Lori Weisberg
For two days, our tour group had been hearing promises of wildlife sightings in Yellowstone National Park, and so far the closest encounter I'd had with an uncaged animal was an overly friendly squirrel hungrily grabbing scraps of food from tourists on the deck of the Old Faithful Inn.
Finally, on day three, it appeared our luck had changed. One of our guides, who would be leading our group's morning hike along the shore of Yellowstone Lake, abruptly stopped the van she was driving, motioned to the second van to pull over, and screamed, "Hey, anyone wanna see some buffalo?"
That was all we shutterbugs needed to hear. We piled into her van and drove hurriedly to where she had spotted a herd of bison grazing in a meadow near the Yellowstone River. Sure enough, they were still there.
Positively gleeful, several of us scampered out of the van and sprinted up some steps to catch a glimpse of the animals who, one by one, were crossing the river to a grassy bank where more bison were grazing.
We made our way to the area to get a closer look, and all of a sudden we were nearly face to face with the herd, munching away on grass. I grabbed my telephoto lens, moved toward the animals and snapped away, oblivious to the warnings of my fellow travelers that I needed to back away. This was my Kodak moment, and there was no stopping me.
Only later did I come to find out how reckless I'd been. Bison are considered one of Yellowstone's most dangerous animals, responsible each year for several gorings and even some fatalities. Despite their hulking frames, they are very agile and, if provoked by humans, will attack.
It was one of the many cautionary tales we'd hear during the six-day hiking tour my husband and I took in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. People in these parts seem to have a fascination for all things grisly and terrifying.
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