As we drove to the Tower-Roosevelt section of the park, we saw the familiar sight of cars pulled off the road haphazardly and people with their cameras. To our astonishment, a buffalo was strolling down the middle of the road towards our car. He walked within two feet of our vehicle. Jon could have reached out and touched him. He didn’t seem to care that he was surrounded by cars. We thought this was an awesome experience until just down the road a whole herd did the same thing. There was a mother and her calf slowly crossing the road. A few cars up in front of us, an impatient motorcycle pulled out of line to pass everybody and scared the remaining buffalo off the road. Traffic was free to go once again.
We checked into our cabin at Roosevelt, much to her chagrin. Somehow staying in small cabin with no running water brought back memories of some of our hotels we stayed in last year in Tibet.
Our next adventure was a two hour horse ride to a chuck wagon supper. They lined us up against a fence and paired us up with horses. Our new name became the horse’s name. Jon became Zack, and Kim became Gus. Jon’s horse seemed less than enthusiastic about making this ride. He would stomp his feet and snort. He tried to head for the corral several times. Jon knew this was going to be a tough ride!
The horses took us up into the mountains. At times, we were just a couple of feet from the edge of cliffs. We both hoped the horses were just as concerned as we were about going over the edge. It was at this point that one of the guides told us about the valley below us. It was named Poison Valley, because just one “drop” would kill you!
Along the way, various people would point out the animals they saw. Jon spotted a coyote about 15 feet away from us. We also saw deer. Somebody yelled out that they saw a bear. We saw a small black bear running down a hill. We were very excited to have spotted our first bear in the park. Another half mile down the trail, we had another bear experience. This time we were less than 30 feet from a large black bear. He was digging around in the dirt, oblivious to the 20 horses and their riders. We wanted our cameras in the worst way, but we weren’t allowed to take them with us on the ride. The guides seemed to be more nervous than we were, as they kept telling us to keep our horses tight together. They were afraid that the bear might spook the horses.
We had an excellent meal out in the middle of nowhere. The cooks grilled us steaks and made coffee over an open flame. There was a western folk singer. It was a lot of fun. Jon didn’t have time to use the bathroom before it was time to saddle back up. Jon politely reminded Zack he had a full bladder, but Zack was a bad horse. He bounced Jon unmercifully. It was a rather painful ride back for Jon.
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