I woke up early on this morning and set out to see if I might be able to find some of the same moose that I spotted the day before. Hiking through the marsh in the rain was sloppy to say the least. Several elk were scattered around the edges of the meadow, and after about a mile of hiking I could see a moose about a quarter mile away. Soon, I noticed two others. It was clear that they could see me despite the distance between us, which is exactly what I want in these types of situations.

I moved a little further out in the open to get in better position for pictures and then I sat back and waited to see what this trio would do. Slowly but surely they drifted my direction. Throughout this encounter, I hardly moved. The biggest bull eventually walked up to about 40 feet away and sat down. The other two seemed poised to do the same, but our encounter would be unexpectedly interrupted.

My focus had been on the three moose, but behind me a female elk had approached to within about 40 feet as well. I typically want animals to know that I'm there, but the elk couldn't quite tell what I was since I had my back turned and was wearing rain gear that covered me head to toe.

I turned towards the elk and took down the hood covering my head which was, in hindsight, an obvious mistake. Elk are very skittish, and once she could see that I was clearly human -- she decided to scream her alarm. In a way this was a really funny and educational experience for me. The moose knew that her alarm meant "danger", but it was as if someone from another country speaking another language was stressing their concern. The moose were looking around for the danger but they didn't see me as a threat. The elk was freaking out, but surprisingly she held her ground. The moose didn't like the repeated alarm calls, so after a few minutes the big bull stood up and led his group away.

I was bummed that the really close encounter had been cut short, but I learned a few lessons for next time. It was nice seeing the group walk through the Colorado River and off into the distance, so at least their departure wasn't a total loss.

Overall this was a fantastic encounter. It was super rainy, but I had great gear keeping my dry and warm. The moose started rather far away and approached me deliberatly on their own. Everything was calm and great up until I showed myself to the elk. Later on the hike back, I ran into two more moose. All-in-all it was a really great opportunity to spend some time with my favorite creatures!