Or at least thats my thinking as I raced to the shoreline in search of well....I wasn't sure what was coming towards the sandy rock laden beach.
My wife and I decided to get away for the weekend and just relax and enjoy the time away from our busy lifes back home so we ventured (with our wonderful dogs in tow...well ok with one real kool dog and our new lil doggy jake who seems to think that no matter the size of any animal on this planet-Jake the wonder dog can overpower them with one solid leap onto the animals side and with mind blowing speed proceed to bring sudden pain to the ailing animal and creating such fear that the animal will either run away in such terror or fall down dead.None of which ever takes place and we find ourselves in most cases scooping our dog up in our arms and apologizing to a complete stranger for the aweful and rather freaky way our pet acts around other animals and then we disapear and hide under the furniture for about three days).
On this trip we traveled about 50-60 miles into the hungry horse reservoir or just about west of Spotted bear.The roads into and all around the mountains of Northwest Montana are basically dirt and one lane but this road headed to spotted bear is gravel and most of the trip is 2 lane even tho I do recall passing some folks along the way and when I wasn't eating dirt I could see that the road was wide enough for a small car and a rv.
There is a nice cove and a really great campsite at about mile marker 55 that has a very cold creek that runs into it.
On this weekend trip my wife and I were not alone as we were sharing this site with about 10 other people (even tho we were alone for about 8 hours)and one paticular family that decided that the adults would act like children and the kids would be spectators to what seemed like a wrestling match written by a hollywood scriptwriter and the big event were a mother and father from the family so drunk and just not in their right mind and our fellow camping neighbors who were visiting the campsite because of the great swimming hole and wanting to enjoy their time with their kids and Grandfather but would be pumeled and spit upon because the mom/dad decided that the wonderful cove should be home to 12 cans of beer (drank and then crushed and laying on the bottom of the swimming hole)and their trash tossed about which didn't sit well with any of us and cost the grandfather a split lip but in the end (we hope) cost the mom/dad a ticket and a few days in detox.
We had spent a wonderful four days enjoying the scenery and with camera gear in tow I would wander the country side searching for the perfect picture with hopes of capturing shots of wildlife I had yet encountered but would make a great shot for my portfolio.
We were in the wilds and anything could be lurking in the thick forest and my travels would take me to creeks still swelling from the winter melt off even tho it was summertime but you never know when one may cross paths with a bear or even worse-a drunk with a attitude who just wants to wrestle for his chance to be named-outdoor wrestling champion of his world.
5:30a.m. is a aweful time to have to get up and wait for the sun to come up over the mountains but on our last day in hungry horse reservoir I decided it was now or never to capture whatever was lurking out in the wilderness.
Having gathered my camera gear and travel to a location only to wait for the best yet to come is really the photographers code-the best shots only come about when you sit and wait for what might be hours but the shot is well worth it.This gets to be a challenge when your in -10 temeratures but the rewards are kool...and no pun intended.
This morn the temps were hovering around 40 degrees and dawn was fastly approaching.
I packed up my gear and raced off to a section of the cove that had a slow dip to the water.
I could see that sunrise would be in about an hour or so and the birds were just now starting to fly around the mosquito infested cove with great flight they would dance just inches above the very cold waters of Hungry Horse scooping up every insect and then soar high into the skies.
I had walked down to the far corner of this cove where I would be facing the sun but would have the ops to sit my camera up on a stump and use this to support the shot but had no idea that I would have to race to the stump in order to even get close to getting a shot of what would be a amazing moment in time...ok in this photographers life.
The campsite was dark and very quiet and I would pan along with my eyes looking for something to move other then the birds and cranes flying around me.
Our wonderful wrestling family decided to leave the site around 5 a.m. so I had the whole west side of the cove to my lonesome and I was rather close to the woodsy trees and brush so I was listening to lots of noise coming from the woods.
As I looked out over the waters and across the cove I had spotted something moving rather slowly towards me.
I had set up my camera with a 75mm-300mm lens attached with a polorizer on the end to ward off any glare the sun may created once it rose above the mountains and the sky was filling up with sunlight rather fast so I wasn't at a very good angle for what was about to take place.
Trying to capture something meanwhile shooting into the rising sun would prove to be a challenge as the meter on my camera was screaming THIS CANNOT BE DONE!!
As I watched something swimming towards me I started to run things through my mind like-what if this is a bear? I didn't bring any seasoning...
What if this is something smaller like a bear!!! or how about even smaller yet like a bear looking for roasted hotdogs and the best that can be served up is me?
Anyways I grabbed my tripod and the camera bag and raced rather feverishly towards some stumps that I could use to hide behind and possibly lean against to support me and the camera but I found that the closer I got to the stump the faster and closer the animal was to reaching the shore.
Time was of the essence and I was about to run out of it.
I reached the stump and looked cautiously around the stump and it now dawned on me that the animal that was about to wander out of the water after it's morning swim was much larger then I thought.
I could handle maybe a fox or a river otter or even a dog standing on the shoreline shaking itself off or even a bear but something was telling me...you ain't seen the likes of this before and as I rambled off a shot and trying to get a fix in the veiwfinder of what possibly might be approaching the sandy beach it came to mind that this animal is starting to look larger then anything I had seen this close before. just about 15 feet from me was this ever growing moose and she had spotted me hiding behind the stump but wasn't to concerned and I at this point was trying to get my camera to just take a decent picture.
The sun was nearly cracking the horizon and directly in front of me was this moose and surrounding her was light.
As I slowly looked around the stump which seemed to not do a whole lot of good at this point the moose stood looking back at me with the expression of "not sure what you are but I am late for a date...."
She was about 10 feet in front of me and and before I could even check the meter on my camera or let her know in a kind way..DON'T MOVE!! she was off like a dressed up elf on Christmas with tons of toys to deliver.
Snap,Snap went the camera as I tried to least get proof that I had seen bigfoot.
Before I knew it the sun had lifted above the hills and I was left excited that I survived what could of been a ugly scene but I did capture maybe not the perfect picture but a moment that will live with me forever...to be face to face with a moose.
We had plans on capturing(photographing)a moose and we got two ops last year and it has been a moment in my life that was shared with my wife and thats the coolist thing ever.(first time was up in Avalanche on the west side of Glacier when we came across a moose and my wife and I got some great shots as well but we weren't face to face with the moose persay).
Anyways I raced back to report to my wife and dogs what had taken place and the rest is history or at least for now until we report on the ever increasing sightings of bigfoot.
I have camera waiting for the next big photo shoot......this is going to be good!
Sincerly ~Photo rebel
