Day 27 Grasslands National Park

Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play… that was our home today. We saw plenty of all three, along with many coyote, tons and tons of prairie dogs, and countless birds. None of the rattlesnakes and black widows that signs warned of – thank goodness!

I woke at 3:00AM and decided to take a peek outside. Nights on the prairie are cool, but I didn’t care as the clouds had moved out and skies were full of stars. It was like something you might see on an ad, and it was right outside our door! It was also a great indication of the beautiful sunny morning that greeted us. We enjoyed our coffee, gazing out on the prairie and then took a little morning hike to marvel at how the landscape and colours change so drastically depending on the time of day and the amount of sun or cloud. It really is quite striking!

My company this morning for coffee. I'm sorry I couldn't catch them kissing! When two prairie dogs meet they kiss, apparently to confirm they are from the same colony. I can see that would be tough when you all look alike.

The pictures couldn't possibly capture the difference in colour of the same sport, from last night to this morning.

Shadows from clouds do interesting things to the landscape here too.

A local checking us out!

The Canada Thistles are huge!

We only took a short wander as Jonathan wanted to get back and pack for his grand adventure. He is heading out today, solo, for a hike and overnight in the back country. The 1000km²is divided into zones and you obtain a permit for a particular zone. You hike out into that zone and pitch your tent wherever you choose. He was thrilled at the prospect and by mid-day was on his way.

A beauty of a day as he sets out!

Already a speck in the distance (Framed in top of the gate)

Jenna, David and I stuck with the standard hiking and designated campground option – working just fine for me! We drove along the southern edge of the West Block, close enough to the US border that when we did have cell service, the phones welcomed us to the US - not today folks! The road was long and isolated. The entire afternoon we passed one other car in about 60km! We saw remnants of days gone by in abandoned early ranch homes and a little one-room school, all conveniently outfitted with an associated outhouse. We passed a couple of family ranches at the edges of the park, one that was established in 1912. We passed another with cowboy boots positioned over fence posts and learned that this was done as a sign of respect and tribute when a rancher or ranch hand passed away. This ranch must have been around for some time, and seen its share of loss, as the number of boots grew as we drove by the long, long fence that surrounded the ranch.

We stopped and hiked along a designated trail that was once an old wagon trail through the open grasslands. The rattlesnake warning on the gate didn’t deter us, but the heat certainly did! There is little shade on the prairie and the heat wave that has been forecast for the next couple of days is starting to move in. We didn’t give up before we found ourselves being carefully monitored by a small herd of Pronghorn Antelope. Man are they fast! They can travel speeds of 100km/hour, to allow them to escape coyotes. Good thing too, because there were many coyotes in the area! They looked large and well-fed so I assume some of those Pronghorns weren’t always fast enough!

These little guys are chirping, and peeping, and popping and scurrying everywhere we go

A collection of ranch sheds from a bygone era

Boot on a fence post

Another in a long line

An abandoned ranch house and outhouse

One of many coyote sightings

Blanket flowers abound in the fields

Pronghorn Antelope

On our way back to the campground we made a couple of stops for pictures. At one stop as we were looking at bison in the distance, we noticed what looked like a tent on a distant ridge. Guess who? Jonathan had crossed the river and climbed the butte on the other side of the valley. It appeared he had the range to himself…except for those bison!

Those little black dots are bison

That little blue dot is Jonathan's tent. The littler dot at the back is Jonathan!

Speaking of bison…getting supper ready experienced a delay when I glanced over the valley to see what we estimated to be a herd of about 100 bison. There were big ones, really big ones, and loads of littles! It was a productive spring ‘round these parts! After supper Jenna and I took an evening stroll up on the ridge to watch the sunset - never gets old!

Loads of babies

The moon starting to appear

Blanket flower seedheads, beautiful in their own right!

Off to bed early tonight and set the alarm for 3:00AM so we can get another proper peek at the stars. We settled in, to the song of coyotes, yipping across the valley. Unfortunately, our star gazing will be sans our resident star expert. The night skies did not disappoint. It was very cool, but that was welcome after the heat of the day. Even with very hot days, the prairie cools down considerably at night, so we were prepared. Sadly, my night photography skill was no match for the show. I wasn’t as frustrated as I might have been, since David didn’t fare significantly better. In the end, our phones did the best job – so much for expensive cameras! David says, “It’s because they’re SMART phones!” Really was no matter Jonathan couldn’t tell us what specifically we were looking at. We knew we were looking at spectacular! We didn’t have long though. We will need to set the alarm a little earlier next time since 3:00AM was perfect viewing but by 3:15 the horizon in the east started to glow. By 3:30 the birds were singing, and the antelope had replaced the coyotes in making themselves known. When you’re on the prairie the coyotes call goodnight, the birds and antelope call good morning, and in between you watch the universe it all it’s glory!

Not every shot was a winner. For I while I inadvertently had the phone in selfie mode. This is the ONLY one of those shots you will be permitted to see 😏