In the Loop: November 11, 2009 - Shuswap Road Bike Ride

We headed out on Shuswap Road for a bike ride. We did not take the Road bikes because there were numerous Cattle Guards that I was warned about. Riding a Mountain bike on the road is a little like riding a tractor. It's heavy and not all that efficient. But a lovely day nonetheless, a gift for it being almost the middle of November. The road itself was not too bad, just some rolling hills and not the 8.6 percent grade of Columbia Street which I experienced earlier in the week. We were also fortunate enough to see some wildlife along the way, or maybe that was just an old cow.

So below is a picture of the infamous Cattle Guards. As in a car, if you hit them just right, the vibration would be minimal. I, unfortunately, am not that co-ordinated.

Now the nest below looks like an Ospry nest, but the bird I saw guarding it (before if flew away) was a darker coloured kind of reddish bird. Maybe some sort of Western Ospry. He flew away as soon as he heard the camera turn on (I am guessing he was camera shy) and got his mate on the other side of the Hoodoo's. They both kind of circled us overhead, but did not land where their nest was. I guess if they had babies in there they might have dived bombed us. But we got away with our lives, this time.

If you look real closely at the picture below you may be able to see a herd of California Big Horn Sheep. They were far enough away to keep us guessing what they were, but Don was right, they were sheep.

Some baby hoodoos below. It was a very interesting area. The cars were surprisingly courteous to us, although some of them went by really fast. Maybe a little more than the posted speed limit of 80.