I flew back to the USA for a week-long trip in Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Montana and Wyoming. It is a remarkably long way from London – about twenty hours of travel – but also a world away in climate, terrain, and culture. Upon arrival in Bozeman, Montana, the cowboy hats are the first thing you notice – in the airport, in the hotel, in a restaurant, just a natural part of life. The “Don’t Tread on Me” flags fluttering outside homes and trailer parks. The brown grass and vast fallow fields of hay stretching for miles. The deep cold, well below freezing (zeroºC) and close to reaching zeroºF. The light powder snow falling gently but barely covering the ground. This is definitely not England – or New England either.
On Friday and Saturday I had the opportunity to join an old friend and classmate to do a little hiking and exploring of public parks. Our first hike was in Madison Buffalo Jump State Park, a bit west of Bozeman.
The sky was cloudy and there was a fresh dusting of snow on the trails as we headed out to explore this tiny park. It was cold, with temps in the single digits (ºF) and a light breeze making it feel colder. The terrain is open scrubland, with sage brush and twisted dwarf trees sprinkled across rolling hills covered in brown grass. Fortunately there is a small gazebo with excellent interpretive signs explaining how the Native Americans of this region had, for centuries, used the steep cliffs of this terrain as a hunting weapon. They drove massive herds of buffalo into a running mass that, unable to stop, would tumble off the cliffs. There, injured, they were more easily harvested by the people and the meat preserved for the long winter months ahead.
Hike stats:
Distance: 3.83 miles (6.2km)
Gain: 532 feet (162m)
Time: 2h35m including lunch
The next day, we walked through a small city park, along a partly frozen stream…
… and then through the Montana State University campus, where there is a duck pond that is (miraculously) unfrozen and busy with about a hundred mallards…
… and then up along a hill overlooking the town and across to the mountain range beyond.
This weekend marks my 18th consecutive weekend hike.
David Kotz 