A herd of elk at Point Reyes National Seashore munch on the dry grass. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

California is full of wildlife. That isn’t news.

Still, I’m pretty sure last month was the first time I had to stop on the trail to let elk go by.

About 5,700 tule elk in 20-plus herds call California home, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. At one time their numbers were closer to a half a million.

There are three elk species here: Roosevelt, Rocky Mountain and tule. The latter is the smallest when it comes to their size.

“Tule elk are endemic to California and the most specialized elk in North America, given that they live in open country under semi-desert conditions, whereas the species as a whole typically occupies temperate climates and utilizes heavy cover at least seasonally,” the state agency’s website says.

Elk cross the Tomales Point trail in Marin County on Aug. 24. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

It is tule elk that call a swath of Point Reyes National Seashore home. A couple walked right across the Tomales Point trailhead in Marin County.

“Hunted to extirpation on the Point Reyes Peninsula in the 1850s, tule elk were reintroduced to this 2,600 acre reserve in 1978,” reads a sign in the area. “The males sprout a new set of antlers every year, that at first are covered in velvet.”

Ten elk were relocated here from the “San Luis National Wildlife Refuge near Los Baños to a 2,600-acre fenced enclosure on Tomales Point in 1978. The site of this release was a decommissioned cattle ranching area, known as Pierce Ranch, which is now designated as wilderness. In 2019, the National Park Service increased the size of the reserve to 2,900 acres,” the National Park Service website says.

This is the only National Park site where tule elk can be found.

Between 1999 and 2019 the average number of elk in Point Reyes had been 420.

Issues exist between National Park Service and cattle ranchers. NPS has thought about taking down the fences to let the elk roam. Ranchers say that will kill their business. But the ranchers don’t own the land; they are leasing the grazing lands from NPS.

The final plan is still being worked out. While I’m not going to weigh-in on those proceedings, I will say if you have the opportunity to hike among the elk, do so.

We were treated to seeing a few in the distance at the start of the hike, then the two that literally crossed our path as they joined a group on the ridge where they could see Tomales Bay on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.