The Season’s High Country Salute From Yellowstone’s Wild Places
By Rod Schmidt (September 12, 1976)
Summer has somehow… though don’t know when, slipped into fall…
The elk are now boldly bugling out their challenges, adding special excitement to frosty mornings. The pelicans have made their ceremonial aerial circling salute to the high country and have distant visions of the California coast.
The moose are slowly shedding their annual velvet as if reluctant for autumn combat.
The elk have long unsheathed their dueling irons, and already the young bulls on crisp mornings are testing their ranks on the nearest tree, getting ready for the day when they will dare to challenge the imperial monarchs, and claim the fair ladies.
The loons overhead have cried their mournful farewell to the northern sky.
Excitement and expectation are in the air everywhere! The grizzlies in the remote meadows are tanking up on their last-minute grocery raids before the store closes. And with each growing cloud to charge over the horizon, one anticipates a soft new white lining on the lofty Aries.
In the higher reaches the aspen have struck gold.
The old bison of Hayden who fared badly in his bellowing challenge for the next generation of the valley… made the coming winter a bit more welcome for a satiated king bear.
Remember to walk softly, for you have not been the first to tread on this land, nor will you be the last…
Rodney Schmidt Legacy 