Work In Progress

I've seen a moose, and my life is complete.

This week was fairly similar to last week - setting stepping stones, living in a tent, etc - but there were definitely some highlights. Since it was our last week at Rainbow Lake, we had to pack out our tools and all our kitchen gear, which means a two-hour hike to the suburban with lots of weight in our packs. We lost a few team members to WFA training, plus our team leader to a site visit. Because of low numbers, we decided to carry out the tools the night before. It took us approximately four hours round-trip, but there are some experiences that definitely make things like that worthwhile.

And seeing a female moose and her calf about twenty feet away is one of those. The assistant team leader and I were hiking back to camp after dropping off the tools when he noticed some movement off the trail near the lake. Sure enough, two enormous, magnificent moose came traipsing out of the trees, right onto the path. Our reactions were basically: "Do you see that?" It was pretty amazing - very quick and hard to take in at the moment, but definitely amazing to see a creature that big and that fantastic up close.

Of course, I couldn't get my camera out in time and no one believes us! But anyways, the rest of the week was regular work. We've got a few days off, so we'll probably go into Acadia tomorrow and maybe Bangor on Friday. Then we head to Flagstaff Lake next week. We apparently get to stay in a never-used ski lodge. I won't freeze at night, we have electricity to cook, and we can get away from the bugs! Sounds perfect!

Until next time!