Flaming Elk Drive

Yesterday we went to the Flaming Foliage Festival in Renovo, PA. Neither of us had ever been to the festival, and I had never seen Renovo or points west of it.

Renovo

The foliage was uncooperative; due to unseasonably hot weather up until last week, the color change was delayed a week or two, so the leaves were only 20-40% turned. Yesterday's weather was great though. It felt like a perfect fall day with a nice breeze skittering the dead leaves across the roads like orange spiders. The scenery, too, was breathtaking in places. We saw hang gliders taking off from Hyner View State Park.

When I read the route description online prior to our trip, one item caught my eye. Our route went through elk country. A "highlight of the drive," according to the description, was the possibility of hearing elk bugling during mating season, which happens to be now. A few times before, I'd mentioned to Hubby that it would be neat to go see the elk sometime. I found a viewing area listed, so I plotted it on our map, and off we went. I probably should have gone digging a bit deeper and found out more about elk-watching, but I was under the impression that there was a fenced field or something with a lookout point where tourists could watch the critters. Didn't sound like a destination, more of a pit stop along the way. Like the world's largest ball of twine. Boy was I wrong... on many counts...

Elk Viewing Area, Winslow Hill Road

First, let me say that our route initially consisted of a huge loop, going west through the PA Wilds Elk Scenic Drive, then north and back to the east across the northern tier. We stopped in Renovo and enjoyed the foliage festival for an hour, eating lunch there followed by maple cotton candy (sooo good!) before getting back on the road. Next stop was Benezette, in elk country. There's a loop of road on Winslow Hill with a few viewing areas. I was to discover that there are no fences, and the elk don't care if they're in a viewing area or not. On our way up to the first spot, through a community of cabins, we found a bunch of cars parked all over the road and people with cameras standing around oohing and ahhing. There were half a dozen elk cows moseying around in someone's front yard, grazing and napping and looking pretty boring, to be honest. But the amount of people there surprised me, even more so when we got to the actual viewing areas and found throngs of people who packed lunches, high-powered binoculars, and major camera setups. We spoke to a man from Corning NY and a couple from Ohio, who had been there on previous weekends and in prior years. This was not a side trip. They had driven hours *just* to (hopefully) see elk. Entire families planned their trips around this.

Elk cows and calves in a yard.
(Hubby took pics of the bull; I don't have those yet.)

The elk didn't show in any of the major viewing spots; however, farther down the road, a herd plunked down in a field near a parking area, while a smaller herd kept their distance farther off. The closest one had a huge bull with about 20 cows. He chased off a smaller bull just as we got there, then proceeded to lie down and watch over his harem while they napped and grazed. Again, except for the brief excitement with the younger bull and the fact that this massive animal was so close to us, the elk were fairly uninspiring to watch. They ate, slept, yawned... pretty much what I would be doing, if I weren't watching animals do the same thing... hey, wait a minute, something's not right here...

As we were leaving (much later than we planned, because we'd found some killer scenery, and of course we stopped with everyone else to watch elk) there was another posse of cars pulled over. This time we could barely see them up on the ridgeline, but we heard the bulls. We have heard the bugles of elk, y'all. And they sound like they need Ricola in a bad way.

Hear elk bugling

Needless to say, we didn't make the northern tier, or we'd still be on the way home. We turned south, picked up 80 and rode that into Lock Haven... all uneventful except for the brief moment we were on the "highest elevation on I-80 east of the Mississippi, 2250 feet." (I want to see that view again in the daytime.) It was a long but fun trip. Elk-watching is addictive in a weird kind of way so if you go, plan extra time for that and for exploring the area. The foliage should be in full color by the end of the month. We might go back!