Elk Action in Elk Country RV Park near Trinidad, CA

 Mike and I spent 6 weeks at this park this past spring and it was amazing to have elk around so much of the time.  We were privileged to see a few of the new babies born to the herd before we left in June.  

Now we are back for another 6 weeks and already are  seeing elk regularly.  There were 21 babies born to this herd this year which is amazing and make the herd about 70 strong!  The males have full racks and mating season is here!  It is awesome to be a part of this!

                               This bull seems to have about half the herd to himself......so far;)

                                                        Same bull....in profile

                                     Half a dozen of this years babies and one mom

                                                a young one who still needs his mom

                     about 25 of the 35 or so that were here today.  The herd is about 70 strong

Shore Acres State Park, OR

 Just a few more pictures of the coast in the Coos Bay area.  These were taken mostly in Shore Acres State Park.  There was definitely some fog but also, unfortunately, smoke from many fires now occurring in this part of the country.  

The water shapes the rocky shoreline in some beautiful ways:

Enlarged area of photo above showing cormorants on rock ledges

A lone, and very large, white seal trying to nap with the waves crashing  behind

                                 Hmmmm, is this seal laughing at us?  Probably yawning;)

                                            Love these formations!!

                                                     Yep, it's all beautiful here!!

Cape Arago , Oregon

A couple of days ago, Mike and I drove to Cape Arago State Park for some hiking and geocaching.  As soon as we arrived I remembered we had been there some 8 years ago!  There is a beautiful botanical gardens in the park and, as you can see below, it is the home of thousands of sea lions and seals!  They have to be viewed from shore and hang out on a string of small islands and reefs but they do not let you forget they are there and the barking of the sea lions is ongoing and almost deafening sometimes!  They are fun to observe for sure! 

 

A harbor seal alone on a small rock and several sea lions with faces to the sun on the other

In this pic, you can see several harbor seals in the foreground and then a swath of sea lions and behind them another group of seals on the left

This sea lion found a nice spot to himself....not easy!

They are very good at relaxing aren't they?  They just drape themselves over the rocks willy nilly!

Here you can see cormorants looking down on some of the lighter colored steller sea lions.

The white covering on these rocks is actually poop from the cormorants and sea gulls!  When the wind blows your way.......phew!!

Lincoln City, Oregon

 We overlapped out stay in Lincoln City, OR, with our friends James and Wendi and had to do some geocaching with them.  So we did this lovely trail in Lincoln City featuring "Gods Thumb" and picked up a few caches along the way.  Had a great day!

An amazing coastal view from "The Knoll" on this trail

Heading towards a promontory called "God's Thumb"

A few steep areas on the trail for sure;)

Mike and James are searching the trees for a geocache here

What a sight!!

Depoe Bay, Oregon

 Mike and I are currently in Lincoln City, Oregon for a week and yesterday we drove down to Depoe Bay.  Depoe Bay is the place to go to see whales virtually year round.  We have been there before but not actually seen whales from right at the harbor.....this time it was different!  This is the time of year when moms and their calves are feeding along the coast and we did get to watch them for a while!

We also saw beautiful coastline and seals and, of course, the obligatory blue heron;)  We walked a few miles in and around the small town doing some geocaching at the same time and had a wonderful day!

      Depoe Bay "The Smallest Harbor in the World"

       Grey whales

       Some lazy harbor seals:)

         A whale spouting while a gull flies overhead

        Much closer to shore this one!!

Olympic National Park, WA

Spent some lovely time with friends James and Wendi in Olympic National Park.  Stunning views all around!  Up on top of Hurricane Ridge we could see across the Puget Sound to Canada on this beautiful day!

Looking down on the visitor center

one of the locals;)

another local, a marmot

Mike and I with James and Wendi Brenner