River crossing with a Bull Moose & the Twins

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Darl58

Active member
Joined
Feb 1, 2005
Messages
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Location
The Matterhorn
After Friday’s rains I decided to drive up to the White’s Saturday morning to get some training in for my upcoming trip. On the drive up I decided to hike the Twins, as I hadn’t hiked those for a while.
I knew the water crossing(s) would be high, so I did throw my crocs on my pack and took my pole's.
Arrived at parking lot and was a little surprised at how many cars were there considering the high water crossings…guess I’m not the only crazy one.
I was making a pretty good pace on arriving at Little River which wasn’t so little this day…. :rolleyes:


Hiking along the river for a while decided I found a possible spot to cross…so the crocs came on and poles extended. I headed into the cold water…...at part way across something caught my eye on the water’s edge. A huge bull moose appeared oblivious to me standing in the middle of the river. So a quick poles between the legs, camera out, feet as stable as possible and I was ready! The moose had no idea I was there until he was half way across at which time he stared me down for a minute or two as I was kind of in a position of “here I am”.. :eek:



I guess I seemed harmless, stranded as I was in the rushing current about 100 ft downriver from him. :eek:
He continued across unhurried as I got a few great photos of him, easily crossing, probably laughing at the silly little hiker wading in the water with her silly poles between her legs……Then he walked along the river’s bank until right across from me as I was still not going anywhere fast. Then he gave me one last look (laugh) as he headed into the woods.


It was the most beautiful Moose that I have ever seen and it made my day perfect despite the tube getting pulled out of my water bladder and soaking everything in my pack and the totally clouded in summits…didn’t matter as I was privileged to of had a perfect positioning to view this beautiful Bull Moose in the Mountains, not on a road.
It was chilly and windy on the summits but cool to see some ice building up on the shrubs…winter can’t be too far away!!


Rest of pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/hikerdd13/TwinsWMoose?feat=directlink
 
Darlene,
Great photos of the moose. He looked more curious than dangerous as he posed for the pictures. It is always a special moment to come upon a moose.
Too bad there weren't any views; but there are a lot of nice subjects in the forests to photograph. Have a great trip too!

Donna:)
 
Wonderful moments and pictures!

It strikes me as some sort of magical reward for your daring crossing of the river in high water. The noise of the river and rushing water certainly masked your noise making and scent presense and made you appear less threatening. Great photos of a handsome bull!
 
It seems so ordinary to say "Wow!", but nonetheless "Wow"! To get photos like those is sort of like winning the NH lottery!
 
THinking of doing this on Saturday. But not w high water crossings. No way to get across keeping boots on and dry? I wonder with a week out if the water will be easier to cross.

Absolutely awesome moose encounter! That is like a dream
 
THinking of doing this on Saturday. But not w high water crossings. No way to get across keeping boots on and dry? I wonder with a week out if the water will be easier to cross.

Absolutely awesome moose encounter! That is like a dream

No place to cross and keep dry for a while I would say......some hikers were shimming across a tree at the 3rd crossing if you're up for that..otherwise you're going to get wet....The bushwack path is almost a trail now along the side so you only need to cross at the last one....can't miss the path. ;)

Poles and water shoes or crocs at 3rd crossing work fine, but it's not shallow.....I'm only 5'4" and water was over my knees.:eek:

Trail was pretty wet also...trail shoes were so wet from trail that I just waded in with them on coming out....:p
 
I love the picture of the moose looking at you. I have imagined a cartoon balloon over the moose, with the words: "This water's cold. Are your legs numb, too?"
 
...I have imagined a cartoon balloon over the moose, with the words: "This water's cold. Are your legs numb, too?"

I have imagined what if the moose could talk. Goes home and tells his friends: "Saw another one today. This one was standing IN the water."
 
Darl, this is absolutely awesome! You were blessed with this one and you did a great job taking the pics. How beautiful!!!

happy trails :)
 
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