Find an album of photos from our 2014 trip here:
A few tips:
There is very little cell service here.
Bathrooms are few and far between. A few of the designated viewing areas, and the visitors center. Hoover Viewing Area on the Quehanna Hwy had the nicest ones outdoor ones - but they are all nonflush, mostly porta potties.
Elk are most likely to be seen around sunrise and sunset
Elk do not like heat and are not often out in the middle of the day
If you can, make the trip on a week day in Sept or Oct - there will be less people than on a weekend.
We drive to Benezette to see the elk every other year or so. It's a beautiful drive, to a beautiful area. Our first trip was in 2012, and by 2018, new parking areas and parks had been added. For our first trip, we were so uncertain about where to go, and where to see, the elk - but in the fall, you can pretty much just follow the traffic. Where the cars are parked, there the elk will be. There are a few viewing areas, and you are almost certain to see elk at at least one of them. But you are just as likely to see them right "downtown" around the restaurant and Inn. I don't think we have ever visited that we didn't see Elk right in the downtown area.
But be prepared - down town Benezette is still a pretty rural place. There are only a couple of restaurants (with limited hours), and very little cell service. There is a beautiful visitors center, with clean bathrooms, nearby, but you will not find a fast food restaurant, nor a big chain gas station. Fill your gas tank, download a map of the area for offline use, and pack some snacks and extra drinks before you go.
I was using a zoom lens for this photo - please remember that Elk are wild animals, and they can be aggressive and dangerous. Keep your distance!
Links:
- The Live Elk Cam
- Elk County Visitors Center
- Hear What An Elk Bugle Sounds Like
- A pdf map & Viewing Guide
Elk Viewing Areas
There are 5 main elk viewing areas at Benezette. All have large parking areas.
You can view the full map here -
Most of the viewing areas are very close to the parking lot. In many cases, it's a very short walk to see the elk. The woodriing farm is the exception. This newly improved area was one of my favorites on our last trip! There's a nice walking path here, taking you up the hill, and around to two overlooks. Its a nice chance to stretch your legs, and the view from the overlooks is pretty even if the elk are not there.
Photos From Our Very First Trip, 2012
This past week-end we drove to Benezette to see the elk. I've wanted to do this for years, but it's over 2 hours away, and I was afraid we'd drive that far, and not see any... I don't like sitting in a car. The night before we left, I was still considering just spending the day at home working on genealogy instead.. but Dan convinced me it was too nice, and too pretty out, to sit indoors. I planned a couple of hikes, and we took the bikes along, so even if we didn't see any elk, we'd still have a nice day.
I spent hours planning this trip. I downloaded and elk viewing guide with a companion map from here: http://paelk.com/ I searched forums, I created my own google map with all the areas reported to be best for viewing them...
I wasted my time. We did not see any elk at the viewing areas along the Quehanna hwy. Headed towards the visitors center, about 4 miles away, there were a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road, and people standing out with cameras. We pulled over, and saw this guy above, our first "wild" elk sighting. He was at someone's house.
A woman stopped there told us just to follow the traffic - she could have saved me hours of planning had I talked to her earlier in the week. About a mile down the road we saw more cars pulled over, and that is where we got to see this guy.
And these too.
I don't know that it is always this easy to see elk in Benezette, but apparently for the 6 or so weeks of rut season in September and October, it is pretty hard to not see them. Lots of people must know this, because the entire area is swamped with tourists. It still manages to keep a very rural feel around here.. there is no cell phone reception, few stores, no chain restaurants or stores... just a lot of cars along side the road. :-)
From there, we just kept heading towards the visitors center. The Center was so nice, but SO crowded, we didn't stay long. There is a 4D show looked interesting, but it was not worth waiting in that crowd.. I was more interested in seeing more elk.
(It was only that crowded at our first visit in 2012, since then we have toured the center numerous times, and although it's always been busy, it was never again quite that crowded. Week-ends in the fall are the busiest times)
(It was only that crowded at our first visit in 2012, since then we have toured the center numerous times, and although it's always been busy, it was never again quite that crowded. Week-ends in the fall are the busiest times)
At this point we thought we were at Winslow Hill - there are signs for the Winslow Hill viewing area, and we mistakenly thought this was it. There are posted signs on the trees down the road from where we parked, and a police officer was ticketing everyone parked alongside the road by those trees. We saw a LOT of policemen and DNCR rangers. Be careful where you park.
Still following traffic heading towards Winslow Hill (although at this point we thought we had already been to Winslow hill...)
Eventually I think he got tired of getting his photo taken, there was quite a crowd here, and he wandered off into the woods.
This is marked as a "must see" in rut season area, on my map. There is an official parking area nearby, but we didn't see any elk from the viewing area.. instead we parked and walked down the hill and to the left, where we saw lots of cars and people. This field was full of elk!
Following the road on down the hill, there were so many cars.. we left our car in the designated parking, and walked down. It was a short distance. Here is where we got to hear the elk bugling for the first time. Very cool! There were elk on both sides of the road here. Above is one side, below is the other.
On this side of the road was a house, the elk were walking right up to the house. The people were parking right in their driveway. I imagine the people are much more annoying than the elk. We watched one man drive into the ditch beside their driveway, putting one of his rear wheels up in the air. Thankfully he had 4 wheel drive and was able to get himself back out. These elk were obviously trying to get to the elk on the other side of the road, but there were too many cars lining both sides of the road.
I was really surprised by how easy it was to see these guys. I don't know that it is this easy the rest of the year, but during rut season, it was almost like visiting a wildlife park where the viewing was guaranteed.
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