Anniversary Weekend...with elk!

[elkmtngear]

Spent a couple days celebrating my 23rd Anniversary with my Wife, in the Northern California Redwoods. Did some great hikes through the Redwood Jungles, here\'s a shot of us in Fern Canyon:

While coming off the mountain on one trail to the roadless area of the beach, I spotted a big Roosie bull feeding on the edge of the meadow. Our wind was perfect, so we moved down to his level, and I told my Wife to move in slowly on him as he was feeding. I told her \"when he lifts his head up, just freeze, then move slowly when he starts to feed again\". She got inside 12 yards on him, and got some great photos. She was so excited.

We had dinner that evening at a really nice restaurant. All of a sudden, she looks at me and said, excitedly \"I could shoot an elk\"! The whole experience of the stalk had her still all worked up LOL :clap:

We had a really good time, acted like teenagers, and fell in love all over again :angle:

 

[iccyman001]

Sounds like you had a great time and congratulations on 23 years!

 

[Deertick]

Let\'s see some of the photos!

 

[elkmtngear]

Let\'s see some of the photos!

Thanks guys. I\'ll have to snag them from her phone, John

I have some others I\'ll post up tonite.

 

[bnsafe]

that sounds priceless. congrats

 

[cnelk]

Some good stuff there Jeff!

 

[Zpd307]

nice! 10 years for me, we played cowboys in the big horns 2 weeks ago.

 

[elkmtngear]

nice! 10 years for me, we played cowboys in the big horns 2 weeks ago.

:upthumb: Congrats...Sounds like a good time!

Here\'s one of her shots of that big Roosie bull:

 

[mainebrdr]

I think I\'ll wear a white shirt the second week of Sept! Great pics!

 

[elkmtngear]

Here\'s one of the bluffs that we hiked over to get to the beach

Fern Canyon is a truly unique place. Vertical walls of ferns rise up alongside a clear stream. This is looking down into it as we hiked in:

Fortunately, we hit a sunny day over there, so the lighting was pretty spectacular:

Pictures really do not do justice to the size of the fern walls...this one was probably 80 feet from the creek to the top:

A little seep on the cliff wall added a splash of contrast:

 

[elkmtngear]

A smaller bull we spotted further down the beach. This one let me get about 70 yards from him, before he moved off into the trees:

 

[Deertick]

Great photos ... my photos of elk usually need an explanation, like \"He\'s that blur behind that clump of trees\" ... Those Roosevelt bulls are real cool!

 

[cohunter14]

Awesome story Jeff, congrats on 23 years :upthumb:

 

[elkmtngear]

Awesome story Jeff, congrats on 23 years :upthumb:

Thanks guys.

Just a few more shots...here\'s one looking up the canyon:

Some of the bigger trees we saw hiking over the top:

Pretty cool that you can see huge bull elk, giant trees, and the ocean all in one short day hike. Very cool area!

 

[Zpd307]

jeff, the wife wants to make it out there someday. there are lots of gorgeous places to visit. cant wait for the boys to get a little bigger so they can enjoy them!

 

[elkmtngear]

jeff, the wife wants to make it out there someday. there are lots of gorgeous places to visit. cant wait for the boys to get a little bigger so they can enjoy them!

Hope you guys can make it. :upthumb:

Thanks to the internet...it\'s becoming quite the International destination! We met folks from Austria, Switzerland, Germany, England, Japan, and Australia.

One Japanese dude asked us for directions to the \"drive through tree\" (which he had unfortunately passed 100 miles South, and he was going North).
My Wife showed him and all his travelling companions some pics of the big trees we hiked through...and they got real excited...sounded like a Godzilla movie :haha:

 

[elky McElkerson]

Happy anniversary!

I think we did our third year there! We too saw a bunch of Roosevelts. We got close.

Thanks for the inspiration.