From garbage to elk

I rise early this morning, as usual, and I'm greeted by a whole herd of elk - at least, I'm pretty sure they're elk, although they are very pale brown, light like a cappuccino. The elk of Yellowstone are the rich dark brown of shiny espresso beans.

There are at least 10 mothers and one baby, that I can't tell from size but because she's nursing, strolling through maybe 10 feet from my camper door.

A male, I presume, with one antler that looks to be about 4 feet long, ambles way behind the herd. I wonder how he can keep his head upright and not listing to the left side.

Once they've cleared the campground, I embark on my early morning "run" - with a small plastic bottle I've picked up outside my door. I use this as the garbage container for all the carelessly tossed junk around: mostly cigarette butts - you gotta hate smokers - but also tons of pieces of plastic corners from potato chip & other junk food bags, plastic and metal bottle caps, shiny pieces of foil and discarded candy wrappers.

It's so very hard to fathom people being so careless in a place like the Grand Canyon. The ranger yesterday showed us a picture of a dead condor, her stomach full of such garbage that I'm picking up. When will we care enough about life to 1) not buy things that create garbage, and 2) make sure we dispose of garbage as properly as we can.

I will leave today, after I check out the lost & found to see if they will donate any winter items left behind by tourists. It gets quite cold here so I'm hoping they'll have things.

I'm disappointed no one has engaged in a conversation with me here at the camp ground. I've hung around trying to be inviting but it hasn't worked - thus far. I've also worn my "Black Womyn's Lives Matter t-shirt" whenever I've left the campground but I've been basically ignored. Hmmmmm