Some of my favorite travel memories are odd. For example, as we were headed out of Yellowstone we encountered this big boy at the side of the road. We had seen him on the way in, a memorable sight because you don’t often find bison traveling alone. There’s safety in numbers.
We pulled over at a safe-ish distance to snap a couple of photos and admire his beauty when he started to meander down the road. Toward us.
In case you’ve never seen one, they’re about the size of an Elantra.
And as he meandered and we sat there silently hoping he didn’t notice us, he slowly began moving toward the center of the road and then turned his head so that we could see the red of his eye. And we simultaneously, wordlessly, and with urgent certainty knew that we were in the absolute wrong place at the wrong time.
We are fortunate he did not ram the Jeep and send us both flying like rag dolls off the side of a mountain.
Our saving grace was that an older couple in a Buick interrupted the moment and he kept moving.
Holy cow. What a moment. I will be eternally grateful that this situation was resolved without incident. I told my friend later that my favorite trip memory was when the bison didn’t kill us. I said it as a joke but it’s true.
If you go, keep a safe distance from the wildlife and don’t try to pet the fluffy cows.
At least I got a story out of it.
Yes, indeed a safe distant is extremely important! It’s their land not ours!!!
Exactly!!!
Not often you get such a photo without a big zoom lens. But yes, best to keep your distance!
We tried to keep our distance……
I don’t often have to pull out the “You think that’s bad?” card, but let me indulge. 😉
Fourteen years ago when bike touring across the continent, my partner and I found ourselves in Elk Island National Park, about 30km or so east of Edmonton. Despite the name, Elk Island’s big claim to fame now is its resident and unrestrained bison population, which we had to ride past on the way in and out of the campground. When we were trying to leave, there was a herd in front of us on the road, all male, and August is supposedly rutting season. We began to turn around until we noticed a few had come behind us. It was a tense stalemate for a few minutes, until thankfully a car showed up and ran interference for us so we could leave!
More here:
The phrase harrowing journey comes to mind as I read this story. Yikes!!!
How fun to come across a bison so close to the side of the road … and that there were no other cars blocking the view! Glad to hear you kept a safe distance. It’s alarming to hear how many tourists actually get out of their cars to get a closer look at the bison.
I have no interest in petting the fluffy cows but it’s nice to see them from the car! Lol.