I drove up to Nederland (located in the mountains west of Boulder, Colorado) this past Sunday afternoon on my continuing (and most likely hopeless) quest to spot a moose out in the wild. I read in the newspaper that a man had been attacked by a moose up there because he got too close to it's calf. I also read that someone had recently spotted two rather "mangy" moose on Ridge Road (the one in Nederland, not the one that runs through Homewood, Illinois, back in Chicago's southern suburbs). Armed with these insights, I drove up there and cruised Ridge Road from top to bottom (literally), but saw no moose. It was a very pretty area, however, and I was able to snap the photograph on the left at the point where Ridge Road went from a paved to a dirt road.
Since moose no longer seemed to be hanging out on Ridge Road, I decided to drive through Nederland to the small town of Eldora, and beyond that to the Hessie trail, which runs along Boulder Creek and is the place I would hang out in if I were a moose - lots of water and vegetation and woods. I did find a lot of hikers there, and once again, the scenery was very pretty, but no moose. I have reached the conclusion that if I truly want to see a moose in Colorado (if they do indeed exist here, which I am not convinced of), I would have to stay up in the mountains for a week or so, either renting a cabin or camping out, thus allowing me to be around in the early mornings and at dusk, when they are most likely to be seen. Kind of like author Bill Bryson spending weeks in the northernmost town in the world to get a glimpse of the northern lights. Ain't gonna happen.
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