It is pretty normal for creatures like deer, elk, and moose to come down to the lower elevations in winter, and go back up higher in the summer when it is hot; so I am not surprised that you are seeing the elk down lower. It is not like they just decided to take a 35 mile hike all at once, they have just been following the food and working their way down out of the high mountains for the winter months. In some places, they come right into town for the winter. At Sandpoint, where I grew up, the moose now wander the streets, even right downtown, and people have gotten used to them being there. This didn’t happen back when I was growing up there, but the government release of timber wolves into north Idaho and Montana has led to there being packs of the predators who take down the deer, and even the elk and moose . This has forced them to come closer into town, where there are no wolves. If you have more wolves and natural predators in Colorado, then that might be another reason the elk are coming in closer to humans.
Elk are native to Virginia, with nearly all of the historical populations being in the western and southwestern parts of the state. In 1855, the last known elk was taken in Virginia, with the entire eastern U.S. population being nearly extirpated by the late 1800s. Unsuccessful restoration projects first began in Virginia in 1917. Virginia revived the elk restoration project in 2010, and executed the first steps in 2012 when 71 elk were captured in eastern Kentucky and released into a 3 county management area over a 2 year period (2012, 2013, 2014.) By 2020 the size of the Virginia herd was estimated to be over 250 elk, but there is some migration between eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. The state holds an annual lottery for permission to take an elk in the 3 county management area. This year there will be 6 hunting permits issued. Outside of the management area, elk generally fall under the same hunting regs are deer (they're not protected statewide.) Here is an Elk Cam (with audio) in the Virginia management area. The best viewing times are early AM and later in the evenings.