Hiking With Bison in Yellowstone

Here's the latest from Yellowstone and the continuing saga of Judy in training to be a Guest Services Agent.

I locked myself out of my room last night and had to call security to let me into my room.  The security guard was from Bowling Green, Ohio, so I wasn't punished.  We did that Midwest bonding thing.

Tomorrow is our last day of training at Mammoth Hot Springs.  By now, I'm supposed to be a whiz at checking guests in and out of the hotel.  Hmmmmm.  Everyone keeps telling me that it will be second nature in a couple of weeks.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.  How many m's can I put at the end of this H?

Are you sensing my doubt here?  I am on information overload.  There is steam coming out of my ears.  I am sure that something short circuited today.

After class, some of us took off for a short hike.


Sounds pleasant, doesn't it?

Half a mile up and half a mile back.

Piece of cake. 






Here's my merry band of classmates heading up the
trail in search of the Falls.

There were a herd of these along the path.

No, it isn't Bob, our resident bison. 

I believe this one is from the side of the family that Bob doesn't talk about.

We all have those relatives.

A word of warning to future Yellowstone visitors.  We were too close to this fine chap.  As far as I'm concerned, if I can tell what kind of animal it is, I'm too close.

There was a lot of this...elk poo.

And a lot of this....bison poo.


I don't mean to dwell on poo, but we are knee deep in critter patties here.

There was some great scenery.

Yellowstone is one great big photo op.

There were even some little yellow flowers along the way.

We found the falls which were lovely.

Here are some of my classmates enjoying the peace of nature.

If you don't count the constant clicking of cameras.

If you look closely on the left side of this tree, you will see bison hair.

They are trying to rub off their winter coat.

We had come upon their personal beauty salon.

Here are some of my classmates at the end of the hike.

It's not obvious from here, but a herd of bison are blocking our path to the car.

The two ladies in front, the older members of our group, are blissfully creeping closer to get some photos.

I'm hanging back with the wiser, younger group.

We're trying to figure out where we will hide when the bison charge.  There wasn't much room under the board walk, but we were all convinced we would fit somehow. 

There was some talk about this being the last photo of our classmates.  I'm thinking it would make a great blog post.  Sometimes things are sacrificed for art.

After fifteen minutes, the bison decided that they had business elsewhere, and we were able to get in our cars.

Of course, on the way back, 20 or so of them decided to block the road.

They have thousands of acres to call their own and they stand in the middle of the road.

I'm beginning to think they enjoy this.



The trip ended safely for all which pretty much ruined my chances of getting some really good blood and guts pictures. 

The best part is that we made it back in time to eat dinner.  I have my priorities.