The Bonanza Trail loop

I returned to the Guardsmans Pass vortex a few days later. I could still feel the energy pulsating through my body as I pulled into the Bonanza Trail loop parking area. The day was cloudless, just a never ending blue sky, but the heat could be felt even at this higher elevation. I double check my water levels and hit the trail.

This rail loop was for horses, hikers and mountain bikers. Most trails are in Utah’s Wasatch mountains. What I appreciated about this one though is that hiker’s went clockwise whereas mountain bikers were to go counter clockwise. This would be to hopefully avoid a crash along the trail. Big surprise though, no more than a mile into the hike before I hear a mountain bike’s brakes squealing. When I get off the trail and turn around, the biker rushes past me. I shake my head and smile in disbelief, hoping that he is the anonymoly.

A couple of miles hiked when my second encounter with a mountain biker occurred. This time however, he was coming towards me as he should. Slowing down he was, when the words I have been hoping to hear were uttered….

“Big ass moose just up ahead on the trail”

I do not recall having ever seen a moose on a trail, or in the mountains unless at a National Park like Yellowstone. I was terrified and excited, in equal amounts. The beasts are huge, and can rightly do some permanent damage if they feel like it, or if they are provoked. I had no plans to do the latter, and slowly, quietly, kept going along the trail.

The moose had moved off the main trail, but was no more than fifteen feet from me when our eyes locked. I could feel the great beast sizing me up, then deciding I was not a danger to him, and he continued to move through the forest, following the stream as he went. My adrenaline was sky high, and I hiked with renewed purpose the remaining four or so miles.

Have you ever come across great beasts in Nature, especially while being solo?