by Marijo Phelps

Created on: March 06, 2010

How To Enjoy Campfire Smoke, the Bob Cat and the Breakfast Tree

It was a gorgeous camping day in July high in the Colorado Rockies – the sun was burning off the overnight mist and the scent of the pine trees was surrounding us. The smell of wood smoke from our camp fire gave our clothes the most wonderful scent. We cleaned up the breakfast dishes, remarking how everything tastes SO much better when consumed at 10,500 feet in elevation.

With our back packs, picnic lunch, water and hiking sticks ready and our clothing layered we were ready to drive to the area we planned to hike. And up we drove. Pine cones, pine needle carpets, vertical road bed of brownish red dirt and QUIET. The sunshine and blue, azure blue skies were peeking through the woods.

Dave  found a higher yet relatively flat area that looked great on the topographical maps he'd printed out and we had the GPS coordinates, so we were all set.

After parking the 4 Runner we took off cross country into the beautifully piny green forest.

“Tory, stop, over your left shoulder is a bob cat!”

I cautiously began to dig in my pack trying to grab the camera while I glanced to my left, sure enough, there was a gorgeous bob cat. She sat with her ears perked forward looking straight at us.

“Why isn't it sauntering away from us?”

Just then the cat took off at a run parallel to us and ran to the base of an evergreen, something else kept running right up the tree.

“Do you think we interrupted its breakfast? I was thinking that the cat had treed a squirrel,  but it sure was a fat one.

“Honey, look, she has a kitten.”

Sure enough back over to my left we saw a tiny replica of the mama's  light grayish white with darker spots and those pointy little tufted ears. No wonder she didn't run from us with her baby there too.

“Did we make them miss their breakfast?”

The mama and her little one stayed there staring at us but not long enough for me to find the darn camera and get their photo. Soon they just disappeared into the trees with an occasional meow and trilling throat noise.

“Dave, let's go and see what she treed.”

“Oh, NO, it wasn't breakfast,  look Hon, there is ANOTHER kitten up in the tree!”

My mind started going really fast,if we stayed and the mama got too far away this little one might be abandoned. We needed to get out of there fast so she'd come back and not leave this baby. Oh, but I wanted

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