Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Moose

I have seen quite a few moose over the years. For awhile, there was a moose near the Mountain Dell golf course in Parley's Canyon, outside Salt Lake. I have seen a number of them off the road in the Uinta Mountains near Mirror Lake, and many in Yellowstone National Park. The picture below is of a cow moose in Yellowstone, feeding in a stream.

However, it is more exciting to seem them while you are hiking in the backcountry. That has only happened to me a few times. Once, while hiking to Mount Timpanogas, outside Orem, Utah, we found a couple of moose that I had to try and take pictures of, much to Judy's chagrin: a cow and a bull. I was not able to get very good pictures, but below is a picture of the bull in a stand of aspens.


My best moose experience was in August 1996 in Henry's Basin while on a backpacking trip to climb King's Peak, in Utah's Uinta Mountains. We saw a number of moose, including this cow and calf.

A closer look at the cow.

A different cow moose.

We saw this calf all alone in a meadow and got close for a picture. We then quickly scattered when it's mother came charging to it's defense (we didn't stick around to take a picture of the mother).

The best of the best was when we saw two bull moose together. The smaller one headed off into the trees to the east.

But I was able to stalk up on the larger bull.

I got quite close until he also walked off in a different direction into the trees.


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