Preston Long
Youth Wilderness Expedition Participant
July 30-August 4, 2026
Josephus Lake | Salmon-Challis National Forest
Part of the Josephus Lake Youth Crew enjoying a morning at Redfish Lake (waiting for parent pickup)
I squint bleary eyed at my watch face trying to evaluate why it is pitch dark outside when we were supposed to have slept in until the luxurious hour of 7 am. All I can tell is that Darby and April, the two hitch leaders, are hollering at something, telling it to leave, and that I want to go back to sleep. I debate whether or not I should get out of the tent to investigate, but decide not to, a decision I will later be very grateful for. “It isn’t really worth the effort,” I thought. But just as I am about to settle back into my sleeping bag, I hear Darby yell what would seal our fate, “Elk! Get out of our camp!”
Immediately I shake my brother awake. “There’s an elk in camp, Owen!”
I’m wide awake now (that’s what horn honking, shouting, and the threat of a huge elk will do to you). I call out to our crew-leader, April, in the eloquent speech that only the severely underslept have at their disposal, “What’s happening, where is the Elk, should we come out, will we still have breakfast!!?”
Josephus Lake Youth Crew on the trail!
“Stay inside your tents, and keep quiet!” she replies. “Everyone is going to have to make a dash to the van. The elk is moving towards your guys’ tents, so get your stuff ready and move in 30 seconds while I distract it and give the signal!”
We run to the van. Terrified to be in close quarters with a rampaging elk any longer than necessary, we leap on top of each other in our haste. The van clock reveals the answer to the question we had all been pondering.
3:15 am.
Were you to have asked me a month ago what I expected from my youth expedition at Josephus Lake, having our campsite invaded by a marauding bull elk was certainly not high up on the list.
Cool, but also terrifying.
Sergio in the daytime
Although the arrival of our elk, who we named Sergio during our time in the van, was certainly not a fortuitous occurrence, it could have been much worse. He showed up on our last day of hitch when all we had to do was pack up our stuff. But packing up tents can be slightly difficult when you are standing ten feet away from a wild animal that could kill you at any time if it wanted to.
To avoid this, April and Darby hatch a plan, as we sit, bored and exhausted, in the dark van. They will drive the kids to a different camp site, drop us off there, and then ferry the van back and forth to pick up our gear and drop it off where we are. This way, the kids can avoid all the dangers of the elk.
A perfect plan. Or so it seemed.
Sergio invading camp!
We try it a little later when it is bright enough to see where we’re going. But just as the kids are about to be dropped off, Sergio appears out of the dark. He had followed us several hundred feet down a dirt road! This was going to be much harder than we had previously believed, what with the minor inconvenience of the stalker-elk. But if Sergio is going to follow us, we might as well exploit it. We drive several miles down the road, and low and behold, Sergio arrives a few minutes later, rubbing his antlers against our van in greeting.
As soon as he arrives, we turn around, and, after carefully maneuvering our way past him, rush as quickly as we can back to our site. We have about ten minutes to collect all of our tents, bags, gear, clothes, miscellaneous items, random junk, and Sergio-food (he had eaten a card game and sunglasses!) that we had left lying around our camp. We throw everything we can carry into the back (only taking enough time to de-pole the tents), but even this fervency of effort cannot save us from the Inexorable March of the Tyrant Elk! Sergio arrives just before everything is in the van, but we are able to just escape, unscathed.
Traditionally elk will keep their distance from humans, and if we get too close, they will bolt in fright, or act highly aggressive. And when they are aggressive, they can be extremely dangerous. They can run at a top speed of 45 mph, and although elk have not directly killed anyone yet, several people have been critically injured in recent years. But none of this is what happened with Sergio. Luckily for us he was not aggressive, but he also did not run away. Even after we honked and screamed at him, something that would frighten normal elk, he seemed unperturbed. Although in this scenario he did not hurt anyone, he is still a wild animal, and could change his behavior at a moment's notice.
This is exactly why it is important for wilderness areas to remain protected, and that we follow the Leave No Trace principles when entering them. When humans do not respect wildlife by feeding them or by getting too close, they become habituated. At one point, Sergio was likely fed, or he has had enough interaction with humans to no longer fear us. This poses significant danger both for us, and for him. If he keeps moving into human territory, he could seriously hurt someone. Our experience with him was real-life evidence of why it is important to follow the principles that we teach in the SBFC youth wilderness expeditions.
Preston Long is 15 years old and lives in Boise, Idaho.