Adirondack Moose
Some time in the early ‘90s moose crossing signs started to appear along the highway between Indian Lake and Blue Mountain Lake in the heart of the Adirondack Park. For years the moose had virtually disappeared from within the Blue Line but they had either survived unseen or made there way south from Canada or west from Vermont. (The latter seems unlikely because of the barrier known as Lake Champlain! The St. Lawrence doesn’t offer that big a barrier to a determined moose.) Latter I noticed the same signs on the stretch of Route 30 from Blue Mountain Lake up to Long Lake and then to Tupper Lake. Moose seemed to have truly made a comeback. Yet, despite the many hours I’ve spent traveling the roads, hiking the trails and paddling the lakeshores, I’ve not seen more than a few sets of antlers on garages and the bones of one moose the scout camp had for nature study—and they looked very old.
I have learned that the Park is home to about 100 of the large deer we call moose but when spread over 6 million acres they are few and far between. Some are radio collared for study. And at least one has been in my back yard.
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