As I drove off from Acadia, my heart hung a little heavy watching the coast fade away in the distance. I had spent the last week feeling like I had discovered another world along the coast of Maine. Now I was off like Boris Badinoff in search for the elusive moose. There are over 60,000 of the magnificent creature around the state, and I had made it my goal to see at least one.
My entire voyage up to Maine had been filled with people telling me about moose. It didn’t matter who it was. Everyone had a moose story. My conversations would go something like this:
“Where are you headed?”
“Maine”
“You ever seen a moose?” followed by some story about how awesome they were.
I’m serious. I even had had a cop pull me over while I was in NY and when I told him ME was my end destination, he had a moose story for me.
I had spent a couple of days researching where the best place to find them was and over and over, I had heard that Baxter State Park was the place.
So I headed up there in earnest, excited for the adventure and what I would find. When I pulled up at the park headquarters, I chatted a bit with the ranger about round trip milage to make sure that my charge could get me where I wanted. She directed me on a path that would get me the most out of my trip and sent me on my way. Like everyone else, she had a couple awesome stories about moose, just wetting my appetite for discovery.
And I set off! I wanted to get at least four miles in on a hike, so after driving about 40 min into the depths of the park, I pulled over and headed down a trail. Immediately, the forest opened up into a lake accompanied by a mountain overlooking it. I could hear birds chirping in the distance and the wind wisped softly through the leaves. As I sat near the edge of the water, watching a bird watch itself, I got lost in the tranquility of the moment. But before too long, I was off again.
I had moose to find.
For the next couple of miles, I kept as quiet as I could, pushing through the dense foliage. I was off the path by now looking for off beat water holes, as I thought this would be the best place to catch a glimpse of one, now that it was closer to sunset. When I came upon another lake, I decided this was the place, feeling very much like Bringham Young, and sat down and waited for the moose to come to me.
And I waited, and I waited, and I waited.
Finally, as the moon rose on the horizon, and darkness started to become complete, I realized I only had enough sun left to get back to my car and had to give up todays search.
And then that was that. No moose. Was I disappointed? I don’t see how I couldn’t have been, especially after all of the hype. Yet, after it all, I look back at that day in awe, fantasizing about when I can return. Every aspect of it left an imprint on me, from the crystal clear waters, to the rolling mountains to yes, the endless search for the elusive moose.
Maybe next time.
Closest Supercharger Medway, ME
1941 Medway Road
Medway, ME 04460
Baxter State Park (Level 2 Charging on site)
64 Balsam Dr
Millinocket, ME 04426
