The Moose is on the loose!
Oct//2009
Mike and Andy at Sandy Stream Pond.
Saturday morning we were up at 3:30 AM to make the almost one hour drive from our campground to Roaring Brook Camp Ground which is where you hike from to get to Sandy Stream Pond. This is the legendary location for photographing moose at Baxter State Park. Both Andy and Mike and many other photographers have taken their best moose photos at this very spot. However if you want to have a chance to photograph here you must arrive before the main gate opens at 5:00 AM when all the day hikers and other photographers arrive and fill the available parking spaces. Once these parking spots are filled the lot is closed and you may not enter this part of the park until much later in the day. So we spend over an hour sitting in our vehicles and I might add it’s raining. YUCK! But we wait it out and by 7:00 AM we make our way to Sandy Stream Pond to find two moose, a mother and her yearling on the far side. The lighting conditions are beginning to break for the better so we hurry back to our vehicles to gather our camera gear and return with high hopes of photographing these moose and maybe even a bull moose. To our dismay the conditions change yet again and not for the better. We spend only about an hour there and then retreat back to the parking lot and make our way off to explore other parts of the park from our cars. We never did find another moose that day however we now have seen three moose for this trip and we remain hopeful that the last day of this photo trip will bring us a bull moose.
Sunday morning we repeat the trip back to Roaring Brook arriving at about 5:00 AM only this time we have struck our camp site as we plan to depart later that day. The conditions once again are not what we had hoped for but at least it is not raining, that will change in an hour. We spend the morning at Sandy Stream Pond waiting patiently along side many other photographers and observers for a chance to see and photograph a moose. Some time passes with no moose in sight and the weather conditions changing from overcast to high winds to light rain to SNOW! Then back to some clear skies and more wind and slight rain. Then to our delight a female moose made her way from the far left side of the pond and walked directly towards us and continued walking no more then 50 feet in front of everyone. Most of the shots I took of this moose were with my 17-40mm lens! Who needs a 600mm lens anyway? Karl and I got some shots off but sadly that would be the last moose of this trip and by 12:00 Noon we were departing Baxter for our return trip home.
Female moose, first one of the trip.
Canon Mark IIN, ISO 1000, 28-135mm lens focal length at 95mm, f8 @ 1/80
So we did not get to see a bull moose let along photograph one. That’s just the price you pay as a wildlife photographer. As I tell all my students that take part in my photo workshops “Some days you get em and most days you don’t.” But you sure as hell won’t get em sitting at home watching TV!
By the end of this trip we had all had a great time. Steve, Karl and I enjoyed our time at the park seeing the spectacular autumn colors landscapes and all the other wildlife. I will be making a return trip to Baxter, maybe even next year.
Check out some of the upcoming events I will be speaking at and showing my photos.
Click here to view more photos from Baxter State Park.
Other links to Baxter State Park.
The Maine Way
WikipediA
Trails.com
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