Moose attack

Okay, so this will be a short write up from last Saturday's experience with a moose.  Yes, we had a close encounter with a moose.  So far the scariest thing I've experienced in my short few years of trail running.

Let me back up.  I have a good friend, Thayne, that loves to run American Fork Canyon.  He also has a lab so we try and run together with our dogs.  We decided to run some of his favorite trails up at the top of AF canyon.  I really need to know the trail names/numbers much better.  We started close to the Salamander Flats campground.

We  made pretty good time up to the ridge just as the sun was coming up (yes, Thayne like many of you likes to get up BEFORE the crack of dawn to run).  As you approached a beautiful meadow I commented how surprised I was that we hadn't seen any moose.  Perfect place for their habitat.

So what happens?  Not a minute later, out of the bushes about 100 feet from us appears a momma moose with her little baby.  The dogs went crazy and ran toward them.  Stupid!  Cosmo barely escaped the front hoof of the momma moose as she made it clear to "Stay Away".

No, I did NOT get a picture of the moose charging us.

We stood there from a distance and watched the two moose slowly head up the train and then stop.  There they stood.  And there we stood.  What to do.  Wait until they leave so we could continue?  Well, one thing was for sure, our dogs were not going to let it go.  They kept barking and charging the moose.  Well, mostly Kono (Thayne's dog).  I had a hold of Cosmo.

What happened next is almost a blur, definitely almost my worst nightmare.  That momma moose decided she had had enough.  She was coming after us.  I couldn't believe it.  This gigantic animal was coming toward us.  So of course we took off running.  It didn't take any effort at all and that animal closed to within 20 or so feet of us.  For a second (or two) I thought "We are in serious trouble".  I was running through the meadow as fast as I could, jumping over bushes, running through bushes, running for my life.  Then by some miracle Thayne and I and our two dogs all ran in different directions.  I can only think that this confused the moose enough that she didn't know what to do.

After regrouping and checking to see if we were okay, we continued our morning run along a different trail. Running in American Fork canyon is just simply amazing.  The dogs were in heaven and we even saw more moose that just left us alone.  I need to learn the trails up there better.  Beautiful country.  Final numbers (8.8 miles and 1837 feet of climbing)