2005-10-12

As I was hiking one of the shorter trails near the visitor center, I met a couple who were "retreating" from a bull elk. I told them that the elk wouldn't hurt them, and so they decided to continue back up the trail--right behind me. Soon we found ourselves in the center of a herd of a dozen or so elk that were browsing among the ferns and vines. I stood ten yards from the bull and he didn't even care.

Later, after hiking up the Hoh River Trail about three miles, I discovered another herd (this time twenty-five or more) standing about on the rocky beach of the Hoh River. When I approached to take pictures, the bull of this herd took offense and began trumpeting his disgust as he ushered his herd to the opposite side of the river.

This is about when it started to rain. Fortunately, the thick canopy of the forest kept most of the water off me. I returned to my car and drove down the road a bit to a phone booth to check my email. As my PocketMail device was chirping into the receiver, I glanced across the road only to finally notice yet another herd of elk standing in the grass watching me. There is definitely no shortage of elk here.

I spent a short part of the afternoon poking about on the beaches. This didn't last long. Cold I can deal with, and rain I can deal with, but cold rain gets old real fast. I explored some tidal pools, which held an assortment of anemones and purple, orange and brown starfish.

And, because the rain wasn't letting up, I left the Olympic Peninsula behind and headed South on 101.