Big Horn Sheep Rams, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO (8/24/2015)
While viewing the Bull Moose at Brainard Lake I ran into a photographer who said impressive Big Horn Sheep Rams were seen recently along trail ridge road in Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though this would add time to my return journey to Los Alamos, NM, I thought it was worth a chancee to see rams up close. I took the gamble and wound my way up trail ridge which makes its way above the tree line into a pristine alpine habitat. I saw some photographers with long lenses and asked them if they had seen the rams. They were photographing Pikas but said that just around the corner and down the slope, the rams were there! I would have never found them if it wasn't for this tip since you couldn't see them from the road. I made my way down the slope with my Sigma 150-600 mm lens. It would have been a lot harder to take my 500 mm F4. I was rewarded with this gorgeous group of rams. Most of which had horns that curled up indicating they are mature. In a few months they will enter the rut and begin the incredible head butting battles that have made them famous!
I crept closer and the rams didn't pay me any attention at all.
I could even get full frame shots of these impressive fellows.
This ram's horns are curving back up and is likely the most mature ram here.
Here you can see that they are actually on quite a slope and the fall colors are already present in the Alpine grass.
At Mount Evans, I saw the females and babies. For most of the year the males and females live apart and in general the females are much easier to see. Mount Evans was carpetted with Alpine flowers making for great shots.
The babies were adorable!
