What an amazing afternoon! Today has been super foggy, but also very smokey from the fires in Canada. I really wanted to go see if I could find Maverick again, but poor air quality like this plus...
What an amazing afternoon! Today has been super foggy, but also very smokey from the fires in Canada. I really wanted to go see if I could find Maverick again, but poor air quality like this plus my bad asthma is a bad combination. The air advisory was lifted at 4pm and I couldn't stay cooped up all day, so I went out to the forest campground area where I've been seeing moose lately. I didn't realize that they opened the gate today and now campers were allowed in, so that changed my calculus and I hiked off in the woods further away. After a couple miles of seeing nothing, I gave up and headed back. Much to my delight, just a quarter mile away from my car I see a little movement in the willows! I'm not sure if I've seen her before, but at first she was a little nervous about me. She had the St Vrain river on one side of her and a tight group of willows all around... and my sense was that my presence was making her feel a little unsettled/crowded. So I stepped away, crossed a bridge and went to the other side of the river. She saw me the whole time and I could see her relax and go back to eating. After a couple minutes and to my surprise, she looked directly at me and then began crossing the river my direction. I thought she wanted to cross over directly at me, so I got up and backed away from the edge to provide some extra room -- all while also trying to snap pictures as this unfolded. She crossed over behind a tree and gradually walked over to me. She was very comfortable, even kneeling down to eat and turning her back to me within about 5 feet away. I couldn't believe that she came so close! The situation wasn't ideal though because there were campers, dogs and cars not far away. It felt like a risky combination, so I decided to walk away because she was really too close to me given the potential comotion. Really fantastic encounter!
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