In the Kill Zone...

Bozeman, Montana. Mountains. Forests. Waterfalls. Rivers. DEATH. It was here that Dan and I discovered "The Kill Zone."

To the South of Bozeman is the Gallatin National Forest...which eventually ties into Yellowstone and carries down through the mountains, along a river, and it's amazing in all it's beauty. Day trips are something we try to do wherever we are living. To see the sights of the places that we go and to mesh into the current locations. Researching Gallatin, we found that just about 15 minutes from our house was a trail-head that lead to 2 waterfalls...and we were interested in going exploring one day. So off we set...cameras in hand and hopes high. Arriving at the Hyalite Canyon Road entrance, we were rather saddened to see that it was blocked off. As far as we could tell, there was simply no reason for this. The snow had long since retreated...at least to the point where all roads were clear of any snow or ice. The website had clearly stated that Hyalite Canyon was open. Everything...at first glance...looked to be in order. It was simply a mystery.

Not immediately dissuaded, we parked the car and wandered down to the river. On one side of where we parked, the river was glittering in the sun...trees lining it's banks. To the other side, a hill rose sharply up...also thickly covered in trees...sun glittering off the slight snowpack that was still left on the ground. It was perfect...no reason not to get out...take some photos...and goof off. Which is exactly what we did. Posing on top of a little rise on the banks of the river, I had no idea that surrounding us was death. A lot of it. Dan suddenly encouraged me NOT to pose in that particular location...and pulled me down. It was then that I saw the leg. Or rather, LEGS. Several of them. Then the ribcage. I was a bit taken aback...and moved off the hill to the pavement...and we began walking up the closed road. Until Dan suddenly jerked to one side and told me to watch where I was stepping. "SNAKE" I immediately thought. Panic coursed through my entire body. It was not, however, any snake whatsoever. It was another several legs...scattered about on the pavement and onto the grass next to us. It was then we saw another ribcage. A head. Some other scattered body parts.

At home, I researched what had been going on. We had identified AT LEAST 6 bodies...and limbs to many more...arched in a circle of death around the parking area at the canyon entrance. It was then it became clear. Mountain lions. They were on a killing spree...to the point that the officials had to close down the whole area. Apparently, one poor soul had been walking his dog, when, WHAM...Mountain lion...leaping out of the tree and snatching Fido up. After this had happened a few times, it was decided maybe Hyalite Canyon wasn't safe. Then we thought about it. The bodies had been fresh. No birds had chirped. No sounds really AT ALL. They had been there...watching us...that close to snacking on either Dan or myself. Perhaps off-putting to some, this excited us, so we decided we needed to go back at dusk...to hopefully catch a kill in action. So off we set...and I won't say I wasn't aware of the notion that as Dan got out of the car to wander over to the corpses scattered about that I didn't envision him suddenly becoming a bedtime snack for some rogue animal. And there we sat. And sat. And sat. Eyes peeled and cameras at the ready...certain we were about to witness an epic kill. I report, with sadness, that this did not in fact happen. But "The Kill Zone" became one of our favorite pastimes...a place to go to check out the latest killing activity...snap a few artistic shots of death...and sit in the car long after the sun had gone down.

I'd go back. But maybe this time, I'll stay in the car.