Mysterious Camp Visitor

The post you've been waiting for...

Our Mysterious Camp Visitor!!

Me & Doug

It all started on the afternoon we arrived at camp. Looking across the valley, I saw movement on the ridge line (top left corner of the picture above the cream colored streak angling to the left). It was something huge. At first Jim and I squinted and theorized on what it might be... a lost cow? Wild horse? Bear? Good Lord! If it was a bear it would have to be a grizzly to be that big - a moment of panic raced through my veins at the thought of sleeping outside with a bear that big cruising around the valley. Mind you we don't have grizzly bears in our area. I suggested a moose, Jim said we didn't have those in our area either. Whatever it was it descended on to the plateau half way down the valley and bedded down for the night (top third of picture).

AH-HA!! I WAS RIGHT!!

(I'm almost never right)

The next morning we awoke to fresh layer of white snow, making it easy to spot the movement of the great mystery animal across the valley. We watched as it descended, crossed the road, cross the creek and head straight up the mountain towards our camp. The dogs caught wind of his scent on the air, so I held them while Jim took photos. Nothing is more dangerous than a bull moose during the rut. However, this guy was pretty young and just seemed more interested in hanging out with us. He must have just recently been shooed away by his mother.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

After a short time, he moved into the trees just up the mountain from our camp.

He stayed there all morning, coming out occasionally to check on us. Perhaps he could smell the coffee and pancakes with real maple syrup and was hoping for a hand out. We didn't have any leashes because the dogs are allowed to run free when we camp. I tied the loops of my hiking sticks through their collars, after a while we let them just hang out with the sticks still attached. They would try to walk but when they felt the stick drag behind them they assumed they were tied up and promptly sat back down.

We went down to where the moose had climbed the slope and Jim found his tracks.

Look at the size of that hoof print!!

As the sun warmed the slopes the snow melted off and we packed up. The moose never left the safety of the trees, except to check on our whereabouts. We said good bye and headed down to the truck. Aspen stood guard as we walked away, making sure he didn't follow us.




The strangest part of our encounter was where we were at... 12,000 ft and basically above treeline. (We had camped in the last stand of trees heading up the slope.) The moose showed no interest in the creek or the small lake below. He past them rather hastily in a rush and came right into our camp. Was it really his camp and we were invading it? In the video below you can see just how uneasy he was in this high mountain terrain. His footing is shaky at best in the snow on the rocky steep slope. Jim shot this during one of the moose's many trips out into the open to check on us. Enjoy.

Error in video downloading... I will try again later... Sorry...