Cold Sunrise That's just the name of the song written by Gordon Lightfoot. It was actually -13 F when I got up this morning (wind chill -24). Tucson may have pulled back into the lead! There's a lot of weighing pros and cons of Colorado vs Arizona by the wood stove. Not much else to report. I did enjoy a few games of pool and a beer with my brother this week. We don't get together very often, so it's good to try to keep the lines of communication open, especially with my mother celebrating her 86th birthday next month. He lives in Milwaukee and just started semi-retirement. Our opposing politics and lifestyles keep things very casual and surface-level. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's important to find common ground. He and his wife have started going to concerts and recently saw the Steve Miller Band. Music is one of our common interests.
During our train journey and stay in the Mount Denali area, we made
every effort to see some real Alaska wildlife. If I had my druthers,
my preference would have been to see a brown or grizzly bear from a
considerable distance away. But I was up for seeing caribou, Dall
sheep or even moose at a closer distance.
On the train trip north and south, we pretty much saw nothing, except
for a brief glimpse of a moose butt. While in the Denali National Park
area, we even signed up for an expensive jeep excursion. We had a good
time driving our jeeps up and down gravel roads, but we again caught
only the glimpse of a distant moose before returning to the jeep parking
lot.
However, on the afternoon after the jeep ride, Julia and I asked to
get dropped off on our own at the Denali National Park Visitor’s Center.
We decided to hike the Horseshoe Lake loop trail, which was one of our
better decisions and totally free. We picked up our trail map and headed
outside where we met a delightful older gentleman and his golden
retriever. After some conversation, he offered to walk with us to the
trailhead. He explained that he lived in the area full time, that he was
retired and that his wife was director of operations at the national
park. He offered some great advice and told several stories.
One of the stories is that he had been attacked numerous times by
moose in the park. During the last attack, he ended up on the ground
with the moose kicking and stomping on him. He survived without serious
injuries but his dog sustained two skull fractures. He told us that if
we ever encounter moose up close to seek cover between trees and the
moose. The conventional wisdom to run away often doesn’t work.
With a new respect for moose, we parted ways and started down the
trail. Immediately, people coming up the trail told us to watch out for a
mama moose with a calf on the left side of the lake. We didn’t see that
moose but we watched another feeding in the lake. The moose dipped its
head under water for 20 to 30 seconds and emerged, chewing on underwater
vegetation. The moose stayed in basically the same feeding position as
we quietly looped around the lake.
We then ran into more people telling us that the mama and calf were
just ahead before the next bridge. We didn’t find the moose at that
location.but we did find their wet tracks.
Disappointed that we just missed the moose, we continued past the
bridge to the river, where Julia started taking scenery shots and video.
Meanwhile, I was bored and looked back up into the woods close the
where the moose had left the trail. At that instant, I saw the mama
moose and calf walking our way and directly toward where Julia was with
her back to the moose.
I started calling Julia softly at first and then with more enthusiasm
as she continued to ignore me and operate her camera.. “Mama moose,
now, time to go!” I suggested. We quietly but quickly moved away from
their path before we could be cut off from the trail. It was very
exciting, and we were able to take photos from behind the bushes once we
were out of harm’s way.
We finished up our hike with our hearts racing at this close encounter with mama moose and baby moose.
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