We managed to get out of bed by 6:30 this morning, then set off in search of moose. We were initially rewarded with a large bull and a smaller bull trotting along a road near the airport, but the big payoff came when we headed back to the Gros Ventre campground and spotted an army of photographers arrayed in a field. When we hiked over to check it out a single antler of a giant bull was visible. We waited a bit for him to wake up, and when he did the fun began:
- Moose wakes up, gets shakily to his feet, and looks around for his girlfriend.
- With the girlfriend not in view, he initiates a detailed search pattern consisting of trotting around in circles. Photographers are giddy.
- The search pattern leads him to jump a fence, passing twenty feet from Audrey and I. Note that this is far from safe, but, as Audrey noted, “this is awe-some!”. Also note that I failed completely in getting a picture of a moose jumping a fence.
- After two loops around the assembled masses the scent of the lady moose is detected, and he follows her off into the woods; photographers rush after the moose, although Audrey and I chose not to join them.
After the morning excitement we grabbed a massive breakfast at Jedediah’s House of Sourdough, checked out of our hotel, then spent a couple of hours wandering around the town of Jackson. After that it was time to start the drive of doom home, and with pronghorns everywhere we covered about 300 miles through Wyoming and into Utah.
I’m so jealous.