Ever since I first discovered the red rocks in the Valley, I always pondered their purpose of being there.

They’re a very unique feature of the land, sprouting out of the Fountain Formation between the foothills and the hogbacks that split the plains from the mountains. So unique and unusual, in fact, that Red Rocks Amphitheater was once considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. I consider it a blessing to have private access to a small portion of the red rocks of the Fountain Formation, in Ken Caryl Valley. 

While there are several red rock formations scattered throughout the Ken Caryl Valley open space, my favorite cluster of red rocks surrounds the Bradford house on the northern end of the Valley. To the east of the Bradford house, several stones stand above the prairie, each roughly a hundred feet tall. Two of them come together to form a cave; a place I refer to as “God’s Ass” (I know… I know… very immature). 

To the north and west of the Bradford house are more red rocks, though they’re not nearly as tall or organized as God’s Ass. Still, the north and west red rocks are very picturesque and full of places and things to see. If I hike around to the western edge of the red rocks, there’s a small trail that leads through the Gambel oaks, and to an opening shaped by thousands of years of rainwater that I can take to get on top of the red rocks. Above this opening, there’s a rock formation shaped by the wind that I haven’t come up with a name for yet, but is still a very cool formation that I’ve taken numerous pictures of.

Following the rainwater trail past the unnamed formation, it opens up to the eastern slope of those massive red rocks, which leads down to the northern fence line splitting Ken Caryl land from Willow Springs land. The eastern slope also runs up against another great red rock, whose wall and small alcoves cast a huge shadow on the red rock slope when the sun is to the south and east. 

On a beautiful, cool day in the first week of October, I came to the red rock slope to get some more pictures for my college photography class. I didn’t expect to see anything aside from those epic rock formations and some pretty plants. So when I came around a juniper bush and met eyes with El Jefe, the largest known buck in Ken Caryl Valley, my soul about left my body. 

Like most of the valley deer, El Jefe didn’t seem alarmed that I was there. He was simply laying in the shade of the red rock wall alcove, looking at me with a tired look in his eyes. Luckily for me, I already had my camera set up on its tripod with a 300mm lens attached to it (this semester taught me how to be “camera ready” for moments just like this one). All I had to do to get El Jefe’s picture was move the camera around on its tripod and zoom in the lens until the buck filled up the viewfinder. Then, a few seconds later, the camera clicked, just before El Jefe turned his head around to face the wall of his alcove. 

But I wasn’t done taking pictures of El Jefe. So long as El Jefe stayed bedded down in the alcove, I planned on staying right where I was to get as many pictures as I could. After all, I was witnessing something truly unique: a huge mule deer buck laying down comfortably in a red rock alcove, while I sat up on the slope just watching with my camera. 

After just a few short minutes, I watched as El Jefe completely laid his head down on the ground and closed his eyes. He knew I was there, watching him. We’d met eyes, and he’d been watching me get situated for quite some time. But, I guess I didn’t pose a threat to him. 

Still, I didn’t dare get any closer, A) because I didn’t want to spook him out of the alcove and miss that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and B) I didn’t want to risk getting gored by his 11-point rack. Plus, I was close enough to him to zoom in on the whiskers on his chin if I wanted to. So I didn’t feel even slightly pressured to get any closer to him. Fifteen yards was already pushing it. 

I’m not sure how long I sat on the rocks just watching El Jefe’s torso expand and deflate with his breaths. I do know I took a video of him, just resting there, after I took about two hundred pictures of him using various settings on my camera. To be honest, I couldn’t believe what I’d come across, and I wanted plenty of picture and video evidence to prove that I wasn’t simply dreaming or “seeing things”.