9/26/2019 Blackwell Island Coeur D’Alene, Day 16

 

Expecting rain, we put the cycles on the rack and covered them up. No rain so far at 11:30 pm.

Rock Shadows

Ellen always brings a flashlight with her on our way to the showers. Last night was no exception.  Playing the light along the walkway we were startled by a rock shadow that appeared to move as the light played over it.  I joked about seeing a raccoon or coyote behind every rock on the path.  Ii was in mid sentence when Ellen abruptly inhaled, “Isn’t that moose?”  She played the light 100 feet up the path in the trees. She didn’t play the light on the shadow, but near it.  I couldn’t see anything.  I played my light along the path and sure enough, “It’s a huge moose.”  We walked to our left and away from what was a massive animal, a female.  She was eating apples from the tree, not interested in the fallen fruit. Ellen was both joyous and fearful.  As with any wild animal, a moose is unpredictable.  We walked well clear of her.

We didn’t find her on our way back nor around The Beast.  We know now that the “moose and babies” really are at the camp.

Thursday Morning

A weak front came through last night with moderate winds.  We have scattered light rain this morning.  The sun is nowhere to be seen.

Heading back to the showers this morning I saw mommy with one of her teenagers.  I went back to tell Ellen, “The Moose is Loose”, grabbed my phone, and took our first moose photo this trip.  Later I saw Ellen out looking for the moose as well.

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Not Really a Baby

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I’d Guess my Plaid Pants Gave me Away!

I love the rake of the young moose’s ears.  I stand about head high to the young moose’s head.  Mommy is massive and not to be trifled with.

Weather

We are at a crossroads.  There is a cold front that arrives Saturday and Sunday.  Daytime temperatures may drop to 40 with evening temperatures well below 32.  I have no concern about freezing pipes with daytime temps well above freezing.  My concern is snow.  The cold front brings rain and snow in upper elevations. By Monday or Tuesday, temperatures should rise and this first storm’s snow will melt.  What do we do between now, Thursday, and Monday?

I had planned to drive to Banff and Lake Louise, which would be gorgeous blanked in fresh snow.  Driving north without snow tires in this storm is folly.  That rules out going to Glacier National Park as well.  We could wait out the storm and go north Monday or Tuesday.  We could skip them and head on to Bozeman and Yellowstone. 

In any event we will stay here at CDA for another day.

Mid morning we had a 30 minute downpour then on and off rain.  By mid afternoon skies had cleared.  We even had warm sun.

Some weather outlets are saying “the sky is falling”; that we should expect up to 3 feet of snow in the mountain passes in Montana.  It is possible, though I doubt we’ll see that much snow if we move on to Montana ahead of the cold front.  Do we stay or do we go? 

The moose were out eating apples again this afternoon.  They’re shy around humans, tending to move into the brush when we walk by.

More “Rocks”

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One Fellow Hangs with Mom

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The Other Not So Much

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We took Lyft to Syringa, a local sushi place.  It was very good, except the hotate (scallops) had an unusual taste.  It could have been excessive water cress or the scallops themselves might have been different.

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Home on the Lake

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