Life on the Elk Highway

A couple of days ago I was out for a run up to Trout Lake and back. On the way home, I came across the elk herd, which I estimated at 80 animals, crossing the road about a half mile north of the house. Since then I hadn't seen them and wondered where they'd gone. 

Yesterday it snowed almost all day, eventually stopping in the evening, and this morning I saw the elk herd in the fields south of the house. 

When we took the dogs out for their walk we saw the trail where the elk had come through the farm, traveling all the way from the north end of the field where the pups run, then jumping the fence and crossing the irrigation ditch, then passing by the west side of the house perhaps 50 yards away. 

I could tell from their tracks that they had come through yesterday a little before the snow ended. 

Here's the trail looking south from the irrigation dike. 

Here's from the same spot looking north where they crossed the ditch.

This is exactly the same route that the elk have taken every time they move through the farm. They ignore the nearby gate openings in the fence and the bridge over the ditch, to take their preferred path, which makes them jump two fences and go in and out of the ditch, which is about 6 feet deep there.