Lost Moose Adventure #2

Now it's our turn to take off into the mountains, just the two of us.  

Off we go!

Fall colors were just beginning to reveal themselves. 

Mike investigated farther down this road and decided it was time to turn around.  The road got rockier 

and more difficult to navigate. 

So much beautiful scenery!

We were going down this road and we saw a mama moose and her baby.  They were just about to cross 

the road and it would have been a perfect picture.  I asked Mike to stop.  I had my camera around my neck. He wanted to get closer and didn't stop.  I didn't get the picture I wanted but you can see a brown blob circled. That is the mama moose going into the trees. He wanted to get closer for a better picture. I could have cropped the picture but that didn't happen.  Even though the picture didn't turn out it was a great site to see the moose and the baby. 

We stopped for snacks and Mike walked down the road a bit.  He saw a mule deer buck and a doe.  I 

heard them crunching through the trees but didn't see them. No picture because I had the camera.  

Our snack area! We met two nice hunters that were coming down the road.  They stopped and talked with us for over 40 minutes.  I had a divine encounter with the son.  He was 40 years old. He asked me how I liked riding the 4 wheeler.  My response was that it is fun but pretty bumpy because of the way I had to

sit.  I mentioned that a few years ago when riding on the back of the 4 wheeler it was harder because I 

had back surgery and could feel the hardware in my back.  His response to that was, "I have been praying I would meet someone to talk to who had back surgery." Wow, So many things could have gone differently that day and we would have never met.  We talked for about 25 minutes.  He asked a lot of questions. I prayed with him as we finished our conversation. I wrote the whole conversation down.  God is good! 

Heading back to our campsite.  What a day!  So, so unique and thank you God for putting Jeremy and me together for that brief time. 

We got back to the campsite and I changed my camera lens to take closer pictures without going closer.  This is the cougar den.  It is about a mile and a half from our campsite.  Here is one cougar story.  As we were going to the den with Dan the previous day about 1/2 mile passed the campground there was a road on our left.   A lady told him she saw 3 cougars crossing the road at that area.  Cougar story number two.  One evening the hosts were sitting around the campfire and heard a chirping sort of sound.  Birds don't chirp at night they thought. Someone at the campfire said that was not a bird, it was a cougar.  The camp host looked up the sound a cougar makes and guess what, that was the sound. Cougar story number 3.  This last May a trucker pulled over in front of the campground.  He walked up to the camp hosts to tell them he saw a cougar about a mile from the campground.  I walked by myself on that road last year with no gun or anything to protect myself. That won't happen again. 

Our last night at Lost Moose and we sat around the campfire with Teri and Dan, the camp hosts.  It was such a great trip and we will for sure be back. 

 

Lost Moose Arrival and Adventure

What a beautiful spot to camp!  Right next to the creek, a fire pit and lots of space! 

Almost all set up!  It's way more fun to set everything up than it is to pack it up to go home.  This was 

one trip where we could have stayed a lot longer. 

Early morning! Surrounded by God's creation. 

There he goes, in his element!  Getting the firewood ready! Love this man. 

Bigfoot hides in the same place every year.  Not very effective. 

The man and his machine. 

There were hundreds of butterflies behind our trailer each and every day!  The butterflies were all over

but our site had a swarm of them. 

Our first campfire!

I asked Mike if he would start a morning campfire so I could sit by it and drink my morning coffee.  Of course he obliged!

Getting ready for our first 4 wheeling ride up in the plethora of logging trails in the mountains. 

Maggie was the star of the show.  A three pound puppy that hung right around the camp host's spot.  The camp host had just bought this precious little dog. 

Dan, the camp host gave us a tour around the trails.  This is a cabin that the Lost Moose rents out on the other side of the road from the campground.  

Fully equipped with an outhouse.  

And here we go.  I can't reach the floor boards on the 4 wheeler because of the way I have to sit.  I need 

to balance myself with my arms.  That got tiring. 

We got on this extremely rocky trail and decided to turn around and take an alternate route.  I was thankful. 

We even got to go through a creek.  The picture is blurry because we were moving. 

Dan lead the way.  So very beautiful. 

Dan and Mike.  This was another turn around spot. 

The road less traveled because it was blocked off.  Turn around and try again. 

We got back to the camp safe and sound. We did go to one more place. The picture is coming below.  

Lots of butterflies, I mean a lot.  It was hard to capture how many there were. 

The traditional sleeping picture.  Mike never disappoints.  

These pictures were taken from our campsite. 

Mike wanted me to take these pictures of his fire starting.  He has a unique, but not necessarily safe way 

of starting a fire.  That's all I will say. 

This picture was taken on the way back from our ride.  Dan wanted to show us the cougar den.  There it

 is. We went back the next day so I could take pictures with my larger lens.  Dan had three cougar stories that I will share in the next blog post. 

The campground! 

I see you Bigfoot!

Mike found a great spot to pray right next to the creek.  He discovered it last year. 

All these rocks are covered with water earlier in the year. 

See the cross?  

This cabin is rented out.  It is right in the campground.  

The store and check in place.