Denali National Park Day 2

This morning Charlie and I survived our first moose attack. I hope it’s my last. From five feet away they are HUGE – and even bigger when you are on the ground and she is standing over you!

We went for our morning walk so Charlie could do his chores. I was watching the woods for them knowing they’re in the area. She came out of the woods so fast we did not see her until she was in our face. I turned to run and tripped, falling to the pavement. She stood over me and was so close her eyes were the size of silver dollars. The ranger had warned us about moose and said to run away zigzagging if they charged you but I found it is hard to zigzag when you are on the ground. Fortunately, the moose decided to back off at the last minute and we scrambled to get as far away as possible. Charlie’s poop bag is still on the roadside near my dirty underwear. My only thought was “those hoofs are going to hurt”. Another camper suggested the moose may have thought Charlie was a wolf. I’m glad Charlie didn’t act aggressive. That may have saved us from injury. An elbow scrap I can survive. That’s a great way to get the blood pumping early in the morning. We will be doing our walks closer to the campsite and leave the moose to the other end of the loop.

After that much excitement we opted for a real day off. We took a short drive into the park to see if the clouds had lifted. They had not so Denali is still a mystery to us. We gassed up, dumped the tanks, filled the fresh water tanks and returned to our site for a restful day. Karen thinks this is one of our best days so far. No TV, music, errands, shopping, chores, or laundry. The day was just a sit around, lounge around kind of day. We napped in the sun and Karen did some reading while I tinkered with small repairs and adjustments to the motor-home. We discussed our plans for the return trip. Tomorrow we reach Fairbanks and then turn south toward home. From the map it looks like it is all downhill from there. 

Too close

Safe distance - enlarge to see moose