Shy moose...

On the Road Again Day 14 | Moose makes the trip

On a high from our second float trip in three days, we changed clothes and went exploring. We've yet to find an actual town of Island Park, then discovered that it has the longest Main Street in America: 33 miles. That explains a lot.

We did our best to find residential areas, found a few, hidden in the woods. The valley is in the middle of an ancient caldera and ringed by the old rim. The cottonwoods along the river are changing to bright yellow, gorgeous.

The local stretch of the river flows from a reservoir, so we decided to take a look before heading back to the lodge for dinner. As we turned the corner toward the dam, a couple of cars were stopped in the road and I saw why: a young male moose was trying to cross the road. He freaked out a bit and ran back across the road and into the brush, where he stood watching. The others went on but we backed off and gave him lots of space. And when he tried it again, I was standing by the car with my telephoto lens.

Spotting my favorite animal up close was a thrill.