Rattlesnakes, Lions and Slickrock, Oh My!

Yeah, the NOLS Wilderness EMT campus in Wyoming is the bomb.  There are cabins on site, which means that I get to look out my window in the morning and wake up to sunshine on slickrock.   This is probably the closest I've ever lived to beautiful scenery.  Sure, I've seen a lot of it, but here I can slip on my shoes and be hanging out in the rocks within a few minutes of getting out of bed.

Of course, between the full days of training, night classes, studying, and rotations in the ER, there isn't a whole lot of time left to explore.   Luckily the area around the campus is pretty compact, so even in an hour for lunch it is possible to get some fresh air and enjoy the scenery.

The rattlesnake!

While searching for petroglyphs the other day, I came across my first rattlesnake.   My instructors were right...the sound was unmistakable, like a really loud cicada which just happened to start up as I walked by it.  I think I paused in mid-step, and looked around carefully.   And I found the rattlesnake just where I expected to see it, on a sunny ledge underneath a cliff.   Luckily it was far enough from me that I didn't need to scream like a little girl and run off.   Instead, I pulled out my camera and took some shots, from a very safe distance.  It continued to rattle at me, so I passed with a wide berth and kept hiking.

There is also a resident mountain lion on the property.  It lives across the river so you actually have to go looking for it, I suppose.  I haven't done that yet, but I want to.  They really come out at night, though, and I don't want to go looking for it at night!  One of our instructors caught a photo of it with a motion-sensor camera, and has seen footprints.  I want to take my GoPro camera out there and set it up for timed photos, but it's not very good in dim light.    Perhaps I'm just making excuses for why I haven't tried it yet.

So there's lots of slickrock all around us.  Great for playing in the rocks and photo opportunities.  And there are wide open skies all around us, too.  When thunderstorms come through, we can see them coming for miles and miles.   The great sky-scapes have worked well with the time-lapse capabilities of my GoPro camera.  I've been running out during class breaks to set it up when I see the clouds are looking interesting.  Standby for a video of what I've taken during my month here!

Ok, I just love standing on this rock!