Living in Paradise

What do you say to the buffalo walking down the middle of the road? Nothing, just pass quietly and quickly! This guy was thru playing with the ladies and headed out for a quieter place to catch up on needed sleep and eats. We had mountain on one side and cliff on the other so we all took turns skirting by as far away as possible. He didn't seem to care, just kept plodding along. Think he knows yellow double lines mean no passing?



'We hit the ground running' this year. A large group left our 2nd day here so we 3 completed a total cleaning of all cabins...

and then Bob drove me to Lamar Buffalo Ranch (LBR) for my course, oh yeah! Lamar has one main cabin with 2 full-size classrooms and a fully stocked kitchen. You bring your own food and store it there during your stay. The closest store, restaurant, anything is a minimum of 45-60 mins away...depending on the buffalo...

I was paired up with a roommate by the name of Barbara (I think they do that just to get a laugh!) and you bring your own bedding and towels and such. It had been in the high 80's and low 40's and that was the forecast when I packed to easy enough. The first night a front came thru and the temps dropped to 34. Okay, I had a flannel sheet doubled over, two lightweight blankets and full pj's. It was chilly but no problem. The biggest adventure is the bathroom is a bathhouse you have to leave your cabin for AND the buffalo like to walk thru the campus all hours of the day and night. Sweet!

The discussion the 2nd day was how cold it was and even though it's early in the season to start up the furnaces in each cabin, that job was done for everyone's comfort. Well, all the furnaces but our cabin and one other. It got down to 26 that night. I lay in the fetal position shaking most of the night. At one point I ran to the bathhouse hoping for heat, but it receives heat thru the floor and it takes (I learned later) about 48 hours for that to be effective.

All this to say, no sleep that night and I was told that there are sleeping bags and extra blankets available if needed. Seriously? Ha! I learned another something new about the Ranch.


This year I took a course on Nature Journaling. It involved using flowery words to convey the subject matter and learning how to sketch the object being discussed. The group this year was very cohesive and we had a good time together.

 Here is a picture from one of Instructor Susan's journals. She obviously takes sketching a whole notch above what I'm trying to do.












 And here's a page from my journal notes. The cliff drawing is a copy from Susan's handout and I thought it turned out pretty good. She is an advocate of writing in columns, sideways, upside down, anything but left to right across the page. It's fun but the sideways really bugs me so I'll stick with right side up from now on!









The LBR has a history rich with work concerning the buffalo and wolves. Starting in 1902, an effort was made to protect the few remaining bison from poachers. From many thousands on the plains, the wild herd now numbered about 20 in Yellowstone and they were corralled in the LBR area to protect and help expand before being released back into the park. The program was a success and today the bison are a major feature thruout the park for visitors to see. Unfortunately, people don't see them as wild and there have been 5 injuries this year to visitors trying to get that 'perfect' picture or selfie and they are just too close.


The other main LBR story is the location of the last remaining pen area where wolves were brought in and released in the park.

In 1995 and 1996, wolves were brought from Canada to be reintroduced into the park. Three areas in Yellowstone were used to house these original animals, LBR being one of those. The pens that were built encompassed over an acre at each site.



Our course Program Assistant, Holly, offered to show anyone interested where the pen is located. It is the only pen left standing in the park. There is a big controversy over whether to remove the fencing or not. I figured we were going a little ways up the hill behind the Ranch and we'd be there. Not so! We hiked for about 40 mins, going up the entire time, before we finally arrived.

It was fascinating to walk inside the pen and see the bones from the elk and other animals killed on the road and drug up the hill, still inside the pen. A few trees have fallen and taken down sections but the fence remains intact for the most part. For me it was a part of the wolf history and I'd hate to see it all removed.

After the first release of the wolves from LBR, 2 wolves immediately left the park and went to Red Lodge area, a city which provides the NE entrance to YS. As it turned out the male was shot and killed and the female was pregnant and had her pups. The Park Service located this wolf and her pups and they were brought back to the LBR pen and protected until the pups were old enough to fend for themselves. Then all were re-released into the park.

These 'dog houses' were built and used to transport the female and pups back to the pen. You can see the holes in the side where poles were inserted to hand carry the animals. Those rangers and helpers had to be of some sturdy stock themselves to make that hike with the wolves.