you'll never believe this one!

Hi all! Could you all tell we've enjoyed our summer? I haven't posted in 2 months (oops, so sorry! Time just flies!) I plan on posting soon a recap of our summer and current fall projects I'm working on. But for now we're coming back with an unbelievable story for you!

View of our campsite

Wednesday night Sam planned a spontaneous camping trip for the two of us. After I got off work we packed up and headed to American Fork to borrow camping gear from his parents. We then drove up to American Fork canyon to find a camping spot. We decided to find a free campsite, which ended up taking us way up the mountain. The site was clean but pretty rustic. There was one bathroom to use and a few fire pits. We found a really nice spot tucked away off the main path. There was a nice clear spot of land for our tent, a fire pit and it was right near a little creek, absolutely charming. We were racing against the clock by the time we picked the spot; we needed to get unpacked and the tent set up before we ran out of light. Sam worked on building the tent while I hauled the loads of blankets, supplies, food and such town the 35 yard path from our truck to our spot (important bit of information for later). We were set up in no time and Sam started dinner. He had made us delicious tin foil dinners that we cooked in the fire. It was so nice to talk all night, watch for shooting stars (we each saw 3) and uncomfortably play Yahtzee in the dark tent. Finally we called it a night. Sam slept peacefully, but I had trouble sleeping, partially due to the cold and partially due to the rowdy partiers on the other side of the campsite from us (this will play into the story later too).

View of the beautiful land/surrounding mountains

Looking out the tent window searching for the animals

Fast forward to 7am the next morning. Sam and I were both awake but hadn't really acknowledged each other quite yet. All of a sudden we hear a loud rustling outside of our tent. We both freeze and look at each other, knowing something is right outside. Sam slowly opens the window of the tent. Through the mesh window he sees two large dark animals low to the ground not far from us. We were in Bear Country and Sam at this point is positive those are bears. Luckily we had a small hand gun with us, just in case. For about 20 minutes we stare out of the tent window watching for movement or even just confirmation of what they were. After awhile I tell Sam I'd feel safer in the truck and asked him if we could make a mad dash for it. He was still uncertain if that was a good idea, but after a few more minutes of staring out and seeing no movement we decide to go for it, leaving everything else in the tent. We make it to the truck safely but then wonder if the animals are heading for the other campsite where the partiers were, us thinking that those kids probably left food/trash out. We drive to their site and see two people out walking around. Sam asks them if any animals had come through there. They tell us that there are moose up ahead! Moose! Well now we are excited! I had always wanted to see a moose and was disappointed when we didn't see any in Yellowstone last month. I ask Sam if we can go looking for them. We walk through the woods until we found the clearing where they were. I immediately see a yearing (baby moose). I was so excited!! We grabbed a few pictures and after a few minutes the baby went jogging down the hill to its mother that we heard calling for it to join her. Whew! Now we are totally relaxed. We realize that it must have been the mother and baby walking through our site, and now they were long gone. We ate breakfast in the truck and finally were able to use the bathroom.

Next we decided to pack the site up and get ready to go hike up to the Timpanogos caves before ending our camping adventure. I joked as we parked the truck and headed down the trail, 'wouldn't it be funny if there was a huge animal at our tent,' knowing that the animals were gone. Sam loaded me up with all the blankets and pillows from inside the tent. All of a sudden we heard this really loud chuckling type noise. It was so loud and weird Sam joked, are those people or animals assuming it was those loud rowdy campers near by. Sam teased me right as I was turning to leave with all my blankets that there was no way I'd make it up to the truck with such a big load. Right as I was about to head up the trail I heard the noise again, Sam was more or less in the tent at this point gathering more items. I turned to him and yelled, "Sam, those are animals!" Surprised at how loud and unique the sounds were. Right at that moment Sam and I both turn toward the direction of the noise to see a mother moose charging right at us! In that moment all we could both do and yell was to run. There was no denying where she was heading, right for us. I have never been so scared for my life, seriously thinking we may die. I knew that she was able to run much faster than I could! Sam was running right by my side encouraging us to run. Luckily the truck was unlocked and we made it inside. We turned to see the moose 50 yards from us staring us down. I started to hyperventilate and hold back tears as I caught my breath. As time passed Sam gained courage to walk out of the truck to take pictures of the moose. He turns to me and holds up 4 fingers. There were four moose feeding right outside of our truck! The mother, two yearlings and a male moose with large antlers. I got out of the truck and couldn't believe my eyes and our luck for surviving a family of moose attack. At this point we were trapped until they were finished feeding, because we couldn't get back to our tent without getting too close to them. We watched them feed while standing in the cold morning air, always leaving the truck doors open in case the mother changed her mind and charged again! Eventually they made their way down hill and Sam started making runs to and from the camp site bringing our stuff up, but always made sure to keep me close to the truck.

The mother moose staring us down

A picture of three of the four moose feeding

We finally had all of our camp gear loaded up and had Sam's backpack ready for the hike up the mountain to the caves, when the truck wouldn't start. Our guess is that leaving the doors open for so long had drained the battery. Luckily a group of women hikers came out of the woods (which is pretty lucky since there were hardly any people around at all). We had seen them park their car when we were eating breakfast. They couldn't believe all that had happened to us since they started their hike! After jumping the battery we were able to drive down to the trail head of the hike to the caves and start our last adventure; it had already been such a full day and it wasn't even 10am!

Stalactites inside of the cave!

 The hike up to the cave was a mile and a half long, and you go up 1,100 feet. We booked it up the trail in 50 minutes, although they give you an extra 1 1/2 before your cave tour time. We really enjoyed touring the cave, but we were so tired and so ready to get home. So we made it down the steep mountain trail in 24 minutes and back to the truck to head home. Whew! We felt like we had been on a full vacation after camping for one night! We were so happy to come home and lay on our bed and take a hot shower! Never again do we hope to be charged by a moose!