Moose traffic jam on the skyline trail (fotos up close and personal)

Id heard there was a good chance of seeing moose on the skyline trail, but that wasnt why i was out here.

I had hiked out to the very end of the narrow ridge overlooking the Cabot Trail and the Gulf of St. Lawrence because i was tired of pretending i knew the trail. Id been driving by all summer with bus loads of tourists, pointing out where i thought the trail was and describing what i assumed it was like out there.

Today I was going to find out. The first part of the trail is quite boring and disappointing. You walk along what is for all intents and purposes and wide flat gravel road lined with scrubby spruce. I did briefly see a moose on the way in but he was a bit mangy and thin and there are signs warning you about getting too close.

I kept going as I was anxious to get out on the ridge. The trail narrows and narrows and eventually becomes a boardwalk - a boardwalk you are not allowed to leave - if Parks Canada let people walk on the ridge, the exposed soil would be eroded away by the Souette's or southeast winds that whip across the table top mountains.

The old trail goes beyond the end of the boardwalk and it took all of my willpower to resist going just a little farther. There is a 350$ fine if you leave the boardwalk, so it really wasnt that hard to be sensible.

And the view at the end of the boardwalk is pretty darm imressive enough. The Gulf of St. Lawrence 300m below on one side and the Cabot Trail highway snaking up French Mountain on the other. If you go, I suggest taking extra clothes, a picnic, binoculars and leave yourself lots of time; for watching fishing boats, drifting clouds, diving gannets or even the traffic on the trail.

By traffic on the trail, I mean moose. It took me a full hour longer to leave the trail than it did to head in - as it was getting on towards evening, the moose were coming out of the woods and standing right on the path -at first it was exciting and interesting. but the moose were in no hurry to leave the trail - and even when they did they often stood just to the side of the trail - still not really safe to pass by

it wasnt til i had managed to scurry by a couple and then found myself trapped between two groups of the huge creatures that i remembered my good friend colin had told me a similar story - the longer you wait, the darker it gets, the more moose that come, the longer you have to wait...

The bright side is i had accomplished what i set out to do: i now had lots to tell my passengers the next time we swung up french mountain across from the skyline trail - i could quite honestly say, id spent a lot of time out there.

See the full gallery on posterous