Moose Tails and Tales

Moose Tales and Tails

We have been anxiously awaiting all of those moose sightings that everyone has told us about!  After so many close ups of bears, our first moose sighting, way down the highway, was exciting – the first one- but also disappointing in that we didn’t see it up close.  The second sighting was so strange.  We were heading into downtown Anchorage, and there was a moose standing on the sidewalk, as if waiting for traffic to pass by to cross the street.   We saw him at eye level and almost couldn’t believe our eyes, it happened so fast. 

Our third sighting was coming down from Hatcher Pass.  It was raining and he was standing in a big puddle of water by the road.  Before I could aim my camera, he turned and ran – and all I got in the way of a picture was a moose tail!

The first morning we camped at Johnson Lake, south of Soldotna, John went out in the morning and came running back for his camera, yelling, BIG MOOSE!  It was early and I was still in bed.  After a while, I got dressed and went outside to see him.  He was big!

Moose can weigh 1,750 pounds and be 6 ½ feet tall.   He stayed around, eating the tops off the small bushes near the campsite.  Moose need 50-60 pounds of food a day and they are vegetarians, so that’s a lot of munching!

We walked around the campsite later in the day and saw another one – John is good at spotting them, as usual.  This one was older than the one we had seen earlier. 

Our second morning at Johnson Lake, I heard a car drive by as I was sitting at the table in the camper.  I turned toward the road, and there, practically eyeball to eyeball with me was a moose.  He was eating the tops off the bushes near the window! He moved down to the water and drank – he was up to his shoulders and there were big ripples in the water. Nacho had his picture taken from afar, sensible guy that he is!

Then in the afternoon, we saw what we think was our fifth moose – this one over in another camping area where we were walking.  John decided to take pictures, and I decided to take pictures of John.  This will give you an appreciation of how close he gets. It makes me nervous, but I figure if the moose charges, John is between the moose and me.  I had already chosen a picnic table to dive under.

So, we think that we can add moose to our list of things that we won’t photograph any more unless it has an act!