Dances with Buffalo

Bison to be correct

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

August 8^th, 2018

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” -Helen Keller

We pulled out of Davis Mountains State Park after a fun week and were planning to head to the Guadalupe Mountains and the National Park but after not being able to secure a camping space in the area decided to head up to Amarillo, TX to grab a view of the Cadillac Ranch before heading west to New Mexico. After, by chance talking to our old neighbor JJ, we decided to have a look at the two state parks near Amarillo. Palo Duro Canyon was all booked up but Caprock Canyon had plenty of sites available so we book our site and drove that way. We needed to take an overnight travel stop so after seeing our route took us through Big Spring, TX where some old friends live we decided to stop there and give them a call. Ken and Ann were available for dinner so we went to eat Mexican at Casa Blanc where we enjoyed good company and authentic Mexican from the region. We got on the road the next morning heading for Caprock Canyon State Park in Quitaque (Kitty Quay), TX.

SOMEONE IS IN OUR SPOT

When we registered for our campsite, we were asked about our interest and after a quick discussion were put in Honey Flat site 34. We drove past the prairie dogs in the open area along the road by the community bathhouse to arrive at our campsite only to find the bison herd grazing in our site and the neighboring sites.

FREE RANGE BISON

Over the next week we found the herd moved around a lot, you could never predict where they would show up next! The next day we were headed out the park and the herd was at the park welcome station grazing around the parking lot. The herd is the legacy that Mary Ann Goodnight saved in 1878 as the plains bison during the great slaughter. From orphan calves captured by her husband Charles and raised on the JA Ranch the nucleus of the Goodnight Herd was formed. Gifted to the State of Texas in 1994 and moved to Caprock Canyon State Park in 1997 where they number about 200 and are allowed free range over Texas’s largest State Park. We never seemed to get enough photos of these majestic animals. JoAnn was in the mesquite shooting photos when one approached her, just curious we think... she would move around the other side of the tree and the thousand pound bison would follow her. She made a dash for Boo when she had an opening and was content to take pictures from the safety of the camper doorway.

CADILLAC RANCH

Needed a bike tire, we made a drive into Amarillo with the intent to make the pilgrimage to the famous Cadillac Ranch. After getting some lunch and making several stops for supplies we drove over on I40 West of Amarillo to the open farm field where 10 graffiti covered Cadillacs from the 1950 are half buried at an angle. You just park alongside the frontage road and pass through a gate and walk out into a plowed field several hundred yards to the cars. The graffiti is so thick on the cars they look like plastic cartoon items. The spray cans left by other messy pilgrims are all blown by the endless wind and look like drift wood washed up on the beach.

RAILS to TRAILS - FLAT TIRES

We decided to take a little bike ride out on the Caprock Canyon Trailway to the Clarity Tunnel to watch the bats. There is a large colony of Mexican freetail bats that live in the now abandon railway tunnel which is part of the 64-mile-long rail-to-trail. We got to the Monks Crossing (MM689) parking lot and had a five-mile ride to get to the tunnel. We passed Grey Mule Slide, where only the foundation of the water tower used to service the steam locomotive remains of a community that once worked on the railway loading livestock and supplies on the passing trains. They lived in box cars. After another mile or so, JoAnn started losing air in her tires. Thinking one of my patches was having problems we turned around and headed back, having to pump her tire up every few minutes. Luckily, we had the wind to our back and made great time. The rail line went out of service in 1989 and the help of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy the right-a-way was given to the State Park system in 1992 for use as a multi-purpose trail.

PRAIRIE DOGS

The prairie dog area was adjacent to our site and we could look out our window and see the colony which we estimate to be more than 50. Quite funny creatures, they have a high pitched ‘bark’ when they sense danger to warn the others. They run back to the nearest borrow, poke their head up a little bit and start barking. Then the prairie dogs in the area do the same. We could spend all day taking photos of these adorable guys.

GOODBYE FROM the HERD

We ran into town to pick up mail and get some late minute supplies before heading out and when we got back to our campsite we noticed the herd was heading our way. We didn’t think much of this since we had seen them moving around the *** acre area that they call home. While getting the trailer ready to roll the herd showed up at our campsite grazing in our area. We just had to sit back and watch as the breding group of about 40 moved through our campsite and the others on the end of Honey Flats. In the empty campsite next to ours we watched as one bull scratched on the post that supported the water spicket and to our surprise he turned it on, just a little at first and then on much more! He and others in the herd drank from the pool that was created by the flowing water facet! On our way out, we stopped to let the park ranger know about the open water facet in site 32, she laughed and said that makes the rangers so mad… It seems that is pretty common. Who knew bison could learn to turn on a water facet!

Personally: We are doing well and feeling good about what's ahead. We are very comfortable in the camper and pleased with our choices. Bella is settling into a routine now and seems happier. As for us lots of biking, hiking and cooking at home.

Lessons Learned: Some planning is required to secure a camping space, your Plan B can be where you are meant to be, Bison are more intelligent that they look…., Prairie Dogs are hilarious, and Bison are curious and gentle unless provoked (accidentally or on purpose) they run 3x’s faster than a human. So stay back.

WHAT'S NEXT

What’s Next: Heading west to New Mexico, we plan to end up in Taos where we visited about four years ago after Dawson’s (our grandson) first birthday.