Welcome to Big Sky Country
Being essentially a “West Coast Kid” I’ve become very used to the scenery and wildlife that our part of the United States has to offer. My neighborhood offers squirrels, deer, the occasional owl hunting for dinner, and simple terrain for exploration and wildlife-viewing. My sister recently moved out to Victor, ID which is just outside of Jackson Hole, Wyoming so my father and I decided to take a little road trip to see what the buzz was all about. From what I had heard, her neighborhood is a bit more rustic and varied in wildlife sightings.
Jackson Hole is known for its phenomenal mountain activities, breathtaking views of the Tetons, and Yellowstone National Park is just north of where we would be staying. Unfortunately we were only there for the weekend (yes, the 12-hour drive from Portland to Victor, and back, was definitely worth it) but we were going to make the best of it. Luckily the weather forecast included high 70′s and sun!
The first day included basic sight-seeing in the town of Jackson Hole and there happened to be a harvest festival so the locals and business-owners were all around the town square. After some souvenir gathering for friends and family we headed back to my sister’s home and planned the next day of our Yellowstone adventure. Calculating the drive, checking out the maps, and figuring out that our main destination (time-wise) would be Old Faithful we decided to plug in the GPS the following day and just see where the day took us.
The Grand Tetons are a beautiful sight and a must-see for anyone in the Idaho/Wyoming area if you ever get the chance to visit or are from that area, you’ll know what I mean. There are lakes to spend time at, many pit-stops for lunch opportunities, and awesome wildlife! We had driven almost an hour-and-a-half from the South Entrance to Old Faithful where we saw the majestic beauty spout off. Upon this first segment of travel we had seen a few moose but not nearly the amount of wildlife we expected from hearing about other visitors’ previous visits…until the bison showed up.
After seeing Old Faithful we planned to exit through the West Entrance into Montana and figured it was still a successful day even though we were slightly disheartened about the animal sightings. After passing many trees and small scenic views we reached a large meadow that had roughly 30 bison grazing. It was a pretty awesome view compared to our previous notion of the animal population and we stopped to snap a few photos. After passing the large herd we passed by three bison who were strolling along roughly ten feet away from our car. Up-close these are some LARGE animals with a lot of power behind their step. Again, we took a few more pictures and continued on our way towards the exit.
We were almost to the West Entrance for our departure from the park when we found ourselves stopped in stop-and-go traffic which seemed very odd for a park. We inched slowly along and found ourselves in the middle of what was our “National Geographic” experience including elk, bison, and park rangers. A baby elk was on the hillside to our right, people were all over the roads taking pictures with simple and high-tech cameras, a large buck was on our left with eight or nine female elk and the former bison trio had now caught up in all the chaos. The elk were calling to the baby trying to get it back on their side and away from the people, the bison were running in the middle of the road, people were hiding in their cars, and the rangers alerted bystanders to “Get in your car! This could get ugly.”
As we waited in our car for the bison trio (that were about 3 feet from my window and still VERY LARGE) to pass by, the elk began to cross the river, the chaos died down, and everyone went on their way. It was definitely a fun experience and could have been more of a threatening situation had the rangers not been there.
Final wrap-up recommendations for Yellowstone National Park visitors: bring a camera, do not get close to the wildlife no matter how fuzzy and cute they seem, enjoy the scenery, and above all, plan for the unexpected!
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