An Arsenal of Wildlife Instead of Guns

Rocky Mountain National Arsenal

On one of our snowboarding trips to Colorado, David and I found ourselves with several hours to kill before our evening flight home.  We settled on two natural history themed activities to fill the void.  The first was a visit to the Denver Museum of Natural History, which still has the most impressive gem and mineral collection I have ever seen, serious eye candy for a geologist like myself.  The second was something I had never heard of until David suggested we pay it a visit: The Rocky Mountain National Arsenal.  

Some buffalo chilling in the Rocky Mountain National Arsenal.  I took this photo from outside the buffalos paddock, hence the fence.

When David first suggested the arsenal, my reply was that I had no interest looking at guns for an hour.  David then informed me that the arsenal was not what I thought it was, but rather a free drive through wildlife refuge just a few miles from downtown Denver.  Although I was slightly concerned about driving through a buffalo paddock with our rental car we made the trip with the goal to see grazing buffalo.  Unfortunately I only had my junky cell phone camera available, but I think the photos are clear enough to get an idea of our proximity to the animals.  

Mule deer, notable due to heir huge ears, are easy to spot in the arsenal.

The arsenal is fenced off from the surrounding city landscape as it really is inside the city limits.  Inside, the refuge is further segmented into the buffalo paddock and an area for all the other animals.  The dirt drive through the arsenal only covers a portion of the total area available to the animals, ensuring they can find privacy away from the hoards of tourists that show up.  We visited the arsenal on a weekday in the middle of winter and only saw two other cars during our hour stay.  Without a crush of traffic, we took our time appreciating the animals and taking photos.  

On our way out of the arsenal we we spotted this large herd of buffalo off in the distance.

Of course we followed the rules of the refuge, especially the one about not getting out of the car in the buffalo paddock.  Were we to find another gap in time in Denver, I would visit the arsenal again.  It is on the way to the airport after all.

The most abundant animal in the arsenal is the lowly but eccentric prairie dog.