Elk in the shadow of Red Rocks

Michele came home excited yesterday. She and Ruby happened right upon a very large elk on the Red Rocks Loop trail, halfway down the hill as you head south from the top of the rocks toward Settlers Park. She had to call Ruby back several times as Ruby stood there, startled and a bit too close.

We went back today and, sure enough, there was the elk not far from where Michele had seen her yesterday. We called the Open Space people from the trail as we looked up at the elk. They who said they were going to send someone out, maybe fence off the area with yellow tape. They said there’s also been a male hanging around the west side of town. They were interested in Michele’s observation, based on her years of experience being around goats at Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy, that the mother was behaving as if she was close to calving.

Looking up from below the elk, down by the side of the Farmer’s Ditch, I got some pretty good pictures, one of which is shown above. See the location on map below.