When home projects take priority over travel, I’m left browsing photos of past trips. A few of them reminded me of my first moose encounters in the wild.

July 2006, Glacier National Park, Montana

We had taken our first trip to Glacier in 2004, but the weather chased us to lower elevations outside the park, and we left without seeing a single moose.

This time, our family was traveling with my two brothers and their families. Park staff at Many Glacier Campground issue a hard-sided-only restriction (no tents) when bear activity runs high, since Glacier is grizzly territory, and the summer of 2006 was one of those summers.

I have plenty of parks and backcountry destinations I love, but Many Glacier is my favorite. If there were only one natural area I could visit again, that would be it. Absolutely beautiful.

Swiftcurrent Creek flows down from the pass (ingeniously named Swiftcurrent Pass) through several small lakes until it reaches Fishercap Lake just upstream from the campground. It exits Fishercap and flows past the campground on its way to Swiftcurrent Lake (detect a trend yet?), where the Many Glacier Hotel presides over some of the best views in the world.

The kids enjoyed building rock dams and sliding through the small rapids in the creek (50°F, maybe), and eventually we made our way to the shore of Fishercap Lake and a classic scene: a mature bull moose, water dripping from his full antler rack, foraging in the middle of the lake.

Later that day, as we moved along the trail through the willow thickets to the lake, I tried to shush everyone to avoid startling any wildlife that might be around. (For the record, I acknowledge that was a bad idea.) This time a cow moose was feeding in the lake nearby, not too close, and not bothered by us.

Shortly after my wife and sister-in-law left us at the lake to head back to camp, we heard a shriek. A yearling feeding in the willows had stepped out onto the trail and come face to face with my wife. Two thoughts circled in her head as they stared at each other: “Where do I go?” and “That lady yesterday told me about a moose pushing her trailer out of the way because it was parked where he wanted to walk.”

Fortunately the young moose hadn’t developed that level of entitlement. He moved off through the brush and into the lake, presumably to be near his mother. I’m just thankful he wasn’t a calf. An adult cow can kill a grizzly if she believes her calf is threatened.

For the rest of the trip, I followed my wife’s instructions to make plenty of noise as we moved between the lake and the campsite.

When she tells that story, she never forgets to mention the shushing.

Have you had a close encounter with wildlife that you’d rather have avoided?

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