Nate pulled the Camaro onto the mountain pass that was shrouded in clouds, and we began our ascent. It wasn't long before we spotted something in the distance. It appeared to be a chestnut horse coming out of the woods, and it took me a second to realize that it wasn't a wild horse --- it was a moose!
When Nate had asked me what I wanted to see on vacation, I had asked him the same question back. His response was, "A moose."
We hadn't seen one during our trip to Yellowstone, and I knew that had disappointed him, but here we were, less than 12 hours later, and we had spotted his moose!
The giant creature gangled forward on impossibly long legs and hopped right over the metal railing denoting the side of the roadway.
It was only a few seconds, and it was gone, but we saw a moose!
We continued driving up the mountain, through plenty of fog, until we were high enough that the air cleared. We turned the corner where we knew Jackson Hole would lie, and yet, there was nothing.
Our eyes opened wide, and we both looked at each other with shocked expressions when, instead of a city sprawling in the distance, it appeared that an ocean was filling the plain between the mountains. A dense cloud covered the entire area, blocking out all view of civilization and spread out in a white mass, reflecting like it was waves.
Then road twisted and began its descent, and it wasn't long before we knew for certain that it wasn't an ocean covering the land but indeed clouds. I tried to open my eyes to look for wildlife on the sides of the road --- to even see the sides of the road. However, as Nate drove through the cloud, it was almost impossible to see anything that was around us. It's moments like that I'm glad that we are safely in his capable hands.
The fog began to lift as we descended, and finally broke as we reached an elevation below the cloud. What had gone from a bright sunny day on the top of the mountain turned into a dreary, dark day below the clouds.
But the dreariness didn't stop us. We strapped on our packs and headed on the trail around Leigh Lake to where we would trek into Paintbrush Canyon on our way to Holly Lake. I stopped at an opening in the trees to take a picture of the mountain in the distance reflecting off of the mirror-like water.
That's when we heard a thud next to us.
A walnut had landed on the packed earth, and we looked up into the tree as a squeak resounded. Another thud, and the rustling of leaves and some more squeaks. It was a squirrel, and he was not happy that people had invaded his territory, especially so early in the day. Apparently, he had been enjoying some breakfast when we broke the silence, and he showed us what he thought by grabbing the biggest things he could find around him --- walnuts --- and heaving them down upon us.
"We're leaving, we're leaving you little twerp," I called up to him, as he looked down upon us in disgust.
We walked over a wooden bridge spanning quietly running waters between lakes and started up this new trail, keeping an eye out for a mama moose that a sign warned us was aggressively protecting her baby in the area. We passed one couple, and then no one. Silence. Pure wild.
"It's amazing how just one canyon over, everything can look so different," I said to Nate.
The scenery was completely different from our first day of hiking. We walked along what appeared to simply be an old creek bed, wondering how full of water it got when rains came. Giant evergreen trees emerged from both sides of the path, making us feel so small in such a wild area.
Giant boulders were strewn amidst the trees, remnants of a volcanic eruption hundreds of miles away, thousands of years ago.
We marveled at the place, at the amazing waterfall that was tucked away from everything and everyone else, at the solitude, at the natural beauty, at a world so untouched.
About seven miles in of the eight mile trip to Holly Lake though, we began to see the world get white. Although we were only at about 8,500 feet in elevation and snowpack wasn't supposed to hit until 9,800 feet, this area of the canyon apparently didn't see as much sun as other areas.
The area in front of us was white, and slippery. If you took one wrong step on this packed snow and didn't have something to catch you, you were sliding right down the mountain.
Disappointed, we turned back. We had lunch along a beautiful waterfall as it began to sprinkle rain once more.
Before we left, we stopped at the visitors center. We have a tradition of purchasing only one souvenir when on vacation --- a Christmas tree ornament. That way, we don't waste money on souvenirs, and each year we get to remember our wonderful trips as we decorate the tree.
We found a wooden moose and figured since we had seen a moose that morning, it was OK to buy that ornament.
We were driving home when we confirmed we had made the right decision on the ornament. A truck in front of us put on his hazard lights and began to slow down as a mama moose and a baby decided to make the dreaded highway crossing. The truck beeped his horn, trying to warn other vehicles of their presence and the calf jumped, tripping over its long feet and over the metal railing, tumbling headfirst into the grass on the other side.
It popped up and ran after its mother, acting like its gangly legs hadn't made the crossing more awkward than it had to be.
We smiled at the poor baby moose and at our little wooden ornament that would help us remember it.
But we didn't know that our next day was to bring even better moose moments.
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