I’m lucky I found a wasp’s nest in my side-view mirror? Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Maybe this photo of my truck next to West Clear Creek near Coors Falls, and shared with you earlier, will help set the scene?
I may have been a wasp trafficker, spreading them all across the Front Range!
Here’s the sunrise from Wednesday, but that’s not important right now. Although another trivial matter apparently concerns my complaining the last time I was writing and have no reason to repeat. Everything seems to be working fine as I write this edition of Colorado HIGH SKY!
Sunrise through smoke and clouds, taken with an Autel Robotics Evo Lite+ 30 July 2025.
It’s Friday afternoon, and since yesterday afternoon, my neighbors have been packing up their own trucks preparing to get out of town for the weekend. But I have to go back to Thursday at least, the last time I drove my truck. To set the scene, here are some pictures of the sunrise from Wednesday that I took above my home in Bear Valley, practicing and keeping one of my drones up-to-date.
Dartmouth Avenue points nearly directly to the sun rising over Bear Valley.
The smoke and clouds transformed the city, but there wasn’t just one interpretation. There was both the cool of the morning sky and the warmth of the smoke, so I could see both possibilities reflected in different color values.
Distant skyscrapers are muted beneath the fiery sky.
Of course, once the sun rose, I could only get as close as this particular drone’s digital zoom, or one-to-one values in the sensors and the output. I had also added a neutral density filter to darken the range of the color values while also being able to point the camera directly at the sun!
Loretto Heights looks absolutely gothic under the red skies at sunrise.
However, last Thursday, I got lucky when my shoelace broke. That is, my plans changed from a morning hike with the old hiking boots to sticking close to a trail wearing only tennis shoes. That meant that Guanella Pass, Berthoud Pass, and South Platte—destinations considered as options for that morning—were out. Something closer to home would do. As a bonus, it had been a little while since I visited Surrey Ridge, Daniels Park, Grig’s Road, Cherokee Castle, Tall Bull Memorial Drum Circle, and the Douglas County East-West Trail, all just south of Highlands Ranch and Littleton, Colorado.
Thursday’s sunrise was just as dark, but the Mavic 3 has a telephoto lens to zoom in!
And my luck apparently continued, as the county was re-surfacing Grig’s Road, and was closed that morning—past the trailhead where I parked. I didn’t know that until I got there, past several signs warning of detours and closings (there were no detours once I got to the trailhead; only one way in and back out).
The first appearance of the sun over Douglas County was brief.
The clouds were rolling close to the ground, and so were some airplanes, including something that resembled a modernized Lockheed JetStar with dual engine-pods on each side of the jet aircraft.
The Autel Robotics Evo Lite+ returned on Thursday to lend its interpretation.
As the sun rose higher and higher, the clouds continued to burn off.
The moodiness is in the original from the drone, with only compression added.
And on the way home, I saw the local parasail (or rotorsail), while I was driving on highway US-285, suggesting that it’s the same one I had seen earlier (and mentioned here). I didn’t stop to take any pictures, because I wasn’t sure how much longer my luck would hold out.
Grig’s Road closure and detour were one and the same as my destination!
And that’s when I found the wasp’s nest in my truck’s side-view mirror. Since then, I’ve bagged and sprayed, and on Monday morning I’ll power-wash them out. That way, I can take the truck in for an oil change without worrying what could happen to the mechanic.
Before I’m finished I want to wish a Happy Anniversary to my folks, Joel and Ellen! Congrats on Fifty! Or, is it fifty-one? Just keep on, keeping on, and many hearty congratulations!!
Thanks for reading all the way to the end!
