The Bison of Yellowstone

Like many, the bison of Yellowstone were high on our list when we planned out our trip this past summer. Utilizing the National Parks Service's website, we quickly honed in on the Hayden Valley as our best bet to capture some photos and experience these amazing animals in their natural habitat. 

I was prepared to not find them on our first try given how big the park is, but we didn't even make it to the valley before we saw our first bison by the side of the loop road. It was just happily munching on the vegetation growing in the culvert running parallel to the road. You could reach out and touch it as we passed in the car. 

We moved on to the valley and were greeted by a whole herd enjoying the tall grass by the river bank.

Those little dots are bison!

We drove on to get closer and we ended up getting much much closer. In this area there are a few small turn outs where you can pull over and observe. I had gotten out and opened the trunk of the car to load a new roll of film in the camera when someone shouted, "turn around!" I turned to find that a bison had walked down the road and now stood no more than 20 feet away from me. 

You should keep at least 25 yards distance between you and a bison. Many people have been gored by bison in the park. 

We drove on and saw more and more bison and the beautiful valley features.

Here's a map of the valley