Where the deer and the antelope play...with foxes and rattlesnakes

We just got back from a "quick" hike in Roxburough State Park, which is just on the southwest-ish side of Denver. I say quick because it was only about 2+ miles but it took about 4 hours to finish. We have been trying to get Annie to hike on her own a bit, but she is so slow....and she likes looking at little pebbles, and ants, and flowers, and she likes to feed her pretend reindeer too. It's almost like hiking backwards with her sometimes. Anyways, the park is really pretty neat and has lots of huge red rocks and cliffs, etc. I never really thought there was anything like that (outside of Red Rocks Park) that was that close to Denver. The hike we did today was really pretty cool! We saw 2 fox, and 2 other people told us they saw a rattlesnake that day, and one other told us they saw a bear in the park last fall, and there was a sign warning us about mountain lions. Half way through the hike we stopped to have our picnic lunch and while we were sitting there, about 7 deer came strolling through, munching on the grass and then some sat down in the trees behind us! They were literally less than 10 feet away from us, and apparently not scared of toddlers at all. They hung out with us for about 30 minutes, then mossied off on their way. Too bad we forgot the camera, but I'm sure we will be back someday.