Moose Hunt

Ok - ever since our vacation to Yellowstone, we've become more determined to catch a glimpse of a bull moose. We'd seen a female moose way out in a meadow in the Grand Tetons and a female moose on the banks of the Provo River, which was impressive, but we still weren't satisfied. Nathan works with a guy named John Blumencamp, who is a semi-professional wildlife photographer. Nathan told him of our quest to see a bull moose, and John told him that he's seen moose many times in Albion Basin at the far end of Little Cottonwood Canyon. This is really close to our house. So, last Sunday, after dinner, when it the "moose" time of day (7:00-9:00 pm) we drove to the basin. We got out and hiked around in search of our moose. Now, we'd been to Little Cottonwood Canyon before, but never gone to the end, past the ski resorts. This canyon is gorgeous this time of year! Apparently, July and August are the only months that the flowers are in full bloom. I couldn't believe how GREEN it was! In these pictures, I had to add a warm filter to them and they still turned out extremely green.







After walking around for almost 2 hours, we decided to call it a night. We were disappointed, but moose are known to be the most active in August, so we would be back.




When we returned to our car, who did we run into? John Blumencamp! He had been in the basin longer than we had and had found a few moose! He was actually about to head home, but decided to take us to where the moose had been. We only to walk a little ways (in the opposite direction that we had been, of course) and when we turned a corner - there it was! A BULL moose! He was standing just a few feet from the trail, and as we stood staring at him, a second bull walked up next to him. Moments later, a female moose came out of the trees to our left. We couldn't believe our eyes! We had to take a few steps back because we were so close to all of them! By this time, it had gotten too dark to take any photos, but I was determined to try. I just needed a rock to steady my camera. I crept up a few feet closer to the two bulls and set my camera on a rock. I took one shot when Nathan anxiously whispered at me to get back immediately. I had forgotten that the female was just a few feet to my left and a third bull had just walked up next to her! We were all so excited - it was one of the most amazing things I have EVER seen! John told us that we were really lucky to see this many moose together. I felt lucky! We watched as the first two bulls touched their noses together and started to play a little. One even jumped on the other's back! When they started to move towards us, we decided it was time to go. We didn't need to get in the middle of 4,000 lbs. of bull moose! As we drove home, all of the kids talked excitedly about what we had just witnessed. We had spent hours in Wyoming trying to see a moose and we ended up seeing four of them up close and personal right in our own backyard! To celebrate - even though it was Sunday - we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some Moosetracks ice cream for a late-night dessert.


I have plenty of blurry pictures of our moose friends, but here's the one good shot that I got:





Neat, eh? If you want to see some amazing photos, check out John Blumencamp's website at http://www.tetontrail.com/