Please visit the blog and follow. The follow button can be found at the bottom of the page.
If you are seeing this on Facebook, click the link to visit the blog to see all of the photos.
Gobar Creek
Weyerhaeuser owns vast amounts of private timberlands in the Pacific Northwest. The land is accessible to hikers, hunters and others by a limited number of permits.
West of Mt. St. Helens their holdings are great habitat for elk, and other animals. For the last several years I have paid for a permit to enter those lands by foot.

Gobar Creek
After parking at a gate north of the Kalama River Road on a cool. rainy and breezy mid-December day, I spent four hours hiking logging roads focused on spotting elk in the upper Gobar Creek drainage. I primarily stayed on Road 6310.
At the end of Road 6324 there was evidence of an old elk camp. And, there was quite a lot of elk sign in the area.
On the way back to the car, I continued to spot elk sign but no elk. It brought back memories of my youth when the old cowboy would remind me: Son, track soup makes for mighty thin gruel.

A stormy day in the mountains

Roosevelt Elk sign

Very easy to get lost

Lots of Sword Ferns and Lichen
Gloomy Gus kind of day

Rain, rain and more rain

Trailhead
Oh how frustrating to see all these fresh signs of nearby elk, and then not see any. Despite their absence, I’m sure there was much beauty to enjoy. I liked hearing the cowboy’s quote, and enjoyed your photos immensely, John.
Thanks for the kind comments Jet. Have a wonderful New Year.