Vermont

Vermont is more known for cows than moose, but it has both. The area you're most likely to find moose in is the Northeast Kingdom, so dubbed in 1949 to describe the 1,500-square-mile northeast corner of the state. I spent a day in tiny Island Pond, surrounded by unspoiled beauty and, of course, many moose bogs. (There also are roadside bogs in nearby Norton and Averill.)

My room at the Lakefront Motel faced Island Pond; that alone was worth the drive. I spent the day on my bicycle, headed north on Route 114, site of many of the bogs. Traffic was light and the scenery, mostly unspoiled farmland and woods, was just what I'd hoped for. As I rounded one corner and came upon a large bog saturated with moose tracks, there they were, a moose and her calf feeding, half hidden behind the brush. Just as I stopped to watch, she spied me and off they went. I rode to the Canadian Border and was able to go through the tiny Canadian town of Stanhope without becoming official - no, you can't leave Stanhope without going through the border police. Stanhope and Norton, in Vermont, share municipal offices - both the maple leaves and the stars and stripes fly outside the building.

I returned to the bogs that evening hoping to see moose at dusk or at least hear them in the dark. Unlike New Hampshire, Vermont does not allow spotlights in the woods, so you're on your own. I seemed to be the only moose watcher in sight, or maybe everyone else was out where the moose were because I didn't see or hear any, despite sitting on the edge of an active bog. Before leaving town the next morning I consoled myself by buying two pairs of clogs at Simon the Tanner, a discount shoe and clothing store run by The Twelve Tribes, a religious community. A nice way to rejoin civilization is to follow one of the routes from ''A Day in the Kingdom'' self-guided driving tours published by the Northeast Kingdom Travel and Tourism Association. I particularly enjoyed the ''Victorian View'' route. The only thing missing were the moose.

Published 05/23/99 in the Boston Suday Globe's Travel Section.