"The Moose is Loose" or "Did Bullwinkle stick his tongue out at me?"

Above Anchorage, on the hillside, the adventurous can find miles upon miles of trails to hike. The names may not be as famous as some of the Lower 48 hikes; names like the Presidential Traverse, Half Dome, Mount Whitney, Glacier Gorge, or The Appalachian Trail (thank you Governor Mark Sanford for reminding us all that it’s not the Argentinian Trail…). But they are every bit as impressive.

I spent Friday night and much of Saturday hiking along (and off) the Powerline Pass Trail in search of moose. Marty, Bullwinkle, Mickey…. what? Oh. My editor has informed me that Mickey was in fact a mouse. All this time I thought he was called Steamboat Willie, oh well. This area is well known about Anchorage…ites for its resident moose population. In the fall, dozens of moose flock (not sure that’s the right word here…) to the Glen Alps area. Some have said that there are over 60 moose at any one time in the valley that cradles Campbell Creek. In just 2 hours (during Friday evening) I saw roughly 25 moose, a mix of cows and bulls. I saw the potential the area holds for moose photography, so I spent 10 hours of Saturday hiking and shooting. To be honest, I missed peak fall color by perhaps a week – but I’ve been busy and this was my first chance to get up there. Luckily, it is a 10-15 minuted drive from my office in Anchorage. Next year I’m going to spend more time up there, as I’ve only scratched the surface of the gem suspended above the Anchorage skyline.

One of the many bull moose of Powerline Pass. Near Anchorage, Alaska.

An Anchorage local & wildlife lover watching a mating pair of moose.

More moose to come.

Stay tuned…

Posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm. Filed under: Dave Taylor RSS 2.0 feed.