She gasped quietly. The bear was so close, we could hear it breathing and rooting around for bugs and grubs. He caught sight of us as we slowly backed up a little to give him his space, removing the safety mechanisms from our bear spray canisters as we went...just in case. After a few tense moments (for us at least!), he went right back to his delicious insects contained within the fallen tree trunk he was tearing at. It was so beautiful. So peaceful. He couldn't care less that we were there. We continued to back away slowly as he rousted himself and crossed the trail, disappearing up the hill and into the trees. Just amazing. The day couldn’t get any better, right?

We walked back down the trail to the spot where we were considering that dip in the lake, took off our shoes and started wading around in the cool water splashing, laughing, talking, marveling at the setting we found ourselves in.

I turned to look back towards the shore and started flailing and stuttering: “Bbbbmmmm, it’s...it’s...MOOOOOOSE!”

At just that moment, a bull moose glided by the shoreline on the trail we had just left. Jess doggy-paddled her heart out back toward the shore so she could get a closer look. I reminded her that moose are much more dangerous and ornery than bears and to keep her distance.

“Yeah! Ok! Yeah, I get it!” she yelled back.

She grabbed her camera and from a distance of about 50 yards she followed the bull moose down the trail, putting trees and boulders between herself and the moose as she went, until suddenly he departed from the trail and walked down near the water to begin eating his fresh Teton salad. She stood there in awe at the sheer size of the moose, fascinated by how it moved and ate and grunted. It was so immense and yet it moved more gracefully than anything that large should. Eventually the moose moved on and Jess returned to wade in the lake when he began to move back toward the trail.

We exited the lake, put on our shoes and started back down the trail to the van. On our way back, we ran into our bear friend again, only this time we saw him a little sooner than the first time. He was still rooting around, doing his bear thing. We continued down the trail with ear-to-ear smiles on our faces. Our experiences with untended, wild nature that day left a deep impression on us. We made memories that day that we routinely talk about on long drives or around campfires.

Favorite Destination So Far: Yosemite National Park