Montana Beauty & Bison Bonanza!
As we headed west from SD we stopped at one of our favorite Harvest Host (HH) stops in Gillette, WY - the “Our Wyoming Life” Ranch. We slept next to some of the cows and got to help the owner the next morning work on refurbishing her humongous high tunnels that she uses for growing vegetables for her farm store and for her non-profit organization, The Edible Prairie Project. EPP helps to feed families dealing with food insecurity in Northeast Wyoming. It’s an amazing organization and we always try to do what we can to help when we’re in the area. I didn’t include any pictures of this stop, but I had to acknowledge it because it has become one of my happy places.
We continued westward to Montana. A couple of HH’s included a winery, then a very cool brewery, Bridger Brewing Company, where we had a yummy dinner, got waited on by some impressive and friendly staff, and then got to experience a beautiful sunset back at the trailer after the rains stopped.
Next we were onto a campground in Deer Lodge, MT for a few days. We were greeted with a hail storm which was a little crazy, but the views from the campground were very Montana. Although a small campground right off of the highway, we saw some cool wildlife. Since we were there for a few days we went into town and toured the Old Montana Prison and Auto Museum. The Prison tour was a “why not?” kind of moment but was actually very cool and I’m glad we did it. Karl thoroughly enjoyed the Auto Museum as well - and I at least got my 10,000 steps in while glancing at the cars!
We then had a pretty ride as we continued on to our next Harvest Host - a bison ranch in Thompson Falls, MT…
It was a long dirt road that brought us into the Harlow Ranch. Once we arrived we were greeted at their store where we bought some bison burger and a steak, and I got myself a nice long sleeve t-shirt. Maggie jumped on her 4-wheeler and led us out to our secluded little camping spot (complete with a bear proof trash can). She pointed out up the hill where we might catch a glimpse of the bison feeding, but we reassured her we weren’t worried since we had signed up for the morning tour where they drive out to the grazing pastures to see and feed snacks to the bison.
So after we got our trailer level, we had some lunch and did what we usually do - meandered around the grounds to both check it out and to work towards getting our steps for the day! We were successful with both missions, and were relaxing in the trailer when I decided to walk up the hill to stretch my legs again and enjoy some fresh air. As I ambled up the hill I glanced up and was shocked to see a herd of bison grazing. The area was fenced off with barbed wire from the area we were in, and was apparently one of the end points of their grazing area. At first I was so excited and acted all stealthy to get some pictures and videos. They didn’t seem to mind me being in the distance, so I quickly texted Karl and told him to get his butt up the hill! I realized that this spot had some of their salt licks and mineral blocks that they require (which you can see in the middle pic), and was definitely why we had a big crowd! I got a few peeks at some of the calves, but the herd did a pretty good job of keeping them herded away from the fence. I got the giggles watching this one big-ass bison using the cement stand as a scratching post - another sure sign that this wasn’t their first visit to this grazing area.
(For the record - I was standing in the same spot for the first two pictures below…I zoomed in a little for the bison and then turned around and took a pic of our trailer down the hill.)
The next morning we had a 10AM tour with Melinda, one of the owners. The 90 min tour can usually hold up to a dozen people - 8 people in the back of the truck and 4 inside. Well, it was just me and the hubs and we opted for the back of the truck which is protected by a livestock rack, so we could be “IN THE FRONT ROW” as we fed the bison their “range cake” (an alfalfa/pea meal bison pellet). We drove to a couple of areas where they usually gather without any luck and then…we found them!! AMAZINGNESS!! Did I mention it was calving season? The oldest calf was 6wks old and the youngest (who we didn’t see) was 4 days old. It ws amazing to see them frolicking and nursing…and the entire herd was so damn calm and beautiful! I took a gazillion videos, which I unfortunately won’t include on this blog because I’m not overly confident that it won’t gum up the works. Hopefully the pictures help to convey the beauty and it will be self-evident that this was an experience of a lifetime!!! These bison are living the good life in their natural habitat until it is time for them to contribute to the circle of life and feed people. This ranch is doing amazing things and I would highly recommend checking out their website (harlowranch.com) to learn about their practices and about bison. This was definitely up there on the memorable HH adventures that Karl and I have had!
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