Dances with Bison

Instead on communing with wolves, we are living up close and personal with bison.  At the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, they have lots of bison that wander wherever they want.  In the morning I was sitting outside working on my laptop.  I looked up to see a bison just a short distance from my table.  Later I was talking on the phone and another bison came through our campsite.  Pretty surreal!

In the evening we had a group come across the river and get near the campgrounds across from our site.  We had a chance to talk to other campers who were taking pictures too.  First, I realized that while Europeans dominate in most national parks, that isn’t true for North Dakota.  Apparently this isn’t considered a hot spot. One of the campers saw the bison cross a steep spot on the river.  To get down to the river, the bison kept his front legs straight and rode down the dirt bank on his butt.  I wondered why there were cuts into the river bank! Finally, one of the campers had a great close-up picture of a rattle snake.  It’s not too warm here, so I’m surprised rattlesnakes were out.  Glad I didn’t see any on my hikes.

Oh, and another ‘danger’ while hiking…. this is a bison pie (well, they are called cow pies)!