Ultimate Camping Thread

Back from my trip...it was....ummmm...interesting. Uploading pics now...

 

So I was camping in Grand Teton National Park this weekend and I FINALLY got to camp at the Jenny Lake Campground....its a small, tents only camp located right on the lakeshore and it usually fills up very quickly so I never get to camp there. Anyways...I showed up at 1pm Friday and there were tons of spots open (guess not too many people are crazy about camping this time of year). I picked out spot #39 and set up camp then headed off to get some pictures and some dinner. As soon as I got back to camp around 730-ish I started a fire and went to put a few things in my tent. That's when my new friend appeared...about 15 feet away.



Apparently campsite #39 already had a resident...a bull elk. Once he got done inspecting my tent he moved on to check out the fire....



After that he moved on to graze somewhere else and I thought that that was the last I would see of him. My neighbors in camp were amazed at how close he was to me (I was too ) and wondered how they could be in camp for 2 days and see no animals meanwhile I show up and have all of mother nature flocking to me within hours.

I turned in for the night with the intention of getting an early start to head out on a hike. I got a much earlier start than I anticipated. At 4am my 4-legged friend returned and decided to bed down right next to my tent! He was about 10 ft away and I could hear him breathing. I decided that it was probably best to just stay in the tent and keep quiet and not get out and make a mad dash for the truck and risk startling him or pissing him off. He didn't seem to care that I was there so.... I eventually fell back asleep and slept in until 7am. On my visit to the restrooms I spooked him again, he was sleeping in the trees behind my tent at this point. And my neighbors came over and were asking if I had looked at my truck yet. uhhh...no. I went over to find that the elk had spent a good amount of time licking my truck! All while my neighbors just stood and watched. There are tongue marks on my windows to prove it...he also cleaned my tailgate, drivers door and cab and side mirror...


So there is the tale of my bizarre camping trip and how my Taco was violated by an elk.

 

I am the 'elk whisperer' That's what my camp neighbors were calling me Saturday.

I don't think he was after food. I just washed and waxed my truck earlier in the week and I think that he might have smelled the wax I've seen horses go crazy over a freshly waxed vehicle before. That or he was just licking the dew off of the truck.

And yes, I was camping alone.

 

amazing...exciting...scary...hilarious. Any of those would describe the trip well. The worst part was waking up at 4am and trying to figure out if it was the elk making the noise outside or if it was a bear (I was in a high bear population area). Everything else was just funny!

And you've never seen an elk? You've got to get out west sometime...