Perhaps the answer is simple. The elephant fight was not a popular event. Impressive, yes, but popular, no. While lions are ferocious, and the people enjoyed seeing them exterminated like overgrown rats, the elephants were different. Somehow, they were noble, and had an ineffable link with mankind that the people could feel. Cicero attended the circus that day, and described the elephant fight in the following manner: "The last day was that of the elephants, and on that day the mob and crowd were greatly impressed, but manifested no pleasure. Indeed the result was a certain compassion and a kind of feeling that that huge beast has a fellowship with the human race" (ad Familiares, VII.1).
In truth, in spite of the strength and occasional bad temper of the elephant, he is most likely to be described as a friend. In 1906, at the annual banquet of the Society of the Friends of the Elephant, Paul Hippeau performed his song, "Friends of the Elephant." In it, he notes that, "The elephant is a friend to man/More than the dog, it's constant/And now indeed our turn has come/To be the Friend of the elephant."
Given mankind's obsession with the elephant, it is little surprise that a huge collection of granite boulders, some towering more than twenty feet into the air, should bring to mind the image of this colossal beast. These rocks, the residue of a past glaciation and subsequent erosion, have been worn by rain and wind into the characteristically curved shape of an elephant's back. Somehow, even the pinkish tan color of the granite seems to evoke the elephant, and it is easy to imagine what this area might have looked like when the mighty mastodons still sounded their trumpeting cry.
Of course, with anything large, there is a deep human yearning to climb. These boulders make some of the best climbing in a mostly flat state, and the chalk residue from past climbers showed where recent attempts had been made to scale their sheer flanks.
Inevitably, what goes up must come down, and there are two ways one can go about it while bouldering. Either you climb down, or you fall. Based on the picture below, you can probably guess which way I chose.
Either way, it is a lot of fun! And, with repeated effort, the final view is well worth the climb!
Of course, the best part is going with good friends! Russ and Brianna, with both little girls in tow, along with our neighbors, Nate and Leah and their son Jude, all came along. Jude got into the rock climbing too!
