TO STAND AND ENDURE

Every year there are fires in Yellowstone but the fire of 1992 was particularly devastating. The buffalo had to make a choice - whether to stay in the meadows where they use their heads in huge sweeping motions to dig for grass in the snow or to go to the geyser bases where the steam from the geysers offers them warmth. It was a choice between expending their precious energy digging for food or sacrificing food for warmth. The buffalo chose to move to the geyser basin. It was a really spectacular sight. It's so profound that where they stood and endured that tremendous fire and smoke, they also had to stand and endure one of the longest winters of their lives amid the steam. The harsher the winters are, the more beautiful the geyser basins become. The heavy snows blanket everything; the geysers shape the blowing snow and then it freezes in strange and wonderful formations. So there the buffalo stood amidst it all, like monoliths in the steam.