Elk Adventures

One of my favorite local walks is on the Sno-Valley trail in the Meadowbrook area. It's never crowded, you can get down to the river, there's great views of Mt Si and great birding. Another plus is that it goes past fields that are one of the favorite places of the Elk. I always look. I brought my camera in hopes of seeing them... and it worked! I took some pictures on my way too my walk. They stayed off in the distance. Sometimes the herd can be 20 strong. It was hard to count because they were in shadows. I finally took pity on Coal and we went for our walk. At the river Coal waded and I enjoyed the beauty and listened to the scolding Killdeer. Then we loaded back up in the car. The elk were still there and a wee bit closer. I parked in the field again, but this time I got out. I didn't want to stress them, so I didn't get too close.

The white butts stand out. They use them as a danger signal for the herd.
The white flairs out, indicating "RUN"

They were aware of me, but not too worried

One mature bull and several immature bulls

Trying to photograph them made me feel like I was producing a nature show. I always wanted to be Jane Godall or the Wild Kingdom guy. The sense of adventure reminded me of another time with the Elk. I was once again on the Snoqualmie trail but a little farther east. I found what I wrote at the time.... (Sep 20 2004, 11:39 pm)

It was just so damn cool!

... well literally and figuratively!

Off I go for my walk, it's late, I'm tired and my pants are very tenously
safety pinned together and and I see some elk.

So I crawl through the bushes, keeping Coal mellow and go right up to the
fence, and count 6 cows and calfs..

so I am kneeling there on moist ground, feeling the cool air blow up through
the split and my pants and their are 8 elk! And the bull is wandering towards
us.... Coal wants to leave and I convince him to settle down and there are 9 elk, one bull, and the rest calves and cows.

Coal realizes I'm settled in so he calms down a bit and there are now 12 elk!
The whole herd is out in the field now!

Coal tells me he's bored, an ant bites me, my butt cheeks are might cool and
the elk have settled down into natural behavior. In fact, they have settled
down so much that a calf starts to nurse off it's mom

Cool!
Cool!
Cool!

.... errr.... did I mention I had a lousy day? Did I mention I split my
pants... no? Well, it doesn't really matter anyway! I sat 25 ft away from a
heard of elk and watched a calf nurse off it's momma :) :) :)