"The Legend of Kensworth the Buffalo"

During a trip to the Yukon and NWT a couple of years back, we pulled in to an overflow campsite, and discovered a bit of heaven on earth, in the form of Laird Hot Springs.
A natural hot spring, it is found deep in a misty rainforest. I could have stayed the whole vacation in that spot.

It had started to sprinkle after supper, so no one wanted to explore with my husband. He set out on his own, and we settled in to TV, board games and getting the motorhome ready for sleep. About an hour and a half had passed, and the rain had become heavier. No husband. This was not unusual, but after the 2 hour mark had passed, I thought I'd call him on his cell. No service in the mountains. Another 1/2 hour of horrible images of my husband , lost in the wilderness, calling my name or laying dead somewhere, being eaten by wolves. I was just getting prepared to set things into travel mode and take the motorhome on a search, when the soggy fellow walked in.

Relief, frustration, ..... "Where the hell were you?"

We listened as he told us this tale:

About 15 min into his walk down the 2 lane highway, he saw what he thought was a deer up ahead. He quietly approached it, but once closer, realized it was not a deer, but a buffalo. A big buffalo. A big , snorting buffalo. When my husband moved, the buffalo would lower his head, paw the ground, and snort even louder. So my husband stood there. In the rain. For 2 hours. So did the buffalo.
My husband was finally rescued by the only vehicle that approached during that time. He jumped into the box of the old pick up and the guy drove him past the buffalo and dropped him safely back to us.

Now my husband won't admit he's lost even when I'm sitting in the car beside him, so we took the story with a grain of salt, hugged him, told him that we were glad he was safe and left it at that.

The next morning, my husband shared his harrowing adventure with the server in the coffee shop. " Hang on she said, and went back into the kitchen. Out came an elderly native man, who told us this story.

This buffalo was apparently the dominant male, of a herd a wild buffalo that roam up there. He had, about 5 years before, been standing in his favorite spot, the yellow line, on this stretch of highway.
He and a KensworthTractorTrailor played a little game of chicken, one evening.$17,000.00 damage to the vehicle and the buffalo walked away with a cut on his head.

And a new name.

Kensworth.