After a full Sunday of mountain biking at Big Mountain Resort with my good friends Donna and Pat, it was time for me to go back to work the following day. Pat and Donna, on the other hand, were still on vacation, so they were off to Glacier National Park for a few days of camping.
It was decided that I would hook up with them on Tuesday night at Many Glacier on the east side of Glacier National Park, and spend the next day hiking some where in that part of the park.
After a 3 hour drive, the pups and I arrived at the camp grounds at Many Glacier and met up with Pat and Donna just as we had plan.
I was ready to sit around a campfire and party and drink all night, but they were ready for bed. It seems that after a day of hiking to Grinnell Glacier, they were bush and ready to hit the sack.
Nonetheless I wasted no time with starting a rip-roaring fire with the wood I brought and commense to stay up all night and drink all night by myself.
Well, not totally by myself....Snapper and Comet stayed up with me.
The next day, like usual, I was the first one up. True to form...Last one to bed...First one up. Shortly afterwards Donna was up and roaming around, then later Pat popped up.
Since they did Grinnell Glacier the day before, we decided to do Iceberg Lake which is one of the coolest hikes at the park. Supposely, the lake has iceberg in it. When I heard this, I just vision a big lake with icebergs floating around in it. You know. Kind of like the ocean, but smaller.
Anyway, we were excited about going on this hike. We hit the trail in full throttle until the bad news came. THE TRAIL TO ICEBERG LAKE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSE DUE TO BEAR DANGER. My jaw hit the ground when I heard this. It was the weirdiest thing I'd ever heard.
Disappointed, but not discourage, we were determine to do a hike, so we decided to do the hike to Tparmigan Lake. Though the hike wasn't as strenuous as the hike to Iceberg Lake, it is still a good hike. Just after Tparmigan creek falls, the trail became very steep. I thought, I was going to die. I was wishing I hadn't smoked that half-a-pack of smokes the night before.
ALmost near the lake, Pat and Donna thought they saw a moose roaming through the woods on the other side of the canyon. After looking for a while with my brand new Bushnell field glasses, I thought they were seeing things again. But when we got to the lake, there it was. A real life honest the goodness moose wading in the water near the bank of Tparmigan Lake. There were at least a couple a dozen hikers there staring with awe and admiring the moose from a safe distance.
What did I do?
I freaked!
As quickly as I could, I grabbed my camera and headed towards the moose in the lake. Pat and Donna from their safe location, were wondering. What the heck does that crazy fool think he is doing. And understandably so, they should think that way. It's common knowledge that a moose will charge and hurt humans. But, I didn't care. I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I wasn't about to let some little oh technicality keep me from having an up-close and personal moment with a wild bull moose.
Now, I may be a little crazy, but I'm not totally stupid. I didn't just run right up to the moose and start taking pictures like a mad man. No, I took my time. The closer I got to the moose, the more I took smaller steps and moved with more care and subtlety, until I got less than 50 feet away from it and went no further. I took my pictures slowly and tried not to move to much. The moose was well aware of my presence, the whole time I was there taking pictures. It went about its business as it was wading in the water near the shore of the lake, while every now and then, it would turn and look at me. It seemed to be uneffected by my near presence.
After a few minutes the moose decided to move on. It appeared that it had enough of the water, so, it slowly began to make its exit from the lake. Fortunate for me, the moose decide to exit at a different location from where I was at. And believe me, I was happy too.
Surprisingly, the moose decided to exit at the location where Pat and all the other people who thought they were at a safe distance. It was funny because the closer the moose got to them, the people would scattered like roaches do when a light comes on.
The hike that day was another typical hard one. In other words, a typical Glacier Park hike. But that brief close encounter with that moose, I will cherish dearly for the rest of my life. I would have to say that it was one the best moments in my life, and that, it has made this whole journey I am on, all worth while.
The good thing is, the journey isn't over yet.
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