Lone Elk Park - St. Louis, Missouri

As I left the World Bird Sanctuary, I saw a sign for Lone Elk Park. The best part is that they neighbor each other, so I took a right instead of a left and drove in.

All around the park are signs that warn of wild bison and elk. The signs mainly explain how to not be an idiot. Stay in your car, do not approach the cute cuddly animals, lest you want a mudhole stomped into your chest.

I drove the one way road slowly, as no one was behind me, and spotted a herd of elk on a nearby hill. There were nearly a dozen and they were all taking a nice nap. I stopped the car and decided that I might not be able to get out of the car, but i could maneuver the car to get a better shot. That's exactly what I did. I was able to get quite a few photos of these majestic animals.



Just as I passed the napping elk was a large gate and another sign for bison. The sign said that if I dared to drive my car in I was at risk of being rammed by a large bison. They have been known to charge vehicles. Here's the stupidity in the sign. By the time you can get close enough to read it you are up at the gate. It's a one way! There is no turning around. The sign should say: "If you ventured to this point, well, you better be able to drive fast in case one of these spring loaded muscles with horns comes after you." Yep, that's how I would word it. Anyway, I got in and saw a small dip in the earth. I figured I would find a couple bison in the wallows or in the shade. Nope. There was a small herd. There were a few in the small ravine, but the rest were on a grassy knoll. The scary part, you ask? The grassy knoll was right next to the road and these bison were only 30-100 yards away. Oh, it gets better. I am in a rental car on a VERY steep grade of a hill. I had to punch it to get it t go. Needless to say, I stopped twice for brief moments to capture these guys feeding and resting. Then I had the good sense to keep it moving!





The rest of the park was forest and paved road. They take great care of it and it was peaceful. Speaking of peaceful, I have one more image from "Emmy" in my last post. I found this budding leaf on a small sapling along the path. The sunlight hit it perfectly and I must have watched it for 2+ minutes before tkaing the photo. It was just God's reminder of how beautiful the little things are. The things that he placed here to help make oxygen, clean the air, give us shade and so on. I felt that this was his way of saying to not take things for granted and to really, truly stop and enjoy everything around us. Enjoy being alive. Don't sweat the small stuff.



Soon I will post the photos from Texas and we have some wonderful sessions in the next month. Be ready for some eye popping imagery!