Enduring Elk

Elk mating calls echo through the ages in what is now Colorado's largest national park.

Hear more from Jacob Job at https://www.jacobrjob.com/

Series illustration: Mia Rincón

Episode photograph: Mark Byzewski CC-BY (Landscapes and Elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park, Colorado.)

Hear more from R. J. Fechter on https://rjfechter.bandcamp.com and https://www.twitch.tv/rjandj

Hear more from Patrick McNameeKing on his podcast, Empty Clouds (Spotify, Apple, Google)

Transcript

Welcome to Ambient Colorado. I’m Sarah Vitak.

The echoes of elk bugling reveal the vast high-altitude meadows in Rocky Mountain National Park.

From September through October, these male elk are calling for mates.

We begin on a cold, rainy night in Moraine Park.

The temperature is barely above freezing.

A hundred thousand years ago this area’s evergreen-covered ridges … called moraines … were created by rocks left behind by a slow-moving river of ice.

A little more than a hundred years ago … due to extensive hunting … there were no elk seen here. At that time … about fifty elk were imported from Yellowstone National Park … and now thousands of elk again find their mates in Colorado’s largest national park.

We end in Big Meadows. A bull elk walks through the tall grass and calls into the night … echoing his ancestors … who bugled here for millennia.

Sounds of elk in Rocky Mountain National Park … recorded by Jacob Job.

Series Producer … Martin Burch.

Series Adviser … Ann Marie Awad.

Sound Design by Patrick McnameeKing.

Music by R. J. Fechter.

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I’m Sarah Vitak in Denver, Colorado.