A buffalo bump is a really great little pizza joint down the road from where I am staying. This pizza is way too expensive for what you get, but I have discovered that I adore bacon pizza. The pizza is on a great wheat crust with lots of greasy bacon, pepperoni and sausage. My better half eats a healthier pizza than I do and insists upon his half be covered in vegis with a touch of sausage. While I enjoy a great pizza with onions and green peppers, the thought of having my side slathered in bacon seems so right to me.
There is no benefit from the wheat crust when the pizza is covered in bacon, but since I have one of these pizzas maybe twice a year, I am good with this.
While the name of the place is Buffalo Bump Pizza, the name Buffalo Bump is really a description of an event that requires a vehicle and an irate bison. These can both be found within the confines of Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone consists of over 3,400 square miles of parkland. This park wanders between the boundaries of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. It has one road that is part of the parkway, which is a large figure 8 that loops along the perimeter of the park with the center going through the middle. All this land and a relatively small roadway makes viewing wildlife a challenge at times. You would think that there would be little interaction between herds of bison, elk and antelope simply because of the size of the park.
Not so. The bison apparently are not happy unless they are wandering along the highway, standing in the middle, milling about and generally stopping traffic. The thing about bison, like elk, is that they are extremely large animals capable of doing a lot of damage to cars and people.
Ranger stations throughout the park, including the entrances, will tell you to leave them alone. They can become dangerous and people have died screwing with the wildlife.
Do people listen? Nope, of course not. Check YouTube for videos of people and bison.
Since the bison are herding animals that mill about on the roadways, it is no wonder that the term Buffalo Bump came to mean the smashing of vehicles by irritated bison. The bison are huge animals that can easily destroy a vehicle. Do not let the size fool you; they are quick and can run over 40 mph, which makes them a lot faster than me.
Bison are not tame cows and people seem to forget that when they see them crossing the roads in the park.
We were on one of our adventures at the park and came to a halt along with several other vehicles as a herd passed over the roadway. We had Blu with us and he was in the back of the Blazer behind my seat. He was sitting and watching the herd pass by while I took photos, fully aware that some of these guys were getting bit too close to the truck.
Blu seemed to think it was a good idea to let them know they were too close by loudly barking his displeasure.
I know that I had some kind of big-eyed moment when he started barking. I was just sure that these two walking by the truck were going to turn and ram into the door. They can do some damage and the last thing you want is those horns shoved through the thin sheet metal door.
But, they passed quietly and we sat very still while waiting for the herd to pass. They had little ones with them, which made them even more dangerous.
Driving through bison herds is never a good idea and the best thing to do to avoid a buffalo bump is to let them pass while quietly waiting. Here is someone’s story who did not heed the warnings from all the good people at the park and suffered the consequences.
I will have my buffalo bump with bacon please and thank you.
Julie and Blu