Strangers in the night

 

Not the same moose.

I saw the moose last night. I’m now in my 14th month here, halfway through the second winter. During all the snow months there’s been a stomped out trail up and down the lawn outside my window along the edge of what looks to be an extensive wood lot. I’ve imagined what or who made that trail. At first I thought moose, but it is trampled down so often that seemed unlikely. I thought maybe maintenance people here moving from one parking lot to another and the third was a homeless person camping in the woods. First one who came to mind was the Solitary Man I observed often on my commutes years ago.     

     He lived on an island between the northbound and southbound lanes of the Glenn Highway just south of the bridge over Eagle River. I often saw him walking the bicycle trail between the island and downtown Eagle River. Some years ago improvements to the highway wiped out the island and I’ve often wondered what happened to him. Where I am now is less than 10 miles from the bridge, so it’s not impossible. 

     Then this morning around 4 a.m. the solution appeared. With just enough light outside to make out shapes, I sat on the edge of the bed looking out the window, and there it was, a moose trudging through the deep snow making way up the hill. There might even have been two of them but by the time I found my glasses and put them on they had disappeared into the parking lot at the top. No doubt about one, though, 

    

Proof

Then in daylight I noticed an impressive pile of moose nuggets in the trail, dark against the white snow. Even more interesting were the tracks made heading down the hill and approaching the building just below the window. One of these days, I keep telling myself I am going to put on my snowshoes and stomp around down there just to see if I can figure out what’s going on. I’ve been thinking that for a long time. 

SolitaryMan : They paved paradise and put up a parking lot