September, 2024
Yes! They arrived! It was just my very first full day here and the Elk had arrived! Oh my word, how glorious is that? I saw them years ago during my first camping trip to Dosewallips. But I didn’t know, before this year’s trip, that I would see them again. What a thrill. I don’t know if I’m an Elk whisperer … or maybe it’s “Towhee the Trailer” who is an Elk whisperer. 🙂
This very first morning I woke up, then tidied up inside my trailer, had breakfast, but fairly soon went outside for a look around. Whoa! The Elk were here! Neighboring camper folk said the Elk arrived late last night and settled inside the campground for a night’s sleep. By the time I went outside and discovered they were here, most of them were up and walking around, eating, just slowly and calmly meandering around.
The video below was taken as I stood right next to my trailer, looking north. There were three Elk, then four, young females (cows) eating luscious green grass, just 50 feet or so away from me. I just stood there and enjoyed the scene. The second video below shows the fourth female walking over and joining the other three. [The road noise is from highway 101.]
This next video shows a few of them walking, standing, eating … not in any hurry to get anywhere.
The video below shows the Elk in the area where they usually sleep, when they sleep inside the campground. The park rangers block off that section during times when Elk are apt to show up here. Over on the right, I zoom in on two younger bulls. The two young fellows are almost never close to the rest of the herd … they even sleep off to one side of the main group.
Of the many photos I took, here are just a few of my favorites below. Some of the Elk are still settled on the ground, not having gotten up yet from their night’s sleep.
In the photo below, Henry (the alpha male) and Clarice (the alpha female, she’s darker than the others) are still lying where they slept last night. Henry is scratching himself … he had been scratching himself for several minutes and grunting and groaning the whole time, making quite a bit of noise. I suspect she got tired of all the noise and finally told Henry to “be quiet or go somewhere else, I can’t rest with you making all that racket!”
As soon as she voiced her opinion, Henry got up and left!
He walked WAY over to the edge of the campground, turned around and stood in between a picnic table and some bushes, along with a large tree there on the right that was partly in front of him, with that other female in front of him, and he just stood there and stared back towards Clarice. He stood there a long time. I’ve read that it’s actually the alpha female that runs the herd, that she is the one who tells the alpha male when to be protective of the herd, when to be aggressive. Now I believe it!
I decided not to mess with Clarice!
The entire herd left the campground that morning, but came back in the afternoon for another snack and a nap. I’ll share photos of that in the next blog post.
The Dosewallips State Park is my favorite!!