More Moose on Myrtle Ski Trip Two

The prospect of a sunny day lured us into the mountains--really any excuse will do. We decided to ski farther up Myrtle Creek Road since we already had tracks for the first few miles.

One of the 17 moose we spotted in the Myrtle Creek burn

Before we even left the burn, we saw 10 mule deer and 17 moose. I'm wondering how many more moose we didn't see. 

Snack break on Myrtle Creek Road

We skied to the first forest service road on the right, about 4.5 miles from the truck, and then skied up that road to a logging unit. We were hoping to practice some downhill turns in the open logging unit, but unfortunately the snow was crusty and we didn't have much control. 

View from the logging unit--looking towards Myrtle's Turtle and Two Mouth area

The predicted sunny day didn't unfold. The sun played peek-a-boo between the clouds and illuminated some peaks and ridges at different times, but the clouds prevailed. 

Three bulls feeding on willows--the one on the left has a dark pelage

Once back at the truck, we saw three bull moose feeding on the willows. One bull had especially dark pelage compared to the others. One bull had small antlers that looked more like elk antlers than the typical palmate moose antlers. Two of the bulls will have nice big antlers in a few more years. 

Two of the three bulls--the left moose has elk-like antlers

All the moose in north Idaho are Shiras moose (Alces alces shirasi), which are different than the moose in Alaska. The Alaskan moose (Alces alces gigas) are the largest moose subspecies in North America, while the Shiras moose are the smallest. Four subspecies of moose are recognized in North America--the Alaskan, northwestern, eastern and Shiras. Alaskan moose occupy Alaska and the western Yukon.  Northwestern moose occupy British Columbia to Ontario and into the northern tier of the mid-West (such as northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan). The Eastern moose inhabits east of Ontario and into New England. The Shiras Moose inhabits the mountainous areas of southern British Columbia southward into Colorado and Utah. 

On this ski trip we also saw bobcat and coyote tracks in the snow, along with numerous snowshoe hare tracks and squirrel tracks. Nelson enjoying following the snowshoe hare tracks during the first part of the trip, but then decided walking in our ski tracks was easier on the way down. 

Trip Stats: Skied 14.3 miles in 4 hours of moving time (doesn't include snack breaks).