Where the Buffalo, I mean Bison, Roam.
For our second day in the park we were at Yellowstone’s North entrance much earlier than the previous day since we didn’t stop for any photo-ops along the way. The plan for the first part of the day was to visit the Lamar Valley section of the park to see the different landscapes and the wildlife, particularly bison (technically not “buffalo”) and wolves which populated that area.
After entering the park, we turned from the North Entrance Road onto the Grand Loop Road we began a windy decent towards the bridge which spans the Gardiner river. We passed the bridge and continued driving on the Grand Loop Road, gaining elevation as we went, through a small valley filled with rolling hills of grassland interspersed with lakes, ponds, and glacial boulders, but devoid of any animal. We made a brief stop at the roadside trail, “Forces of the Northern Range”. This was a short trail on a boardwalk that gave a brief education about the natural forces that created the area around us. It also provided us with some information about the plants and wildlife that live in this area of Yellowstone. The boardwalk had some excellent mountain views along with a display showing us the names of the peaks in the distance. We kept a watchful eye out for signs of animals while we walked, but as our luck would have it, things were quiet except for a few songbirds.
We kept driving though, enjoying the scenery, until the road narrowed a bit as we rounded a bend and there in a field on the right was a massive bison, chest deep in grass, munching away. With no other cars around we stopped to watch as it quietly went about its business, grazing its way across the field towards a stand of trees. Once the bison disappeared, we continued with our ride. On our first day in the Park we saw zero wolves, one moose, plenty of elk, but only one bison, hopefully this encounter might be a good omen!
The road took us onward, through a forested mountainside towards Tower Junction, but it had more surprises instore for us. Rounding a bend, we were shocked to see bison the size of a VW Golf, walking in the opposite lane heading toward us! We braked quickly and watched (and took pictures) as it walked right past us, heading in the direction we just came from. It was one of the oddest and most amazing things I’d ever seen…right up until we drove another mile and ran (not literally) smack into a herd or roughly fifty bison, both in and surrounding the road. Within a few minutes our vehicle and at least six others were at a dead stop, surrounded by the bison. Thankfully everyone waited patiently, snapping pictures in their vehicles, and the animals meandered off after about twenty minutes.
We turned onto the NE Entrance road at Tower Junction and drove a bit farther before parking on the side of the road at the Yellowstone River Bridge. It looked like an excellent spot for some photos of the river, so we pulled off to shoulder and hopped out…fifteen feet from a large bison whose presence had been obscured because he was below the shoulder on the side of the hill. The bison didn’t even pause its grazing as we froze before jumping back into the car (with barely a chance for a good look at it) to drive down the road, safely away from him. Bison are large and unpredictable, having injured more people in Yellowstone than any other animal. It’s a smart idea to give them wide berth since they can run three times faster than humans.
Finally, we made it to the Lamar Valley, and it was glorious, like a scene out of a western move or a picture from a textbook. There were hundreds of bison as far as you could see…sitting, running, grazing, and milling about…It was one of the most unexpected and surreal things you could ever witness. It’s 2020, who the hell EVER expects to see hundreds of wild bison?? We slowly drove from one end of the valley to the other taking pictures from the car or getting out and walking along the river to stretch our legs, never once losing sight of bison. Seeing these creatures got me thinking of how Yellowstone and the western states would have looked two hundred-fifty years ago, before people came in and cleared the land and animals. Herds made up of thousands of animals would have blanketed the area. I consider myself lucky to have gotten to see the few hundred that were there today.
The return drive was uneventful, with a bison randomly scattered in the grasslands along the road, but no other animals that we had hoped to see. At one point we thought we had staked out a fresh kill in the distance and watched it for a bit in hopes of wolves or bears making an appearance. Unfortunately, it was a kill, but not fresh, so all we able to see were a few crows and buzzards.
All in all, it was a peaceful a drive and gave me a new appreciation of some of the natural wonders the country has to offer. To be out under the open sky, breathing clean air, surrounded by mountains and animals, was really what we had envisioned. Now it was time to continue to the second part of the day, where I could have used some of the quiet and open space that we had in the Lamar Valley.