Antelope Island

A Story of Celebration & Survival

Last Saturday a small group of about 27 mid-twenty somethings gathered for an outing at Utah's Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake for our friend's 23 birthday party. This was just the second time I had ever been to the island, and was looking forward the sunset and company for the evening. There are a lot of funny little querks and stories from our trip I would like to share, however... I have been sitting in the car far too long today and I want to go out and sit by the pool instead :) (Thank heavens for vacations!) So I will make this quick...

Ode to Nate Cannon and his great photography skills:


And, to close things up: the surival story.

On our way off the island, my car (a.k.a. Storm) was loaded up with Ross, Joel, Ian & Carolyn. It was about 10:30 p.m. and dark out. Well, you should know that Antelope were reintroduced to the island in 1993 and we saw 2 gallavanting across the country-side on our way in. It was AWESOME. I had never seen one this close before.

Well, in 1893 the American Bison was introduced to the island and now number around 600 on the 28,022-acre island.



Well, on our way off the island, we noticed a bison on the east side of the road - about 3 yards into the field, and just beyond that was another bison - standing right next to and facing the road. His eyes were all glowy and creepy as most bisons' are in the darkness, and when he saw Storm approaching his eyes locked on us and visually followed the car as it approached him. I moved closer to the center of the road and as we got right next to him he charged my car!!!

I hit the gas so hard and fast we took off while he continued to follow us for a little bit! My heart was beating so fast I couldn't really breathe too well until we were a ways down the road.

Joel had rolled down his passenger side back-seat window because he was afraid if we did get hit that the glass was shatter... and I believe he may have screamed as our little friend got closer. I dunno...

At any rate. I like seeing the Bison/Buffalo in museums or at Cabella's stuffed animal show, but not charging my car. :)