Elk are large animals with good-sized whitish rumps or “wapiti”, which is also the Indian name for elk.

Clear-cuts and forest fires provide necessary food for these magnificent creatures.

In early February I parked at a locked gate to the entrance of a large swath of private forestland southwest of Mt. St. Helens.

After 12 miles of hiking, and lots of elevation gain, I returned to the bridge across Gobar Creek having seen no elk, but lots of elk calling cards.

Several bald eagles were in the area prompting me to look for, and subsequently spot, several carcasses of spawned-out salmon along the creek.

The cycle of life continues.

Sword Ferns

Elk calling cards

Gobar Creek

Bald Eagles had not finished their meal of spawned-out salmon

Logging roads literally disappear in the rainforest without much maintenance

Sunshine breaking through the concrete skies at the trailhead

All that’s left of a spawned-out salmon

Licorice Ferns growing underneath Salal

Red Alder in the fog