Sept 11, Fri - day 36
West Yellowstone, Montana
Weather - low 27 (-3C) to mid 70s (24C) clear



In line with our resolve not to kill ourselves we tried some new scheduling and split the day….6am to 11am morning shoot, then back home for a rest and an evening 5pm to 7:30pm shoot.



In the morning we saw the large herd of elk we’d spotted before; they were at the lower end of the Madison Valley. There was lots of action, lots of shots and some challenging lighting…oh and it was cold too. Staring just before sunrise, with temperatures well below freezing, allowed for lots of misty river and thermal shots(at this time of year the early morning thermal spots really stand out). It also made us realize a warm pair of gloves and a hat for warmth, rather than to keep off the sun, would have been nice!



Sooo…..we were tying to pace ourselves with an easy morning, we made it home before noon (just a smidge longer than proposed) and then we were back out around 5pm for just less than three hours. Wait…. doesn’t that add up to 8 hours? Weren’t we were supposed to take it easy today because we wanted to have a bigger day tomorrow? Well yes…but it was an easy 8 hours. :O)



Oh well, evening had its own set of possibilities. Good light, different direction of light, and another view of everything. Rounding a corner in the road we saw a line up of cars and sure enough there was a bison in our lane….dead center. The traffic behind it didn’t want to zip by, bison can turn on autos and create a great amount of damage. We slowed and pulled right next to the center line, since there was a wide spot on the right for the bison to walk around us. NO….this wasn’t happening, the bison closed in on us…. only 100 feet away, it just kept ambling up the road but kind of veered towards us, not around us. Now this was interesting….two photographers with three cameras, five lenses, and all we could think about was where we could go—NO WHERE! Oh dear….the bison was closing in, my foot was on the gas, the Rocket was in reverse, thoughts of the videos of bison encounters they’d showed us at the Park Info Center were flashing through my mind, and finally the bison stops….with its head and chin whiskers just over the front of the Rocket’s hood. It seemed the darn thing couldn’t see us. It looked to its right, into the eyes of the traffic in the other lane, who were by this time enjoying every second of the moment, then lazily looked to its left and all the room available there, seemed to stare past us, and then it decided to walk around our car, right next to my window, and folks I mean RIGHT NEXT to my window. Now we didn’t know whether to take a shot with the camera or crawl out Racine’s side of the car. No problem for the bison, it just moved down the road as if we weren’t even there. As it passed by, we saw some of the people in the oncoming lane…..tears of laughter were rolling out of their eyes, I hope they didn't wet their pants. As the bison passed and we pulled away we burst out laughing too, shaking our heads in disbelief at another unbelievable Yellowstone moment (no shots, but lots of memories).



It was after the bison encounter that I spoke with a Park Ranger and learned that one of the most dangerous times for this kind of encounter is during the fly season. This is because, when walking by vehicles a bison will swing its head to shake off the flies and in doing so break windows and put large dents in the cars, all unintentionally. Good thing it isn’t fly season right now.



As we headed for home we stopped for a few shots of one of Yellowstone’s fantastic sunsets. Since we had a fairly easy day today we plan on getting up early tomorrow, two hours before sunrise, passing all the usual photo ops in the Madison and Firehole (in the dark that shouldn’t be to hard) and then set up in an area where some bears have been seen and just spend some time there. The adventure continues….



To see more of 'The Great Adventure 2009' images click HERE