Hiking the South Creek drainage!

Nine MPEC hikers enjoyed a great day along the South Creek trail on Saturday as summer was about to begin. Lots of wildflowers, some great views, a cool start over at the beginning of the trail, and a warming day all made for a terrific hike. Pictured here is a happy group of hikers, a lovely shooting star flower, and the treat that Dan Clements and I had on our drive back over to the Trailhead to pick up the van that we drove over in the morning. This huge chocolate colored Ursus Americanus was in the middle of the road and ran up into the trees as we approached. I zoomed in and got a few photos - a really big bear!!! ~ Ranger Dave

MPEC is now a better neighbor to the park's bears!

It is common knowledge among wildlife aficionados that wild animals, especially bears, and people's trash should not meet. It is not good for bears or people - a "trash bear" becomes less afraid of people and more likely to get into trouble (hence, "A fed bear is a dead bear"). For so many years I've been observing way too many occurrences of bears successfully getting into the park's trash cans. When MPEC took over management of the park just under 2 years ago, I said to myself that we are going to remedy this situation.

I am so pleased to say that day has arrived -- Pueblo Mountain Park is now becoming a much more bear-friendly park. Thanks to a generous grant from the Johnston Foundation, MPEC recently purchased 26 beautiful Bear Saver trash receptacles that will replace the old green trash barrels throughout the park. (Can trash receptacles really be "beautiful"? Well, the bears they are meant to protect are!) We are still in the process of installing them, but the park is well on its way to being the responsible bear neighbor that I always knew it should be. Here are a few photos - unloading them, and one installed in front of the lodge.