Tag: Moose

Invisible Moose

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, TravelLeave a comment

I was awake at 6:30 this morning.  For anyone that knows me, that is “roll over and go back to sleep” time.  I am not a morning person.  But, I had the thought that if I wanted to see animals, this might be a good time to get out of bed.  I peered out the window and instantly saw 4 moose on the other side of the lake.  They were standing in chest deep water just munching on water plants. 

One of the smaller moose started running (swimming fast?) creating a small white v of water around it as it picked up speed.  The moose behind him suddenly perked it’s head up and watched this with great interest.  I assumed this was the mother, thinking “Oh dear god, why is he running, where is he going now?”  He just kept going so soon the mother was running after him to close the gap between them.  They created ripples on the lake.  It wasn’t so much a wave or a change in the lake’s surface.  I was more like a subtle color change just below the lake’s surface.  The color change radiated out from them and swept across the lake toward me in the low morning light.

After they got closer to the other two moose, they slowed down.  But, wait, now I only see 3 moose.  Where did the fourth one go?  The trees come right down to the edge of the lake.  There doesn’t appear to be a shore.  The trees appear to be growing in the water and then continue up the hillside densely packed in.  It doesn’t look like anyone could walk in between the trees especially something as large as a moose.  But, he was gone.  I watched as one of the other moose walked closer to the trees.  In front of my eyes, his front legs and head went invisible.  Then the rest of him flickered out as well.  I strained to see if what I thought was a tree was indeed a moose leg.  No, just trees. 

I was so enthralled watching the moose disappear that I never saw the third moose go invisible, but he was now gone.  Only one moose remained.  Right on cue, he flickered and disappeared as well. 

What a show!  I went back in my room for coffee.  After pouring a cup of coffee, I looked out the window and saw something else thrashing about in the water.  Ooooohhhh, maybe this was a bear swimming in the water?  I rushed outside again.  It was hard to tell what it was.  I used my phone zoom to help me see, but that wasn’t helpful either.  The zoom just made it closer, but blurrier.  I know bear eat fish out of rivers.  Do they catch fish in lakes?  It looked like a bear with a fish in it’s mouth.  Does it count as having seen a bear if you can’t actually identify it as a bear?  Then I think, if that looked like a fish when I can’t tell if it’s being held by a bear, then that would be the largest lake fish known to man.  My mind is playing tricks on me.  After watching it some more, I think it was a moose swimming in deeper water.  As it swam closer to the invisibility trees, it of course, disappeared.

I went in and out of the room several times to warm up.  Each time I would look at the lake, the moose would be in a different location.  Sometimes there was just one, other times two.  Sometime it would look like a log, other times a moose.  The two white swans were still on the lake, but very calm this morning – nothing to honk about this morning.  Quite a few other water birds were floating about. 

Yes, the pictures are blurry. I have just my phone with me. The moose were way over there. That is often the case with moose. They are usually way over there. This is both good and not. It is good because way over there is safer for me. But, that means you get blurry pictures.

Eleven Moose

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Colorado, Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I’ve been seeing moose on at least every 3rd hike I’ve done.  I went from seeing no moose to seeing them all the time.  The National Park is a great place to see moose.  They are often just by the side of the road.  If you are driving through and see a bunch of cars pulled over, you can bet it’s a moose.  There’s a chance it’s elk, but it’s probably moose.  Sometimes it’s difficult to even drive through the park because of the traffic jams created by people just stopping on the side of the road.

My friend Katie and her mom came up to visit.  We bundled up and set out to see if we could find moose in the National Park.  I think I saw 4 of them last time I was there.  We didn’t get far before there were cars pulled off on the side of the road so we stopped and sure enough, moose.  Then a little farther down the road I saw something move and pulled over.  Moose.  Before long, I was the car that signaled to the crowd to stop here and look at the moose.  The next traffic jam was actually a herd of elk.  A short elk-break before we went back to moose.  After that it was two moose, one idyllically standing in a river next to a cabin.  It seemed so posed, like a painting, like the moose was paid to stand in a diorama.  Then there was the moose standing in water where the light was just right to see an almost perfect reflection in the water.  On it went, moose, moose, elk, moose, moose.  By the time we counted 9 different moose, it was getting comical.  At about 5 moose we tried to guess or call what the next moose sighting would be – two moose, mamma and baby moose, close up moose, road moose, etc.  By the time we left the park it was 11 separate moose and hundreds of elk.

 

Moose Ski

On By rrainefioreIn Beautiful Things, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Grand County is supposed to be infested with moose.  I’ve lived here since September and haven’t seen a moose.  I’ve been hiking and snowshoeing many times, going places I think moose might hang out.  No moose.  My neighbor, Kathern, and her friend were going back country skiing because he hasn’t seen a moose either.  They invited me to go with them.  She had an extra pair of cross-country skis I could borrow.  I’ve been cross country skiing at the Nordic center once a week since December.  But I haven’t been on a regular trail yet.  Her feet are bigger than mine so her boots won’t fit right.  What could go wrong?

The trail they picked was beautiful, but it started with quite the impressive downhill.  Off to a good start, squealing as I fly way faster than I want down the hill in the largest, snow plow ever seen.  The trail mellowed out after that.  We passed many moose tracks crossing the trail.  There was moose poop on the trail and you could see where they had laid down to rest.  This had great promise for a moose sighting as they were probably here 5 minutes ago.

The trail got prettier, but a steeper uphill and I was struggling with boots that didn’t fit right.  I had to keep stopping to tie them tighter in an effort to keep my feet in them.  Kathern and Mark continued uphill and I turned around knowing they would probably still catch up later.  I’m sure to see a moose now.  The journey back to the trailhead was peaceful despite the 3 flailing ungraceful crashes.  It’s so awkward to try to stand up with long skinny slippery skis on the bottom of your feet.  I made it back up the giant hill near the trailhead with a bit of huffing and puffing and very little backwards sliding.  Over all, I’d call this a win in the ski department.  But, it’s definitely time to buy my own skis.

After they caught back up with me, we took the moose hunt from the trail to the road.  We drove through the National Park – everyone sees moose there – except me and Mark.  We drove through a Grand Lake neighborhood that has moose all the time.  Yep, you guessed it, no moose.  Mark and I must be wearing moose repellant.  With two of us, we really scared them off.

It was a beautiful day with new friends and the wonder of the gorgeous place I live in fills my heart.  Once again, my choice to move to Grand County is validated as a fabulous choice.  I’ll have to wait for another day for moose sightings.