Charged by a bison. Adventures on Antelope Island

This is Bill. We've got a funny story about him today. Hey, we're Mel and Jay. Together with our cat, Benny, we're traveling from Hope, BC all the way to South Padre Island, Texas, y'all, with lots of stops along the way. We've just arrived at Antelope Island and it looks pretty cool. Got a nice big site here. But yeah, look at that. Beautiful, beautiful open scenery. How do the levels look? The ones on the front there, we need to lift the slide side. Oh man, it is so warm, so sunny, so beautiful. This is why we work so hard to be snowbirds every year. We are all set up here in Bridger Bay Campground here on Antelope Island, near Salt Lake City in Utah. And only a couple of days ago, we were all the way in Washington. It was cold and dark and foggy. And now all of a sudden, it's bright sun. We crossed the 45th parallel, which means we're further than halfway between the equator and the North Pole. I think that's a bison up there. Holy cow, it is. Right from our campsite. I wonder how close, like there's no fence. Yeah, they might come really close. There's even in the pamphlet, it tells you how to read their body language if they're gonna charge at you or if they're annoyed. We just got here, but it's so beautiful. We decided we had to go on a little walk. It really pays to bring a pair of binoculars. Oh, look at that, it looks like the ocean almost. The big lake. We got a little off trail, and I thought, oh, we're just going for a little walk, you know, we don't need hiking shoes or anything. Hmm, I think we've had this problem before. Always wear your hiking shoes. We found the trail again. It doesn't look like a trail. This looks a lot like a trail to me. And just like that, we're home. That was a slightly longer, more of a hike than a walk. There's six, maybe seven. All right, we're here in the visitor center, and we're with aviators overlanding, Teresa and Dave. And we're gonna play a little bison trivia. Okay, so what are bison's natural predators? You saw the people? People? Oh, wolves. Wolves. That would make sense. Okay, how much do bison eat? Half their weight? 40 pounds of grass per day. I would've said more. We know this one. How fast can they run? You told us this one. Yeah. 40 miles an hour. How well do perlhorns see? Better than us. Very well. Their eyes are almost as large as an elephant's. 360 degrees almost. Wow, that'd be cool. And how fast can they run? Oh, 60 miles per hour. You think 60? No. 70? 50. 50? Do I hear a 40? Do you hear a 41? Oh, you were right. Oh, wow. Your first guess was the same as Dave. Look at that. Actually, that was too fast. And then, are they actually true antelope? No, because they vast. Jay's just playing the odds. And then we also have the chance of finding bighorn sheep and mule deer. I think this is really awesome that they're making a lot of efforts to make the trails here accessible. Because that's one of the big reasons that attracts people here is to go on the trails, to see the wildlife, and they're making it possible for everyone. I think that's just fabulous. All right, so one of the things to do here on Antelope Island is hiking. And so we have come to Frary Peak Trail. It's one of the more difficult hikes on the island. So we've got a big hike today. Let's do it. And joining us today, we have special guest Aviators Overland. Meet Dave and Teresa. Morning. So we're, I guess you could say we're semi-retired now. A couple of years. And we've got a 2004 Sprinter that we've been traveling around North America for the last few years. And we are super excited to have friends along with us on this hike. Looks beautiful. Had a little disaster, eh? Yes, in my efforts to get up onto that ridge for a photo, I stuck my hand in bird poo. And luckily- And look who's prepared. Teresa to the rescue has some sanitizing wipe here. There we go. And a napkin too. Wow, geez. Well, if you don't come out, here's green. Bye. This is kind of neat. It's a cave, but I think it's still the trail. Oh yeah, look at that. Just found some bighorn sheep. I think they are, hun? I think so. They're quite far down. We can't totally see them. I had binoculars in the truck to bring on this hike and I forgot them in the truck. Kicking myself. They're looking straight at us now. Should we wave? Made it. I think we're here. Yeah, this is like the peak peak. He's gonna walk right in front of us the way he wants to walk. Geez, they're surrounding us. Have a good run. We're running with the mule deer. Wow, look at the antlers. Three lovely little deer. Hi guys. You don't seem too afraid of me either. Like I'm coming up on a bison. Not sure how the trail goes here. Hopefully it doesn't get too much closer. When they look at you, you're supposed to stop and back away, which I've done. And now he's approaching me. I'm gonna keep moving away. These guys can run 40 miles an hour. I definitely cannot outrun that, nor do I wanna be impaled today. Oh, his tail is up. I'm trying really hard not to run, but he walks really fast and he's basically just driving me back to camp. Well, I guess I won't be doing the eight kilometer run. Okay, so that was really scary. He actually started to run after me a