Great Ride - Cathy Fromme Natural Area

I was returning home from an appointment with the eye doctor and decided to ride south on Shields in Fort Collins.  That ride took me past the entrance to Cathy Fromme Natural Area.  I took a side trip from the commute home and rode the north leg of the sidewalk that runs through the natural area.  It was great!

The road enters the natural area and has a small parking area for cars.  My bike didn't need that...  The north leg of the concrete path runs 2.5 miles on a wandering path up and down through the prairie area.  It is classic prairie, with birds and rodents of various shapes and sizes rustling in the grass.

I was not paying close enough attention to the concrete during the ride and ran over a rattlesnake.  I thought it was a branch of a tree and by the time I had detected the classic diamond pattern on the back, it was too late to avoid the impact.

The rattlesnakes are helpful rodent control on the prairie, as are the raptors flying above.  Unfortunately, I wasn't attentive enough to miss that one.  Fortunately, by the time I returned to that section of the trail, the snake had moved off trail to another area.  I suspect I did him some damage (sorry about that), but apparently not immediately fatal damage