The first time I ever saw an elk in the wild, it was standing on the side of I-75 going through the Smoky Mountains. Fast forward a decade or two and the largest herd of elk I've ever seen are blocking Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. All the photos in this post are from that occasion, I'd run into backed up traffic and had just parked in the nearest pullout and went walking to see what was up.
I quickly discovered that jaywalking elk were responsible for the delay. I'd had no destination when I had set out driving so I decided to take advantage of the situation and get some photos.
When I was growing up they started a project to reintroduce elk into the area. It's apparently been quite successful, they now do a lottery to allow a few people to hunt them each year. I've still never seen any in that neck of the woods but one old boy was out deer hunting shortly after they reintroduced them and shot what he thought was the biggest deer he'd ever seen. He even took it into town to show off what he'd done! Unfortunately he'd shot an elk and it didn't end so well for him, on top of the fines he also had to pay to import another to replace the one he'd shot.
I posted the color versions of some of these not too long ago, these are for the #monomad contest by @monochromes. In addition to elk, black bears have made a comeback as well in the area I grew up. I don't have any photos of those though :( Any of yall have critters that used to be scarce in your area but are now much more common? I'm just hoping the bobcat is the next critter to make a comeback.
All these photos were taken above treeline in the alpine tundra. Everything that manages to survive up there is slow growing and stunted compared to what's at lower elevations. It never ceases to amaze me how some critters can live and thrive in should a wide variety of environments and conditions.