Gentle and curious

Another photo of the beautiful female Moose that stood and watched us for a long time. She had crossed the road in front of us and, when she had made her way into the forest a short distance, turned and stood there watching us, seeming curious about what we were doing both in and out of the car. These animals are huge and can be aggressive and dangerous if they are not treated with respect (as all animals should be!), but our experience with them has been that they are gentle and interested usually in just feeding - or licking the salt off cars : )

On 26 January 2015, I spent a day in the mountains with friends, Cathy and Terry, exploring along the Smith-Dorrien/Spray Lakes Trail in Kananaskis Country (the closest area of the mountains west of the city). This gravel road, south of Canmore, travels through the heart of the scenic Smith-Dorrien Valley, which is one of the of the wildest areas in Kananaskis. For years, I had read about this road and how not to drive along it when the weather was poor or if it had been raining. However, usually when I have been there with friends, Cathy and Terry, we have found the road to be in good condition, unlike on 26th. The afternoon was spent along the Bow Valley Parkway.

The three of us had a great day, even though we had to deal with ice almost everywhere. Parts of the road were bare, other parts wet and muddy and the rest was a solid sheet of ice. Each time we stopped to take photos or watch wildlife, we had to park on ice and were surrounded by a solid sheet of ice. Consequently, I took most of my photos either from inside the car (which usually doesn't work!) or else standing and holding on to the car, which resulted in heat distortion/blur from the car. Unfortunately, most of my shots need to be deleted : ((

When this beautiful Moose had crossed over the road in front of us and disappeared a little way into the forest, at first, she stood with just part of her back end visible through the trees and then she slowly turned around to face us. She seemed a little curious and at ease, watching while Terry came up with a solution of how I could get out of the car. The pure ice made it treacherous and so two of the car mats were placed like stepping stones for me. Unfortunately, though, if I moved more than a few inches to either side, my view of the Moose was blocked by the trees. However, at least I could remain upright but leaning over the hot car, which resulted in a set of very cute, but horribly blurry, images. However, we were very grateful for this beautiful encounter.

Thanks so much, Cathy and Terry, for yet another great day in the mountains - always so much fun! I really needed this wonderful day spent with the healing power of nature!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose

Interesting - I've just clicked on the link above, expecting it to not work, as usual. Apparently, other people can click on it and it opens the wanted webpage, but it never worked if you clicked on your own link. Amazingly, this time it did work for me. If it has been fixed/changed permanently, that would be great!