Letting Go of the Bay Leaf: Moose

Showing posts with label Moose. Show all posts

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Mosaic Monday #142: A Slice of Paradise

On our third day in the Belly River area, we saw a slice of paradise, and it is called Helen Lake. (See previous post for the first two days of the camping trip.)

The day began indulgently. With no need to break camp, we could sleep in a bit. Our nephew took advantage of this, while we grabbed some coffee and headed down to Elizabeth Lake. A fellow camper told us he had just seen a moose, but there was no sign of it by the time we arrived at the beach.

Spousal Unit relished his fishing, while I enjoyed observing a plover working the shore edges. Ducks dove under the water repeatedly - could they have been fishing as well? Eventually we made our way back to camp for breakfast, and joined in a lively conversation with the three campers that had arrived late the night before. One of them was the person who had seen the moose, and I eagerly looked at the photos on his camera. They reported seeing a bear on the way in, and the lady camper showed us a brief video. We learned they live in Pittsburgh, but we still liked them after we ascertained they are not Steelers fans!

We set off for Helen Lake, sparingly loaded for the 2.6 mile trek. Once again, stunning vistas enthralled us. Abundant waterfalls threaded through avalanche chutes on their way to the valley floor. Above them, two glaciers shone down with their unique blue-white color.

On the final approach to the lake, a waterfall with a "single-lane" log bridge greeted us. It's hard to imagine something more picturesque.

Here is a video of the falls.

The turquoise water sparkled and shimmered in the afternoon sunlight as the men took a dip in the crystalline lake.

This panorama shot by my nephew captures the spirit of Helen Lake, which we decided was the best part of our trip thus far.

I wandered the shoreline, taking in the pristine meadows. When I returned to the men, they suggested I point my binoculars to the distant hillside. A moose! We took turns observing it until the large mammal disappeared into a copse of trees. We lingered, and watched clouds start to scud across the mountain tops. Then, the young ranger we had met the day before appeared, and when we asked her about the weather, she noted that some lightning was in the forecast.

We headed back to camp at a steady clip, but we still got caught in the downpour. Neither man had his rain coat (breaking the first rule of mountain hiking), but even with my rain coat, I was drenched below my knees! The rain ran straight down my legs, and the heavy brush contributed enough water that my boots squelched loudly as we re-entered camp. Our nephew had run ahead since we had also left tent flaps open! We know better than to assume a sunny start to the day means it will end that way, and this was a good reminder. We got lucky that the rain didn't last long, and came straight down so that nothing inside the tents got wet. Whew!

We hung wet clothes to dry and headed to the beach. While the men fished (yes, again), the mist clung stubbornly to the mountains. But there was enough sun to dry our boots for the next morning. Nephew had the clever idea to take out the insoles, and that sped up the process.

During the fishing, Spousal Unit spotted a moose in the bay, beyond the sight line of me and my nephew. We scrambled for a better view, and my nephew captured a few still photos and a video. Two moose in one day! My cup overflowed!

That evening, two couples and a single female hiker joined the cooking circle. The two couples, one from Wisconsin and another from California, were hiking as a group and, while cordial, kept pretty much to themselves. The solo hiker seemed to need some company (and some help, such as hanging her food bag). We were intrigued (and I was privately alarmed) to learn she planned a total of 110 miles of hiking in one fell swoop. She entertained us with a number of critter stories, including one about a marmot that stole her solar charger. (She got it back by waiting for the marmot to come out of its hole and then putting her arm down there ...) As much as we wanted to hear more, we planned rising at 6 am the next day to dry our tents prior to departure, so that also meant an early bedtime. As I drifted off to sleep, visions of Helen Lake flickered before me like frames on a movie screen. It was so close to perfection that, if I hadn't seen it myself, I could have been convinced our little slice of paradise was nothing more than clever CGI.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

MM #126: Going to the Moon (Road trip Part 8)

With Idaho Falls in the rearview mirror, and the dash thermometer reading 22 degrees Fahrenheit, we headed west. Destination: Craters of the Moon. Along the way, 90 miles of relatively flat terrain, populated only by pronghorn, hawks, sagebrush and, apparently, the Idaho National Laboratory.

The Craters of the Moon National Monument spans over 750,000 acres. Volcanic eruptions ranging from gentle to explosive created the landscape. Deep cracks in the earth allowed lava to blast, plop and flow to create cinder cones, spatter cones and lava tube caves. We couldn't wait to drive the seven-mile loop and see it for ourselves!

