Bison Roundup

Okay...so you need to read this post with bluegrass music playing in the background (I promise, it adds a good touch).

Last week a small group of us from camp attended a very Montana-ish event.  We went to a bison roundup at the National Bison Range that is just northeast of here.  We got the start time wrong and arrived almost two hours early, which meant we were able to watch the sunrise over the Mission mountains.  It was a chilly and cold morning, but I am glad we arrived early to get a good viewing spot of the bison for soon after arriving multiple school buses of children arrived and the place became chaotic. 

Three years ago, they decided to no longer round up the bison with cowboys on horses, but instead to use jeeps to bring them in slower.  When a small group of bison are brought into the gates they channel them until they have one buffalo.  The buffalo is then ushered into a scale, where it is weighed and its chip checked for age.  Then the buffalo is tagged and sent to get its medical check.  From there, they are either set back out to the range or put a pen to be sold. 

The sun coming over the Missions

These mountains are amazingly beautiful!

Early morning smiles...

Watching elk on the range

Everyone drinking coffee before the roundup

Gabe's beard

Look at this cowboy's mustache...this is one thing I enjoy about Montana!

Watching the buffalo

Here they come running around the corner

If you look closely, this tag tells that this is a 3 year old male

weighing 1245 pds...who is third buffalo through the gates

 

 

 

This guy wants out...

and there he goes.

Rounding up the buffalo with jeeps

The penned buffalo waiting to be rounded up.

A Visit to the land of Glaciers :Two

After spending the night in the front country campground at Kintla Lake.  I woke early to find Gabe had already slipped out of the tent.  I grabbed a snack and headed out to the lake with my camera.  The world was quite still and the sun was still behind the mountains.  Its pinkish light lit the mirrored lake, Gabe was in the canoe fishing some distance from shore.  He spotted me and came and picked me up.  Till the sun rose above the mountains Gabe fished and I drank up the beautiful stillness.  Following that we ate breakfast and headed out in the canoes with Josh across the lake.  We had six miles to paddle to find the backcountry campsite.  In the early afternoon the wind picked up and urged us on towards our goal.  Gabe and Josh fished the entire way.  We ran into another guy in a canoe heading towards the front country, he let us know that the night before they had to chase a black bear from the campground with pots and pans.  We continued and finally came upon the campsite area.  We set up camp and soon Becky, who hiked in that day, met us.  In the afternoon, Josh, Becky, and I, hiked further back to find "glaciers".  On the way we discovered an amazing waterfall, and stopped and pondered flowers in the midst of a burn area.  We made it all the way to upper Kintla and paused on the shore for a break.  As we sat, Becky noticed a black bear meandering on the shore across the lake.  We watched till he disappeared, then we headed back to camp for dinner.  Thanks to Josh for the photos of Gabe and I!

 

Gabe fishing in the early morning light

The day before at Avalanche Creek

Heading to the backcountry

This little girl kept stopping to smell the flowers

The day before overlooking Lost Lake

The kitchen and bear bag area in the backcountry site

The waterfall

Becky and I at Upper Kintla Lake

Our view of the glaciers

The trail

Our cozy home