Vanishing suddenly in Essex County, New York

On June 10, 2006 I was driving with my brother on a back road (unpaved) in the Adirondack Park. We were heading for a trail head that led into the Hudson River Gorge. This area is almost dead center in the park and surounded by many mile of unihabited and very rugged terrain. It was late morning on a clear day. I was driving as fast as i could on this road because we had to get back to town by a certain time. As we turned a bend I saw a very large, brown, furry, object lunge into the dense woods up the road at the next curve about 50 yards ahead. It was obvious that the creature was in the road and was startled by my speeding SUV. I told by brother, "Hey, there goes a moose." We reached that spot in about 3 seconds, and i slamed on the breaks - expecting to see the moose right there in the bushes. At that spot, through the bushes, was a decent sized clearing and then more dark woods that went down a hill. There was nothing there at all. Everything was still. We started off again and took our hike. The more I thought about it, the more I thougth I just could not have been a moose. First of all it was the wrong color - a light chestnut bown. (The color was very visible because the sun was shinning in the area. It was a striking shade against the ligth green of the brush.) Moose are never that shade - they are always a very dark brown. Second, the size and shape were wrong. This thing was huge - at least 7 feet tall. And the shape was not like a Moose rump. The more I thght about it, the more it seemed like it was the upper back and head of something. Finaly, if it was a moose, it would not have utterly vanished so quickly. My vehicke got to that spot in just seconds. Moose, at least the ones that I have seen, don't tear off into the wood. We should have seen it in the clearing. It wan't a bear, either. Not even close. I wished I had stopped to investigate further. Unfortunately, we were in a hurry