Encounters of the Wild Kind Eleanor Dorst   © Copyright 2020 by Eleanor Dorst

Photo by Zac Durant on Unsplash

This happened some time ago when technology was not at its peak and social media had yet to be invented.

As the saying goes, ‘ I wish I had a camera to capture this moment.’  This little tale goes out to you.

My husband and I were on  a trip to northern Manitoba when there was bidding war on houses for under $10,000. A kind of digging for gold in the Yukon in the good ole days trip.

We were enticed to go there and decided to make it an adventure. I was a school teacher back in the seventies, so I wanted to see the rugged terrain once more. My last trip up north was to Churchill, Manitoba where the polar bears ran free for tourists to see them in their native habitat.

We did end up staying in a sleazy, motel half the way up there, but, it just added to the sense of adventure. Just the bear necessities for us.

The ten hour road trip got to me, and I must have snapped two rolls of film of every rock, tree and body of water around. I got kind of ‘clicker happy ‘and did not realize how much film I was wasting on virtually nothing.

However, we did manage to make it up there and the houses proved to be not like the brochure. Also selling a house up north is not really a desirable commodity when the population is sparse and vacant.

So, on the way home with not a bit of film in my old camera, I managed to capture scenery and wildlife only National Geographic would pay the rights for.

A mother moose, in all her regal glory, as big as a house, slowly and cautiously made her way to my car’s windshield from the trees next to the road.

There I was, eye ball to eye ball with the beast,a thin piece of glass between us. And not to be out done were her two kids. Not one, but, two. What were the odds?

Me and my husband were speechless. The once in a lifetime meeting was forever etched in my mind, but, as evidence I only had my word.

Just as they had come into our space they equally as fast disappeared into the forest. Never to be seen again.

We were shaking and the hairs must have been standing on our backs as that moment went by. As the trip back home progressed on the road was a red fox ever so near yet, so far. Then a black bear appeared out of nowhere to the right of us, within camera’s distance. Again another miracle that would be lost forever.

So, now when you use your smart phones for those selfies of you hanging from some exotic location, remember there was a forgotten time when technology would proved miraculous.

Enjoy the moment..it may never come again.