Powerline Pass moose extravaganza

Before this weekend, I was feeling very ornery because I was the only clerk who had yet to see a single moose since arriving in Alaska. We've been right in the middle of rut, which is the best time to see moose, and still I was denied! So this weekend, my buddy Rebecca and I went up to Powerline Pass, right alongside Flat Top, where others had reported seeing outrageous numbers of moose. We were not disappointed. We tromped around a corner to find this mama and baby hanging out in a field:


Moose mama and baby
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.


We had to thrash through some serious brush to get around them and continue our search without getting too close. Apparently the easiest ways to piss off a moose are to get between a mama and baby, or between a bull moose and his ladyfriend. We only saw one male, from pretty far away, and he seemed to be a juvenile because his horns were pretty small. There was a pretty awesome view of Denali and Mt. Foraker behind him, though.

We saw a ton more moose hiking around near powerline pass, but our most impressive (and terrifying) sighting was when we got back to the trailhead, and went around a little loop to take photos of this gorgeous sunset over the Knik Arm and Anchorage:


Sunset across the Knik Arm
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.


We were headed back to the car when we saw this moose crossing the walkway in front of us. We backtracked around the little loop and the moose was perfectly silhouetted by the sunset:


Moose silhouette
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.


We hung out near him (her?) for a while because he (she?) was busy chomping on bushes and didn't seem to be bothered by us that much. Here's my favorite shot, with the gorgeous backdrop of the sunset-reddened mountains:


Moose
Originally uploaded by t-dawg.


Now I'm happy! All the rest of my Powerline Pass moose photos are here. Please note that it was really quite cold up on this mountain (part of the Chugach range)--even after a full day of sun, streams were frozen! I think it was about 36 degrees!