Of the many curiosities Yellowstone has in abundance, the fuzziest may be the bison.  The iconic animals litter the park’s landscape, and they spend their iconic days munching on grass, stopping traffic and (usually) tolerating the many tourists who sincerely believe it’s a good idea to invade their personal space.  Let me assure you: it’s not a good idea to invade the personal space of a creature that weighs up to 2,200 pounds, runs as fast as 35mph, leaps a three-foot fence, and has two horns that are simply perfect for making a delicious tourist kabob.

Sadly, though it may sound like I’m exaggerating the ignorant boldness of tourists, there are plenty who behave as though the bison are friendly household pets.  Despite the countless extra-large warning signs throughout the park, it’s common to see somebody approaching a bison in order to get that awesome picture to post on facebook; when we stopped at one bison-induced traffic jam, we saw one tourist exit his car and walk to within maybe 20 feet of the animal to take photos.  We also heard the story of a park ranger who arrived just in time to prevent jaw-droppingly stupid parents from placing their young child on top of a bison for a photo.  These are the things that happen despite the ever-present signs that say, in so many words, “Caution: wild animals are wild”; I can’t imagine what would happen without those signs.

We spotted quite a few bison throughout the day, but it wasn’t until the middle of the afternoon when we spotted one where we could stop and get a few photos without causing a traffic jam.  (As indicated in the previous paragraph, many visitors weren’t afraid of stopping traffic to ogle the bison; however, we weren’t inclined to be so discourteous.)

Those two photos make it look like the bison was maxin’ and relaxin’ in a secluded meadow, but that wasn’t quite the case.  Since they’re wild animals, the bison are free to roam wherever they desire, and occasionally they desire to roam in the few populated areas of the park; the bison in the above photos was convenient for us because he’d decided to dine right next to the batch of cabins that included our residence in the park.

Our cabin was somewhere behind the two in the photo, but still: that bison was practically our next-door neighbor.