"The hooves pounded up the trail behind us"

Moose in Colorado

- BY TIM WENGER

OUR PUPPY, RUSSELL, HEARD HIM before we did. Within seconds of the dog's startled yelp, we caught the sound of hooves pounding up the trail behind us. A rainstorm had just broken, and when I turned, I saw a bull moose at least two metres tall charging straight towards my wife, Alisha, and me. We were hiking the West Bench Trail on Colorado's Grand Mesa, a route we often visit for walks and bike rides. The mesa itself forms a dividing line between the red slickrock of Utah's high desert and the high country of the Colorado Rockies. Above 2,500m, the desert falls away into rolling forest, punctured by fractured granite and serrated ridgelines, all under a rich blue sky.

The 1,300km² expanse supports a range of wildlife, from elk and mule deer to black bears and, as we were witnessing, moose. Of all the animals I'd expected to meet that day, a charging bull was not high on the list.