Today we made a speedier exit from our base camp. It was a 20-minute earlier start. We headed up to Bowen Lake. A big day hike for us it's only a mile and a half to the lake. The trip is a 5-mile day and we peak out at 11,696 feet. We have an elevation gain of 1,604 feet today. These are not big mile days for us.
The hike today was through the woods, but it had many flowers and moose tracks to look at. The trail did provide an opportunity to walk through a meadow that was filled with monks hood and delphiniums. Moments like this should always be treasured. When we arrived at the lake there were many camping locations. We dropped our packs at the camp area closest to the water's edge. What a beautiful sight this was. Time just seems to not matter when you are at peace with the environment.
Marybeth and Pat were working on taking map bearings and talking about declination on a map. All of a sudden we heard splash! A really BIG SPLASH. No Bec was not taking another one of her dips into the water. Across the lake to our right, two bull moose were swimming in the lake. Two more were entering the water, and two more looking on. Six moose, I have never seen anything like this! We started taking pictures. The Moose heard all of our movement and did a 180 degree synchronized swim turn to head back to shore. The Moose were now pinned up against the cirque of the mountain and really had nowhere to go… Well, besides for a right back at us.
We stepped back behind some pine trees that were close by. When protecting yourself from a moose you want to find a big tree and stand on the other side of it. Moose are not known for a high degree of agility. The large alpha moose stood on the trail looking at us and checking us out. He cauiously came closer and closer, commanding all of our attention. He walked up to where we had our backpacks leaning and snorted, shook off like a wet dog, looked around, and headed to the main trail. Sensing a signal was being sent to the remaining five moose, we took this as a great opportunity to move further away from where we were standing. The departure of the head bull signaled his okay to his harem to proceed through the space. The harem followed him as a group and at a distance.
What moose this close??? Not only was it quite a sight but it was all of us thinking... had we chosen the right size tree for this amount of animal moving through the woods? The moose continued to walk the lake side trail until they were on the far shoreline. They turned up into the woods and disappeared. What an amazing experience. Never have any of us been so close to so much raw muscle. We each collected a good amount of photos and videos to re-live the moment.
After talking about our experience, we decided that we wanted to continue to hike up to the Continental Divide Trail. The trail was visible up to our left. We needed to travel much of the same space where the Moose had just traveled. We carefully walked along the lakeshore and got to the end of the trees and looked to our left. Grazing In the meadow... the 6 large moose. The alpha male was not very happy that we were passing through the far end of THEIR meadow. We decided that walking solo on the trail past them was less threatening to them than if we all went in a large 6-person group. So, each of us, holding our breath as we traveled, quietly tip-toed across the open meadow. This is probably the part in this blog where my mother is thinking “Oh dear lord, What are you girls doing!” Well, I guess we're living The Great Outdoor Adventure.
After talking about our experience, we decided that we wanted to continue to hike up to the Continental Divide Trail. The trail was visible up to our left. We needed to travel much of the same space where the Moose had just traveled. We carefully walked along the lakeshore and got to the end of the trees and looked to our left. Grazing In the meadow... the 6 large moose. The alpha male was not very happy that we were passing through the far end of THEIR meadow. We decided that walking solo on the trail past them was less threatening to them than if we all went in a large 6-person group. So, each of us, holding our breath as we traveled, quietly tip-toed across the open meadow. This is probably the part in this blog where my mother is thinking “Oh dear lord, What are you girls doing!” Well, I guess we're living The Great Outdoor Adventure.
It didn't take us very long to get to the top of the saddle where we stood on the Continental Divide Trail. There were long views off into the distance. Some of the recognizable peaks were Longs Peak, Ida, Ypsilon, Chiquita, and Chapin. Claudia, Marybeth, Kathi, and I hiked up to the highest peak of the saddle. At the top we enjoyed an even further view of the mountains. The clouds were gathering, so we took some more pictures and headed back down. We gathered at the sign to take a group photo. Now we needed to hike back down to try to get past the harem of moose. It is a good time to point out that the six of us take turns leading our group. Lucky for me, I led the group up to Blue Lake :) Claudia volunteered for the duty. She has the smallest physical stature of all of us, but bold in adventure. Claudia walked forward with courage of a great leader. We will just call her “little moose bait” or someone suggested the “appetizer” leader.
We did not see any moose on the way down from the Continental Divide and all the way back to base camp. We did see many moose tracks, but no moose, so they must have moved further into the woods. Just as we were in the home stretch Bec sneezed a LOUD sneeze. An Achoo with such gusto that it startled the moose dickens out of all of us. Claudia, our leader most likely needed to change her underwear after that.
A day full of adventure and amazement.
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