Re: September Hike Questions
Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2016 9:35 pmUp close and personal. Elk are nothing to mess with. Black bears are easy by comparison.
We had our own encounter with a bull elk last fall on the south portion of the Lost Coast. We get up, leave Railroad Gulch, the trail starts climbing through the forest on a steep, narrow trail. We come around a bend and here's this huge, probably 1000 lb elk with at least a 6' rack blocking the trail completely. We did all the usual stuff to get him to move, but he wasn't going anywhere until he was good and ready...it was rutting season, and we were just pissing him off. We finally just sat down about 50' away and tried to wait for him to decide to move on his own while trying to figure out how and where to go to get out of his way if he decided to charge (like which trees to climb fast). After about 45 minutes, we decided to scramble up the embankment/cliff to circumvent him for what was probably the most difficult bushwhack of our lives. We're getting our butts kicked going over, under and through heavy brush for about another half hour when we hear a couple other people talking right where he was standing. I yell down, "Hey, were'd that elk go?" They called back, "We came around the corner and he just walked off." I asked, "Which way did he go?" They replied, " Right up the hill by where you guys are. Be careful!"
We didn't see him again, but that was just so unbelievably messed up and wrong.
We had our own encounter with a bull elk last fall on the south portion of the Lost Coast. We get up, leave Railroad Gulch, the trail starts climbing through the forest on a steep, narrow trail. We come around a bend and here's this huge, probably 1000 lb elk with at least a 6' rack blocking the trail completely. We did all the usual stuff to get him to move, but he wasn't going anywhere until he was good and ready...it was rutting season, and we were just pissing him off. We finally just sat down about 50' away and tried to wait for him to decide to move on his own while trying to figure out how and where to go to get out of his way if he decided to charge (like which trees to climb fast). After about 45 minutes, we decided to scramble up the embankment/cliff to circumvent him for what was probably the most difficult bushwhack of our lives. We're getting our butts kicked going over, under and through heavy brush for about another half hour when we hear a couple other people talking right where he was standing. I yell down, "Hey, were'd that elk go?" They called back, "We came around the corner and he just walked off." I asked, "Which way did he go?" They replied, " Right up the hill by where you guys are. Be careful!"
We didn't see him again, but that was just so unbelievably messed up and wrong.
In my local area we need to be aware of moose. Generally, like elk, they are nothing to worry about but on rare occasion have the ability to do some serious damage. I had a close animal encounter last Friday - not on land - in the water. I was finishing a dive and was about to climb the ladder back onto the boat when I looked to my side and saw something BIG! Thankfully it was a mola mola ~6' long just eyeballing me (and they have really big eyes) from about 8 feet away. Very cool, I've never seen one while in the water.