What an interesting day! I started by hiking up to a nearby reservoir and along the way I spooked a young moose before I could get a decent shot. She ran out into the meadow before heading off into the distance. I was seeing a ton of evidence of moose and elk, and eventually I found myself right by a handful of elk mothers with newborn calves. Surprisingly, they never saw me. I tried to keep out of sight since they are so skittish in the national forest where hunting takes place, and I decided to pick a spot where they might come back through. I accidentally blew the opportunity by not realizing they had come back while I had become distracted by a bird that landed near me. The elk spotted me the second time and ran like their life depended on it.

But, those wouldn't be my last encounters of the day and it put me on a perfect path to intersect with the final star of today's show. As I came back to Brainard Lake, I put my camera away and gave up on seeing moose since there were a lot of people with dogs and hikers in front of me weren't acting like there was much to see -- but they weren't looking close enough! I first spotted the second moose of the day about 75 yards off the trail. She noticed me, but went right back to eating willows. I stayed for about an hour and she eventually walked right by me (nearly 10 ft away) before laying down in some snow to cool off. She was super inquisitive, and it was one of those rare occasions when I actually got up to put some distance between me and the animal. I love a few of the ultra close-ups. Great hike!