bit. I'm off the trail because he seemed to not want me on the trail. He's up over there now. I'm down here. Oh my gosh, I'm shaking so bad. I basically like shoved my way through those bushes. I'm just gonna keep moving and keep as much distance between me and him. I've never been so scared. Being chased by several ton animal that can outrun you like five times. That's really scary. He was watching me. I tried to keep my distance and I couldn't get away fast enough. Even walking, they walk really fast. Wow. Something to check off on the life experiences list. Maybe not when you want to though. Well, if it isn't my lucky day, there's another one. I can just see his head there by the rocks, right? Right there. I hope he's still laying down. I can't tell if he's standing, but he's definitely watching me. And I'm just gonna keep walking. He hasn't moved yet. So I'm hoping that that's a good thing, but I'm gonna walk faster than walk away slowly. I feel like those instructions in the pamphlet were not a hundred percent accurate. So I'm just finishing the run. You can see the trailer over here. And that same freaking buffalo is in the grass near the freaking trailer. But holy crap, man is he territorial. He must know where I'm staying. Are you aware that he's right here? Who? The bison. No. Is that the one that chased after you? That's the one that chased me. Oh my goodness. He's met me back at camp. He's got little birds riding his back. He just really liked you. Well, I saw him from over there and I was like, for crying out loud, he's at the trailer. So I like detoured around all the way over there. Let's call him Bill, bison Bill. I wanna call him cranky pants. They look so gentle, but apparently not. All I could think was, this is how I'm dying. I'm going to die trampled by a buffalo in Utah and I'm that tourist. I have to show you something. It's about lunch. It's still here. He's planted himself about 50 feet from our trailer. He really likes us. He's just, you know, he's our pet now. So what's it like camping here at Antelope Island? Each of the sites comes with a shelter, picnic table, and fire ring. And on this awesome cement pad, we've actually never had a walkway to our trailer before, which is, we feel very spoiled. Here at the Bridger Bay campground, there are two loops. There's an unserviced loop, which is down the hill over there. And then there's the service loop, which is what we are in currently. In the peak season, you have water and electricity, but in the off season, which we are right now, just the electricity. But do not fear if you are without water because there are showers and bathrooms, several points. I think there are three points in this Bridger Bay campground. There is no water fill up station in the off season because the water is turned off except here at the shower houses. Now, I did use one of the showers today and it was pretty good. They were large, they were clean, and they had decent water pressure and it got pretty warm. So I was pretty happy with that. The bathrooms on the other side of the building here, I also tried those out today and they were also clean and quite spacious and well-kept. They also have some wheelchair accessible sites, which have extra wide parking and are right next to the showers and bathrooms. They also have two RV dump stations. They also have mini cabins that you can rent. And the mobile cabins also come with a picnic table and a fire ring, just like everyone else. So how much does it cost to stay here? The unserviced sites during the high season are $35 a night. Off season is $30 a night in US dollars, I should mention. And then the service sites during the summer rents or high season, I should say, is $45 a night. And in off season is $40 a night. So, you know, we typically do pretty cheap camping. So $40 a night, that's pretty steep for us. So what was the draw to coming here to camp? So the island is home to roughly 500 bison, as well as pronghorn antelope, mule deer, and various other wildlife. A few coyotes, porcupines, badgers, et cetera. So that was the draw for us to come here. It's mighty early. I don't know if we can even see us. That's all right. A little bit before 7 a.m. And we are pulling out of here. Yeah, we had a really great time on Antelope Island. And now we're gonna go to see Moab. Let's do it. We've got some pretty exciting hikes. We'll see you next week. Bye. If you have a VR headset, be sure to check out our 360 VR videos. Thanks to the Aviators Overland. We have Dave. Oh, Dave. All right, blooper number one. Well, see, yeah, now I'm quite uncomfortable. I judge. Yeah. It says it's flashing, but the, oh, okay. All good. I was looking at the camera. Instead of my feet. What's happening, honey? Oh, my eyes got all teary from the wind. You're so salty. It burns. It's such a beautiful view, isn't it? Yeah, but it's really just a beautiful view. Okay, I think I'm ready. You've had your moment. You can, you've collected yourself. Make sure you don't miss the next video by liking, subscribing, and turning on notifications. Oh, and don't forget to check out our website and sign up for our weekly email blast. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you in the next one.