Winter on the Cache la Poudre River

Snow fell all night and I awoke to one of those pure white winter mornings before people got out there to mess it up. I was supposed to work, but I thought about Poudre Canyon and how beautiful it must be, and I called the office and begged off work for the morning. From where I live on the west side of Fort Collins, it's only a few miles to the mouth of the Cache la Poudre (Cash la Pooder) River canyon. Once into the canyon, rock walls and steep mountainsides often allow only enough space for Highway 14 and the river.

Road crews had been out to plow two lanes pretty clear of snow, which was great for coming and going, but created a little problem for a hopeful photographer. The snow that had been on the road was now added to what had fallen along both sides and it was banked solid at least three feet deep so that there was no place for stopping. With the twists and turns of the road and a few cars coming along now and then, stopping in the middle of the road was not an option. I drove for miles through some of the loveliest snow scenes I had seen for years.

Finally, I came to a place wide enough to pull over and take some pictures of the frozen river and the cliffs. The river is not very full in the winter, not more than they would call a creek in wetter parts of the country. In May and June, melting snow from the high mountains fills the channel bank full and white water cascades down the steep slope to the delight of rafters and kayakers. Today it was frozen in place. I was just about to leave when I saw a little motion along the far edge where water swirled up in a small space around a rock. A robin sized, dark gray bird teetered on the edge of the rock. It was an American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus). As I watched, it stepped into the water and disappeared under the ice. It's hard to believe, but diving under the ice is the usual routine for this little bird. It just walks around and swims by using its wings in the frigid water, searching for insects, small fish, or other water creatures small enough to eat. I waited quite a while and didn't see it come back up, but then it flew past me heading upstream. Apparently, it had popped up through another little open space in the ice. Dippers are very entertaining to watch, and they also have a beautiful song. I once heard one that was sitting on a rock in the middle of the river where the rock walls provided excellent acoustics and it was so sweet I felt honored to be there.

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