While out hiking on some old overgrown logging roads this past Sunday evening, I stopped at a stream to filter some water and take a selfie video of myself complaining about the heat. All of a sudden, about 25 paces away:



She looked right at me, and her hackles went up. A second later her calf came out of the woods behind her. At this point I was probably in greater danger than I have been since 1991 - cow moose with their calves are very unpredictable and can be extremely violent. I started backing away, keeping an eye on her without making eye contact, after they went into the woods on the other side of the trail I waited about 10 minutes and continued on my way.

Not even 1/4 mile later another moose raised its head above the vegetation on the side of the trail where it had been grazing and stared at me. It may have been the same one but would have had to have been moving pretty fast to get there ahead of me. I did the same thing as before, backing away without staring, but must have gone nearly 200m with her watching the whole time before I went around a slight bend in the trail. After a 20 minute wait I started off again, going slowly and quietly and stopping to look/listen every 6-8 paces. I made it back to my pickup without any other incidents. Every shadow or darker spot in the vegetation looked like a moose to me, though!

So now I think it’s time to find a new place to hike. Yes, there may be moose there, but I KNOW there are in my old place. I think I’ll revisit that area once there’s snow on the ground, because it leads toward several mountains I want to bushwhack up.