A couple of days ago I took the dogs on my daily hike to my private trails near my house. Of course the trails are on national forest service land and some people tend to trespass without regard for my personal privacy, so lately I have been going later because of the heat and possibility of running into people. I started the 1.6 mile loop at about dusk and knew I would finish it when it would be pretty dark. No one was in the parking area and so I let the dogs loose and let them run off some energy. Nice evening and as I got to the area that overlooks Hayden Lake I stopped and enjoyed the view and the sweet scents and sounds of a beautiful summer eve. As I resumed the my walk I noticed Etnie (Tasha's dog that we somehow inherited) stop in the trail and looking ahead, the trail curved right there and I thought there were probably some people so I hurried to get a hold of her because she barks and lunges at people which is embarassing. ( Etnie much like Tasha doesn't do anything you tell her ) As I got closer I saw what she was looking at. A big bull moose, right in the middle of the trail looking at the dogs. I was only about 50 feet away at this point and quite surprised. Awesome animal with its antlers still in velvet, the dogs started growling and inching toward it. I tried calling them back, I didn't want them harassing this nice moose and making it run around and stressing it out. I didn't need to worry about the moose, it wasn't troubled at all and calmly lowered his head and charged the dogs. The dogs being outweighed by 1000 pounds beat a retreat past me as I was prudently walking backwards at an increasingly faster pace. The moose was not slowing down and was now way too close for comfort. The vegatation is really thick here and there was nowhere to go but back down the trail. I turned and started to run - anyone who has been chased by a bull moose can appreciate the fact that I didn't dwaddle. In fact as I grasped the gravity of the situation I put on a burst of speed that I frankly didn't know I had in me. I was showing form and a lightness of foot that the world hasn't seen since I was on the football field at the Sunbowl in St. George 25 years ago. I swear I ran about a 4.2 forty yard dash. After about a hundred yards I looked over my shoulder and saw the moose stop and slowly wander into the dense forest off the trail. The dogs had no interest in going after it although I still had to go past that spot to get by on the trail. I carefully eased by and never saw it again. It was getting dark and since I had about a quart of adrenaline in my blood I decided to run the rest of the way. And I did.
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