2012: Moose Crossing

It was nearly 10 years ago, while riding in the back seat of a car, that I caught a glimpse of this creature. Not knowing what it was and having too much ego to ask others at that time, I used all of my limited imagination and concluded that it was the ugliest donkey I had ever seen.

In the following months, which soon turned into years, knowledge improved and ego went down – albeit ever so slightly – and I realized that said the ugliest donkey was this magnificent creature called the moose. Ever since, I have seen it in pictures shot by others & on television when they cause a traffic jam on US41, heard its presence in Isle Royale National Park and even saw it once in the Shohone National Forest in Wyoming but never came eye-to-eye with one in our very own backyard called the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

I guess 10 years was long enough wait to see a moose or so thought Mother Nature and she decided to lead me on this serendipitous ride: cancelled wedding shoot that kept me in the area, camera mounted with lens rented for the said wedding, detour from the initially planned route [with dear friend Bryant Weathers (@BryantWeathers)] that took me around Pequaming/Aura township, a severely damaged back road that prevented me from visiting another waterfall and a yooper traffic jam on L’Anse-Skanee road that slowed the drive down to a halt – all resulting in witnessing this moose in the wild, let alone with the Moose Crossing sign in front of it – a surreal experience that’s pretty hard to phrase into words!

EXIF and other information