Before summer gets away and the mountains are covered in their white blanket until spring…
I need to finish some photos I took for you earlier in September…
I’ve mentioned before the buffalo trails that exist in this country…
If you don’t remember…
Cow trails look like this…
narrow…
winding…
Buffalo trails are wide enough…
they could lay railroad tracks in them…
But when we were up on the mountain weaning…
gee…
WEEKS ago now…
I thought I should share another remnant of buffalo occupation.
It is extremely difficult to take photos of them…
but look hard…
and you may be able to figure out buffalo wallows.
See the roundish bowl of greener grass?
<and others back behind with brown weeds showing?>
That is where buffalo would wallow or roll in a muddy attempt to block biting flies, fleas, or other annoying insects.
A hundred years (at least) after they have been used…
they are still easily seen…
and tripped in…
just not photographed!
You’ll find them everywhere on top of the Big Horn Mountains…
since springs are quite common…
these mud holes were utilized greatly.
The compaction of the soil is impressive…
forcing different plant life…
still holding water after heavy rains or in the early spring snow melt…
I would like to see through a time machine…
and watch the great beasts bellowing, grunting, and rolling in their mud baths.
There are four hard to see wallows between me and the horses…
They are between 6 and 10 feet across…
the closest two are connected into a figure 8 shape…
Can you imagine hundreds of them wallowing in the mud?
>Thanks, V., for the use of your buffalo photo!>
With buffalo came their predators…
and I’ll share some of that at a later date…
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TODAY’S PUPPY PHOTO OF THE DAY…
