Saturday, we got up early to meet some of our friends in the Outdoor Eyes Photography & Hiking Meetup Group. We were going to hike the Cub Lake Trail, one of our favorite hikes in the park. The Cub Lake Trail is, by RMNP standards, not a very difficult hike. In fact it is a perfect hike for a family and friends. The reason we love the Cub Lake Trail so much is that every time we hike it, the hike is completely different. In the spring and summer, the ever changing wildflowers make the trail light up brilliantly with multiple colors. And based on the month, different wildlife appear and disappear. You never quite know what you will see or won’t see. And the photography in the trail is stunning, depending on the light of the day. There are places we will photograph each and every time we hike the trail, only to come back disappointed each time… for we never quite capture the feeling of a certain spot along the trail that we were looking for. But each and every time, we keep trying.
 
The day was perfect as we drove down Bear Lake Road. The aspens were bright yellow and the sky was perfectly blue. We stopped along the way to photograph a herd of Elk by the side of the road. Fifteen minutes of quick photos and we were on our way again. We didn’t want to be late for our hike.
 
Eight of our friends were joining us and all we were expecting was a great hike and great photography opportunities along the way. It is a trail with a lot of character and many things to see and experience. In fact, we created a guide book for all the wildlife, plants, butterflies, trees, etc. that you might see on the trail. Nothing and we mean nothing ever happens unexpectedly on this trail… but this day would be quite different! A day to remember!
 
Since the group wanted to photograph along the way, people would fall far behind or go ahead, depending on what they wanted to photograph. It was a very leisurely pace, as all our Outdoor Eyes Meetups are. At this particular time, Dennis fell behind to photograph the yellow aspens. He loves to photograph the yellow aspens and the bronze grasses. Little did he know how lucky he was to become in about 5 minutes. His life was going to change forever! For ahead of him, right on the trail was a moose... a BIG MOOSE. Did we say a BIG MOOSE? It was so close that his 200mm lens was too powerful to photograph the whole moose. He started photographing as fast as he could as we continued hiking the Cub Lake Trail. Who could have known what was going on behind us? Dennis was in another world! After many photographs, the moose finally walked slowly back into the woods. The moose was gone and we never got a chance to see him.
 
You have to realize, after photographing wildlife for so many years, we have never seen a moose. We have arisen at all hours, traveled many miles, had detailed maps of where the moose hang out and we have never even seen a hoof print of a moose. It would be a dream come true for us.
 
Dennis caught up to us moments later, beaming and quickly showed us the photos in his camera. I thought it was a moose, but I decided, that it had to be a COW. “Where did you photograph a COW?” For I, was not going to say the word MOOSE.” "It's a moose", Dennis said, beaming even more.
 
Silence. We were upset. We were so upset, that the word upset couldn't even explain our emotions! Silence. We turned and hiked until we arrived at the lake. Sitting at the lake, we kept shaking our heads as we ate our lunch. We had a hard time even finishing our lunch. We contemplated even thinking that this great day was actually ruined!
 
Eric was photographing the lake at that time and then, magically, a huge shadow appeared from trees. It wasn’t just any shadow. It was a shadow of a MOOSE. It wasn't just any moose. It was the biggest moose that we had ever seen! In fact it was the first moose that we had ever seen. Eric had no idea that the moose was approaching him (about 30 feet away). We kept waving our arms to signal to him to turn around and he kept waving back to us… smiling as if to say “I’m having a great time, too.” The moose was right next to him and Eric was oblivious to the moment. Well, to make a long story short, Eric never even saw the moose and we failed to photograph the moose. So, Dennis’s photograph of the moose is in our article today and we had no photograph… but WHO GIVES A HOOT! It was a great day in RMNP for all of us. We were beaming all the way home.
 
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