This string of bison has come down this morning to the Yellowstone River with some thought of attempting to cross the river. This is a place they often swim across in more temperate seasons. This morning they came down in single file and piled up in a loose congregation upon the ice mantle covering the river where they milled about apparently undecided about what to do. They are standing on ice over river water. If the ice mantle breaks under them they will almost certainly die. The collective decision about what to do is critical in the fate of the group. Here, the obvious open channel of water makes the decision clearer. The decision is more nuanced when the river is completely frozen over. When the crossing looks safe, or at least is visually bridged by ice and snow then the decision becomes more complex. I have walked across the river ice but only on a fresh buffalo trail…if they can do it surly I can too. Once I found the head of a bison sticking up through the ice where a day or two before the decision to cross had been mistaken. The consequences of a misread of the ice are profound. Bison often break through river ice and perish, sometimes solo, more often in a group of a half dozen, sometimes in large groups of twenty or more. Generally a group is led by an elder cow who has many seasons experience, but even wise old timers can sometimes make an error of judgment. Later in the day the group turned back and returned the way they had come.
I went skiing shortly before sunset along the crest of the open ridge behind my house where I can ski into the southwest with an unobscured view into the setting sun which this late afternoon transitioning into evening provided a spectacular sunset with a sun pillar and the livid illumination of lingering alto cumulous clouds. Even in the place of great sunrises and sunsets this was a good one.