Last weekend Chris and I went to Point Reyes (an hour or so north of San Francisco) to visit the Tulk Elk preserve. It was a bit cold and foggy, but the elk were out there. Long ago, there were upwards of half a million Tule Elk in California, but with the gold rush and all, most of them were killed. Fewer than 10 remained, but a farmer found them and kept them, and the population grew again. Now there are about 3500 in California, and about 400 at this preserve in Point Reyes.



The photo is actually a female elk, but they tied on some antlers "for effect," said the ranger there. He told us about a mile down the trail there was a docent with a spyglass, and we'd be able to see some elk. We hiked down and found a whole "harem" (it's mating season, and it's one male elk to many female elk), plus a coyote. The docent told us there was a nice hike to the tip of Point Reyes, but she couldn't remember how far it was. What the heck, we said. Well, it turned out to be 5 miles--one way. We were kind of thirsty when we got back, but it was a nice hike and we saw a lot more elk along the way. On the way back the fog really rolled in and we couldn't see too far in the distance at times. Even though it was Labor Day weekend, there weren't very many other hikers out. It was hard to believe we were so close to the city.

Click on the elk to see more photos.