# TR: Gore flatwater caution, Moose!



## Cphilli (Jun 10, 2010)

Last night (9/20/2011) I decided to go and get my first after work solo in Gore, I feel like I should share what happened on my paddle in.

I was about 7-8 minutes into the paddle and just made it to the big U turn. There is an open sand bar at the bottom of the U, and I was making my way around the inside corner. 

I came around the corner to the sand bar and immediately saw two large animals standing near the water. Color was extremely dark brown almost black; at first I thought donkey, but these were much bigger than any ass I've ever seen. I was pretty much sitting there floating towards them not sure yet, and then out of nowhere a Bull walked out to the water, looked right at me, and started approaching(he was not happy I crashed his little party by the river). 

I had never seen a moose in the wild up to this point, I turned my boat and started paddling upstream and across the river as quickly as I could. By the time I was paddling away he had moved to a trot, every time I looked back he was closer. I picked up my pace, was able to get to the other bank and upstream of it. He stood there and looked at me for a good 15-20 seconds, this animal was bigger than life itself and could have easily chased me down if he wanted to.

The rest of the paddle in was pretty mellow, other than almost shitting my pants. I think the whole experience made the whitewater seem pretty insignificant.


So that is pretty much what happened. Please be careful out there right now. There are large moose and have also been several bear sightings (personally saw one a quarter mile from dress up eddy)this season.


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## Jensjustduckie (Jun 29, 2007)

Moose are pretty common up there, they were reintroduced near Walden in the seventies or eighties. We see them on the lower blue all the time.

Huge aren't they? Moose are not like most ungulates who just want to run away from you - they want to watch and possibly challenge you. 

Way to keep your head


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## mhelm (Jun 28, 2008)

Nice Craig, I'm glad you got a solo run in there. I've had a couple, but no moose encounters like yours. I've dealt with them on the mountain here, but not so much on the river. Glad you're alright!


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## JDHOG72 (Jul 18, 2007)

That is the new guardian of the west nile shuffle! The paddle in has been like a national geographic special this year with Bears, Eagles tearing apart fish and now Class V moose slalom.


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## ~Bank (Jul 31, 2010)

I paddled by the moose about an hour before Craig. One female, one bull, and a baby were hanging out. I have seen many moose before, they are very aggressive when a newborn is around. These moose were medium sized. I also saw the bear yesterday. It was a medium sized brownish black bear.


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