A man visiting Louisville, Colorado, was charged, knocked down, and stomped by a mother moose while hiking in the mountains above Boulder, leaving a bruise in the shape of a hoof print after his group encountered her calf along a narrow switchback trail.
The man and his wife had traveled to Colorado to visit their son, who lives in Louisville, a town just outside Boulder, and the group set out on a hike in preparation for a longer 10-mile hike, according to the Denver Gazette. They reached the summit without incident, but trouble began about a half-mile into their descent, when the group came across a baby moose near a waterfall loud enough to mask other sounds on the trail.
The baby moose bolted the moment its mother appeared, and the mother moose then charged one of the men in the group, per the Denver Gazette’s account. He fell during the encounter, and the moose stepped on his back, leaving the hoof-shaped bruise. He also threw his trekking pole at the charging animal as it closed in.
How the Group Fought Off the Charge
Another member of the group began throwing rocks at the moose, and the animal ran off, according to the same report. The area where the charge happened included a switchback with a narrow side drop, adding to the danger as the group scrambled to react along the trail…