Evergreen Elk - A Danger To All?

I drove up to Evergreen, Colorado from Denver yesterday afternoon and then continued up Upper Bear Creek Road for a few miles, too, where I took the photograph above of three elk chilling out in a field. To me they seemed pretty damn mellow, and they were more than happy to pose for a portrait. Upper Bear Creek Road does not have much room to pull over, and so I had to stop the car in the middle of the road and get out of the car to take that photo. Which in hindsight was kind of stupid, since as soon as I did a couple of cars approached from behind, and I had to high tail it out of there. In any case, when I got back to Dedisse Park, located along Evergreen Lake, I pulled into the parking lot and saw a sign warning that it was calving season and to stay far far away from the elk, who might attack at any moment. Granted, if there are calves around, the mother might become aggressive if you get too close, but I did not get the feeling that trio in the field next to Upper Bear Creek Road would cause any trouble. But who knows? I guess it was a good thing that I had nowhere to park. If I had, I might have headed over there and taken a selfie with that very attentive looking elk. Perhaps it would have cooperated, perhaps not. Perhaps I would not be here writing this. I guess we'll never know.