Happy Travels: June 2, 2011---National Bison Range

Well we had a busy day on Thursday. After getting our slide checked and ordering the parts we decided to see what kind of attractions were in the area. Walt had looked at some activities and we decided to visit the National Bison Range. The range was north and east of our location in St. Regis.

We ate our lunch and then set out for the range. The drive was exquisite. The scenery was rugged but beautiful. We drove along a fast flowing river which was bulging at the seams. There were mountains all around us as we drove to the range.

As we reached the range we went into the visitor’s center. They had a small museum and gift shop. So at about 3 pm we started our tour of the National Bison Range. (Remember the time of our entry) The range had been formed by congress in June of 1909 and covers 18,521 acres.

The visitor’s center had a very interesting haystack---an antler haystack.

The tour is 19 miles long and was over muddy dirt roads. The cars we saw leaving the range were covered with mud. (When we left we had very little mud on the truck-Walt never drove over 10 miles per hour on the 19 mile tour)

Our first short road had 4 bison in that area. After doing the whole range we decided these bison were just a taste of what we would see in the area. The visitors who did the short tour were probably thrilled because the group had a male, 2 females and a calf.

The range had some rolling hills, gullies, creeks, tall hills and mountains. The wild flowers were a treat to the eye. If you did not see any animals in the area, you could certainly enjoy the beauty. The 19 mile, one-way mud road gained 2000 feet in the park. There were many switchbacks and 10% grades along the drive. No trailers or vehicles over 32 feet are allowed on this drive. This is the first mountain we crossed.

The first animal other than the bison was a female mule deer. Other animals in the range are whitetail deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, mule deer, magpie, golden eagle, black bear and many small animals as mink, turtles, horned owls, otters, and eagles. The variety of flowers and small birds rounded out the environment.

The first animal was a mule deer. I saw it behind a bush when it peaked out from behind that bush. Then we became much more conscience about watching for more animals. Walt and I spent the rest of the trip searching every rock, bush and ravine for animals. It seemed like you would see rocks until the rock moved and we knew it was an animal. Some of these animals were fairly far away, so we used binoculars most of the time. Our camera did not give us very good pictures because of the distance and the rainy cloudy skies.