Here's Lookin' at You, Kid
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The mountain goats found throughout Colorado’s Front Range areas have been exposed to humans repeatedly and have lost some of their fear or shyness as a result.
Oreamnos americanus
They’ve also come to learn that humans mean salty snacks so they will often approach people, keeping a safe distance, hoping for some delicacy to fall their way.
On a late September day in 2007, we had climbed to the summit of Whale Peak, a 13er not too many miles from Kenosha Pass. While sitting on the summit, a group of mountain goats came up to investigate who it was invading their mountainous territory. Among that group of goats were two that had been born that spring. The two little goats played while we watched, by repeatedly climbing up and then leaping off the rocks piled up for a summit cairn, paying little attention to us. But eventually, curiosity got the best of these two little goats and one of them maneuvered over to an embedded rock where she could partially hide herself and gaze out over the rock at us and watch intently.
With an opportunity like this so close at hand, it was no problem at all to grab the camera and capture this image. The ski area in the background is Breckenridge.