Moose Deuce

I went cross country skiing again, I realize this is in danger of becoming a ski blog but I don't do much else. I went up in the mountains and took off up an old logging road and it was a good day to be skiing, about four inches of fresh snow and the conditions were good. I noticed some huge tracks going up the road and took a closer look, moose. The tracks were sinking in about a foot and there were two sets of them. I thought they looked fresh so I called Farley back and made him stay behind me and started looking ahead hoping to catch a glimpse of the aformentioned meeces. I had gone about half a mile and the tracks were were veering side to side as I could tell they were trying to get off the road, but it was a steep slope and deep snow on both sides so they couldn't. Then I saw a steaming pile of droppings and I knew I was getting close. I skied as quietly as possible and finally came around a corner and snow flew as a cow moose and a large calf took off. They were only about 25 yards away and they trotted ahead, I watched them as they headed up the road, they can really cover ground even at a trot. Finally I could see the big one head up into the trees off the road. It took me about 15 minutes to ski to where it disapeared (uphill all the way) When I got there I saw the tracks of the big one go up into the trees and the tracks of the smaller continue up the road. Hmmmm. Didn't really like this scenario. So now I was in between a cow moose and her calf on a narrow little logging road with nowhere to hide and skis on that would make me a sitting duck. Farley wouldn't be much help, he didn't seem to even notice them, and I think if they charged he would be running like hell. Oh well, I continued on up the road and kept pushing the other moose ahead of me. I would stride, breathe, look over my shoulder. I wasn't scared, but I did want to avoid getting the shit kicked out of me by a pissed off 2000 lb. mother ungulate. After a couple more miles of uphill skiing I was tired and decided to head back, downhill glide the whole way. Never did see either moose again, but I'm glad I got to watch them. I felt a little bad about seperating them so far, but it wasn't a small calf - it was almost half the size of its mother. More like a teenager - as soon as it needed some money it would find its way back to mommy.