophy picture.  The quicker you get that keeper photo, the quicker you can return the fish to the water.

Take time to revive.  When you're ready to return the fish to the water, hold the fish in the water while it starts to recover.  You can face the fish into a current or the direction of travel of your boat to get water flow past the gills.  The extra support and time can make the difference between a fish that swims off and one that floats to the surface.

What to do with the gut hook.  Occasionally a fish will swallow your your hook hard.  While this seems to be more common with bait fishing, it is possible with other small hooks.  To help prevent gut hooking you can use circle hooks while bait fishing.  If a fish does get gut hooked and you can't easily get to the hook, cut the line as deep as you can and leave the hook in place.  It isn't great for a fish to have a hook, but a gut hook will likely cause more damage when you try to remove it.

Hopefully these tips will help keep your fishery healthy and growing.  Each fish released has an opportunity to grow larger and gives another person the pleasure of catching it.

Want to catch more fish from a boat?  Check out some of my previous posts:
What is a downrigger?
Trolling with leadcore line- What is it?
Trolling with leadcore line- Getting set up.
Trolling with leadcore line- In the water

Do you have any other tips for releasing a fish safely?  Let me know in the comment section below:

North Table Mountain Park

Jefferson County Open Space provides over 51,000 acres of public land in the foothills west of Denver.  These parks cover various parts of Jefferson County, and offer access to hiking, mountain biking, picnicking and wildlife.

View towards Lookout Mountain from North Table Mountain

North and South Table Mountain separate the City of Golden from the rest of the Denver metro area.  North Table Mountain has over 1,900 acres available for hiking, biking and rock climbing.  The trails along the park start out steep to climb up on top of the plateau.  Once on top, the trails rise and fall gently along rolling hills.  There are many different types of rock that you can see along the edges of the plateau and on top.  Here is what the Jefferson County Open Space website says about the history of North Table Mountain:

History
The mountain is the result of three lava flows that originated from the Ralston Dike located about two miles northwest of the mountain.  After centuries of weathering, North Table Mountain has been transformed into an area that contains several different types of habitat.  These habitat types include grasslands, shrub communities, lichen rock gardens, riparian, shore and cliff habitat.  Although human activity has occurred over the years, it is still considered high-quality habitat and in 1993 the Colorado Natural Heritage Program classified North Table Mountain as one of only twenty-seven Conservation Sites in the County.
-Source:  Jefferson County Open Space

Tilting Mesa trail on North Table Mountain

For an easier hike or bike ride, you can travel around the trail along the perimeter of the mountain.  It offers rolling hills and skirts along some of the nearby neighborhoods.  For a better view of the mountains to the west and downtown Denver to the east, hike up the steep, but relatively short trails to the top.

North Table Loop on North Table Mountain

If you hike up to the top of the mountain from the trail head marked in the map below, you will end up on top of North Table Mountain and have a choice between the North Table Loop above and the Tilting Mesa Trail further above.  These trails meander across the top of the mountain  and have gentle hills, but no major climbs.

View of downtown Denver from North Table Mountain

While you're hiking in the open space, keep your eye out for the typical front range animals.  You may see deer, coyotes and rabbits.  Be cautious of snakes, there are occasional rattle snake sightings around North Table Mountain.  I make sure my kids stay on the trail!  In the spring you may find wildflowers mixed in with the wild grasses.  There is also cactus, you can catch it flowering like in the photo below:

Cactus on North Table Mountain

North Table Mountain on Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Have you hiked at North Table Mountain?  Let me know your favorite front range hiking spot in the comments below.

SCUBA Diving at Aurora Reservoir

When looking at a lake, I've often wondered what was beneath the surface.  What does it really look like at the depths?  I've use fish finders and fishing maps to get an idea of what the topography is like for different lakes that I've been to, but I've always wanted to see more.  

In 2012, I finally went out and got SCUBA certified.  While the training and certification could be a whole post, I wanted to share a dive at Aurora Reservoir.  While not the most glamorous place to go diving, Aurora Reservoir has a dedicated SCUBA beach and a plane that was intentionally sunk for divers.  Many of the local dive shops take their new divers to Aurora Reservoir to do their check out dives as a part of the final certification process.  

Below is a video from September of 2012.  Although the water is murky, there are still plenty of crayfish and even some bass to see.

One thing that surprised me at Aurora is the lack of underwater terrain features.  That could be part of the reason that the SCUBA beach was located where it is, but there is very little structure for fish to hide it.  The plants that are visible are in a band about twenty yards from the shore.

I plan to post more about SCUBA in the rocky mountains in the future.  It may not be a warm and vibrant as the tropics, but there is still a lot to see in our local lakes.  Where is your favorite place to dive in the rocky mountains?  Let me know in the comment section below.

Otterbox Defender for iPhone

I don't write a lot of review posts, as those don't seem to get a whole lot of traffic.  I recently made a couple YouTube videos about the Otterbox Defender case for iPhone.  I've been using one for a couple years on an iPhone 3GS.  The case has held up really well, much better than my previous case.  I've dropped it on the sidewalk a couple times and even in the snow, but the case has protected it from any harm.

I like the dual layered protection that you get with the Otterbox case.  It is a hard plastic case, which includes a screen protector.  Then you put a rubber case on top of the plastic.  This provides some extra impact protection and makes it easier to grip.

The only things I don't like about the case are the size of it (it's really bulky).  I also don't like that it seems like the screen always develops a "watermark" look.  There isn't much to do about the size of the case.  You could use the included belt clip to hold it, or you could carry it in a cargo pocket like I often do.  As for the watermark, I've found a couple short term solutions, but nothing permanent.

Here is a video about how to install the case:

Here is another video that explains how to remove the watermark.  It won't last forever, but it will help for a while and it will help keep your phone clean anyway:

Here are some of my other review posts:

Columbia Cougar Flats II Tent
Humminbird 768 Fish finder