Anchorage Daily News

The greetings exchanged on the trail between Powerline Pass and the Glen Alps entrance to Chugach State Park say it all:

"Find 'em?" asks one balding, middle-aged man.

"See any?" asks another.

Between the people carrying cameras or binoculars, no more need be said. The reason they are here is well-known.

High above Alaska's largest city, fall has sparked an annual mating congregation of majestic bull moose. Thousand-pound animals sporting antlers as wide as a man is tall, they gather along Campbell Creek to joust for mates. The area, once something of a secret among wildlife viewers but now increasingly well-known, offers some of the best moose viewing Alaska has to offer within an easy, half-hour drive from downtown Anchorage.

Photographer Stefan Meyers came all the way from Germany to witness and photograph these animals.

On a bright Wednesday afternoon, he was stalking a grunting, huffing bull with antlers more than 60 inches wide. Single, spearlike brow tines jutting straight out at least a foot from the base of the animal's wide, palmated antlers made this moose appear particularly dangerous.

Earlier in the day, Meyers said, he witnessed an encounter between this bull and a younger, smaller one. It didn't last long, the photographer added. The little bull -- wisely, from the look of this competition -- beat it out of there.

It doesn't always work that way.

In late September, Chugach ranger Tom Crockett said, he and biologists from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game decided it best to put down a moose that had been fatally injured in a fight.

"It was a monster bull who took an antler through the chest wall during the rut,'' he said. "You could actually hear his sucking chest wound from 50 feet away" when he breathed.

Crockett and the others shot the bull to end its suffering. The carcass was left for scavenging predators.

The thought was that bears would devour it, but Crockett thinks the scent of the dead moose might instead have drawn wolves into the valley.

"There were a pack of four wolves that showed up,'' he said.

He did not know if they found the moose carcass, but the wolves did attract even more attention to a valley increasingly packed with people who want to see wildlife. Things can get particularly hectic on the weekends if the weather is nice.

"We were pretty much mobbed last weekend,'' Crockett said. "I think that was a bluebird-skies phenomenon as much as anything else. (But) it's hard to tease out what (brings people) sometimes. The moose are certainly a big draw.''

A professional photographer in Germany, Meyers said that among photographers in that country there is widespread knowledge of Powerline moose.

"Now this place is well-known,'' he said, at least among the professionals. The information is only slowly seeping down to others.

"I'm not interested to tell everyone about this place,'' said Meyers, who has been coming to Alaska for about 25 years to photograph moose, bears and Dall sheep. He can remember Denali National Park and Preserve when the opportunities for wildlife photography were still largely undiscovered.

Now, he said, there are many people, and rangers who herd them around. Powerline is better, he added: "No rangers.''

Or at least, so far no rangers trying to run interference between humans and moose that are trying to mate. That could come some day if the area's popularity continues to grow. Look out across the valley on a sunny weekend now and the moose sometimes appear to be surrounded by mobs as they try to go about the business of mating.

Most of those coming to see the moose appear to be Anchorage residents, Crockett said, but he has noted a shift in visitors over the years.

"I talked to an Australian yesterday,'' he said. "Glen Alps and the Powerline Valley are such an easy, high-country draw, you could get people from a half-dozen countries on any given day.''

It's no wonder. The area combines big wildlife and classic Alaska alpine scenery in an easily accessible valley of still largely untouched land so near Anchorage. It offers some of the best moose viewing Alaska has to offer within an easy, half-hour drive from a downtown hotel.

The moose viewing should continue through the month for those who have yet to catch a view. Crockett said he remembers one early November when he and another ranger counted 22 moose, bulls and cows, clustered near the Glen Alps trail head.

"We had to rescue a skier,'' the ranger added.

The early season adventurer had managed to get through the herd of moose going up valley toward Ptarmigan Peak, but the moose didn't want to let him back to the parking lot, proving that when it comes to wildlife viewing opportunities there can be too much of a good thing.

Find Craig Medred online at adn.com/contact/cmedred or call 257-4588.

Common sense urged when viewing moose

Moose are big, potentially dangerous animals best viewed from afar. Two Anchorage residents have been stomped to death by moose in the past 15 years.

For safety, people photographing or viewing moose should use long lenses and binoculars. If the moose do approach, don't try to touch or feed them. If they show signs of agitation -- licking lips, laying back ears, bristling the hair on the back of the neck -- get away fast.

When hiking near moose in the fall, be alert for other moose in the area. You don't want to get between two bulls looking to fight each other, or between a bull and his favorite cow.

The most reliable moose viewing in the Anchorage area is in Powerline Pass out of the Glen Alps entrance to Chugach State Park. Take the Seward Highway south to O'Malley Road. Turn east onto O'Malley and follow it uphill to Hillside Drive. Turn south on Hillside and follow it to Upper Huffman Road. Go left onto Upper Huffman and follow it uphill to the forks where it joins Toilsome Hill Road. A right onto Toilsome Hill leads to the Glen Alps parking lot.