February 14, 2017
How we spent Valentines Day…
Cindy read of a mountain called Hualapia near Kingman Az. where the mule deer and elk have little fear of people.  Sounded like it would be a great place to hike and take pictures… so off we went. It was a beautiful and long drive up the mountain to around 7000 ft. We stopped at the ranger station to get a park map and we were told we should be able to see a few deer on a trail near the station, so armed with our camera, water and trail mix, away we went. The trail was beautiful… but no critters at all. We left the trail early and headed down to the road near the ranger station… what a great idea that turned out to be! We encountered a herd of about 10 elk! They basically ignored us as we approached.  We thought, wow, we will get some great shots with the telephoto lens.  As it turned out, we didn’t need it. One young elk began to approach us. We watched her ears and eyes and could tell she was just curious and would stop soon… nope! The pictures tell the rest of the story!!! (Getting elk snot off your camera lens is not easy) (In my best Gollum voice: "What has it got in its pocketses… my precious?")