While seemingly barren, the park's lava fields and arid sagebrush areas sustain a surprising diversity of plant and animal life. We weren't there at the right time of year (we visited in October), but the annual wildflower blooms peak in mid-June, with something in bloom from May through mid-September. Pikas, grouse, and pygmy rabbits, not to mention many birds, also thrive in the environment. During our drive, we saw Clark's Nutcrackers.

One of the aspects of this Monument that I enjoyed was its reflection on the impact of man on the landscape. Example: the Limber Pine.

Click on the photo below to enlarge the plaque which explains why park managers once poisoned or cut more than 6,000 of these trees.

"The major problems in the world are the result of the difference
between the way nature works and the way man thinks."
Gregory Bateson, anthropologist

The landscape of the Monument was not created by one massive volcano, but from a series of deep fissures - known collectively as the Great Rift - that cross the Snake River Plain. Some of the "hills" are spatter cones, miniature volcanoes formed as ejected globs of lava welded together.

Other "hills" are cinder cones, created when foamy cinders accumulate near the vent of a small volcano that generated lava with high gas content.

And then, as if to compensate, there are massive craters, as you can see in the video below.

How innocuous to see a random pine cone nearby.

I was fascinated by the lava cascades. When the lava leaked through cracks in a natural rock "dam", fiery rivers of lava flowed across the landscape. And then they "froze" in position!!!

And all of this happened a mere 2,000 years ago. Geologists believe that future events are likely!!!

We had plenty of daylight left before we needed to check in at our hotel in Ketchum, Idaho. So when I spotted a tiny dot of green on the Idaho map, just 37 miles to the west and (mostly) on our route, we winged it. Silver Creek Preserve turned out to be a little slice of paradise.

The story of the Preserve began in 1976 when the local community urged The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to purchase 470 acres then called the Sun Valley Ranch and create its flagship preserve, Silver Creek. This launched a landowner conservation effort along the stream to protect an additional 12,000 acres through conservation easements, making this one of the most successful stream conservation efforts ever undertaken for public benefit and a model for community-based conservation.

To arrive at the parking lot for the trail system, we drove over Kilpatrick Bridge, and even from the truck we could see the rainbow trout swimming gently against the current. Spousal Unit began twitching immediately - fishing!!! As we quickly learned from a nearby sign, Silver Creek and nearby Stalker Creek are reputed to have 6,000 fish per stream mile. Just think about that for a minute!!! It explained the abundance of fishermen, most of them decked out in waders. I left Spousal Unit to it, and went walking. I had enough time (2 hours) to make the full circuit, beginning at the YOU ARE HERE on the map below and progressing in a clock-wise direction.

Over the last forty years, TNC has expanded the Preserve to 881 acres and restored this high-desert spring creek to a thriving ecosystem for an abundance of wildlife including eagles, coyotes, bobcats and moose. Yes, moose!!!

As I traversed the far end of the trail system, I spied something large and dark, nestled in the alders along the stream's edge. My binoculars trained on the spot, I was fairly certain it was a moose. Then, my peripheral vision caught motion to the left. I lowered the binoculars, and what to my wondering eyes should be there, but a moose calf. Check out the video!!!! It trotted over to Mama, and you can see how close they were to the trail.

You do not mess with a Mama moose! As much as I would have liked to get closer and get shots of Mama, it would not have been a good life choice! So I had to skirt far to the left of them and then re-connect with the trail. I was exhilarated in equal parts from seeing two moose and from the proximity of a 500+ pound mammal that has a reputation for being a little nuts! I looked back several times just to make sure she was not pursuing me!

As many as 150 species of birds have been identified along the nature trail, and its globally unique aquatic ecosystem features one of the highest densities of stream insects in North America. Hence the birds!

I crossed a couple of bridges along the way, and each time I was mesmerized by the clarity of the water.

Near this point, I saw two more moose. They were on the opposite side of the creek; one was nestled on the ground. I took a couple of pictures, but they are not the best. I marveled at the glory of seeing 4 moose in the space of 2 hours. Proper habitat and ecosystem protection makes all the difference! To add to the joy of the afternoon, I saw a muskrat eating near the middle of the stream. Here is a video of this enchanting creature.

If you can't tell, my heart was truly captured by this magical place in Idaho's high desert. It offers something for everyone.

If you are a photographer or an artist, you'll make the trip for the legendary, glorious light: a light with its rich pastel of purples, reds, yellows and blues. As for me, I could barely drag myself away from the spectacular collision of water, sky and hills.