The Hoh bottomlands are among the best places in the park to spot Roosevelt elk, the largest elk in North America — bulls can approach a thousand pounds. The herds here are part of the largest wild population left on Earth. They're most active at dawn and dusk, which is also when they wander onto Highway 101, so slow down then. Keep a wide distance; never approach or feed them. These animals are tied to the park's founding, a story involving two presidents named Roosevelt — over homeland the peninsula's nations have stewarded far longer.
Keep your eyes on the open bottomland here along the river, because if luck is with you, this is where you'll see them — Roosevelt elk, grazing right out in the Hoh bottoms. These are the largest elk in North America. A grown bull can run close to a thousand pounds, antlers the width of your arms spread wide, and the herd that lives in these valleys is the biggest truly wild herd of them left anywhere on the planet. They are calm-looking and enormous and entirely wild, so give them all the room in the world — never approach, never crowd them for a photo, just let them be the kings of this place that they are. Now, you would never guess it to look at them munching peacefully in the grass, but these animals are the whole reason this national park exists at all. The mountains, the rainforest, the wild coast you'll drive later — much of how all of it came to be protected began with the elk standing in front of you. Stay put, keep watching the meadow, and let Boone tell you that one. It's a good tale, and it has two presidents in it.
Photo: DeVos Max · CC BY-SA 4.0
