What if you nearly saw a moose?

My recent travels have led me to both Yellowstone National Park (America's First National Park) and the Rocky Mountain National Park. I consider both excursions quite a treat as I have rarely visited such treasures as our nation holds. This was actually my second visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park as we made the same trip in 2005. I have learned that one of the most important activities related to the Parks is to attempt to observe the greatest number and most unique wildlife specimans that each Park holds.

I saw a black bear in Yellowstone. He was juvenile in size and possessed a red tag in his ear. He wasn't as near interested in us as we were in him. I also saw an Osprey eagle there in it's natural habitat. He was in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone near the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. The Lower Falls tumbles 309 ft., more than twice the distance of Niagra Falls.

I also saw an American bison. I saw that American bison go "pooh." I saw that American bison go "pooh" for a distance of approximately 8 feet. I also saw a yellow-bellied marmot family. If you are not sure what a marmot is, think the gophers from the Caddyshack movie. I saw a "freak-horned" elk and a muledeer with a 5" drop-tine, still in velvet. Then one of my favorite sights was the football stadium for the Colorado University Buffaloes. Of course, I didn't actually see this in the Park. I had to drive to Boulder, Colorado to see it, but the 40 mile drive was well worth it. I made friends with their Associate Athletic Director, who gave me all the particulars about the stadium and their program. Actually, he just answered all the questions I asked him. He was extremely informative and very nice to visit with.

However, I did not get to see some of the "prize specimans" these parks hold. I did not see any wolves or bighorn sheep. I nearly saw a moose...I was just a few days late.
Some of our party had arrived a few days earlier and made the trek to the Parks moose habitat, the marshy wetlands where the elusive rare moose like to live. They were fortunate to witness a mother and her calve and, later, the prize of prizes, a bull moose. We revisited the site during our trip, but wern't so lucky. Again, we were just a few days late.

As I've pondered what I first had deemed as bad luck, it made me realize that nearly seeing a moose is not a bad thing. Had we seen all the prize specimans of wildlife, we might not be encouraged to return to the Parks. We may have considered our "tags filled" and lost the reason for continuing our search. And if we didn't go back, we'd sure miss out on all the joys of the journey that we did experience, regardless of which animals we witnessed. It helps me to keep the perspective that "the joy is in the hunt, and not in the kill."

I had an old friend that, literally, had more money than he would ever spend and nothing but time on his hands. He set around in his office and complained and griped about anything and everything. He became very bitter and seemed as though nothing in life could please him. I aksed him once, "you have all the money you need and time to burn, why don't you go somewhere and see what that place is like. Why don't you travel to such and such and enjoy the culture of the people there?" He replied that he'd already been to everywhere he wanted to go. He'd seen these and those people and was not interested in any place else. He later passed away, without ever leaving the region in which he lived.

Sad, really. I hope I never see everything that I want to see. I hope I always have at least one more thing to do before I pass. I hope I never completely "fill my tag" so there remains a reason to remain in the hunt, and experience the joy in the journey.

Here's hoping that you nearly see a moose, so that you may also receive one of God's true blessings. The blessing of the need to stay in the game and experience the joy in the journey.

Little Boze