Come Sunday, we went to go hike through another redwood forest in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. This area is roughly a 1-hour drive south from Jedediah Smith, so it was an easy trip in the morning, and we cut more time off our return trip back home! This state park is known for being heavily populated with elk, even at the visitor center parking lots, but apparently at the end of October they like to hide. We did not see a single one as we drove in or started our hike. We chose to do a relatively popular route in the park for those who like hiking called the Miners’ Ridge and James Irvine Trail. This is about a 12-mile loop that includes lush redwood forest, a scenic walk along the Gold Bluffs Beach, and the Fern Canyon, which was featured in the first Jurassic Park film. When we were a few miles into our adventure, Megan stopped dead in her tracks. It took a moment, but then we both realized about 20 feet ahead of us on the actual trail there was a huge elk eating some ferns. Panic stricken, as we had heard from coworkers that elks sometimes trap people in the forests not allowing them to pass, we hung out right where we stood for half an hour. Slowly, the elk began to meander up the hillside off the path, continuing to eat but definitely keeping an eye on us. At one point, while we quietly passed, the elk was 10 feet away. Thankfully after this run-in, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.