bison! bison! bison!

On Sunday we decided to ski out to Biscuit Basin. I know we've been whining about the lack of snow, but we really mean it

The trail was slick and icy (from lack of snow!), and a herd of bison had also trampled through the middle of the ski trail. Not ideal ski conditions, to say the least.

When we reached the top of the hill we saw Artemisia Geyser erupt; it sounded like ocean waves pounding the sand.


No wolves at Biscuit Basin, but there was a very active herd of bison that we watched for about an hour.





Steve left yesterday for Mammoth, and I had an hour to kill between when he left on the snowcoach and when I needed to be at work. I decided to take a short walk up to Observation Hill--from the top of the hill I could see a few bison moving around,


including this guy, who was rolling around on the (snow-less) ground)


I checked my watch and decided to head back to the Snow Lodge and to work. As soon I got to the bottom of the hill I found that the bison were now blocking the trail.


I backed up slowly, and decided the best thing to do would be to try and wait them out, from afar. But after a few minutes a big bull climbed up on the trail and told me to move along. This picture is out of focus because I decided to move immediately, as instructed.


I backed up the trail even further and took a few shots of this squirrel while I waited.


The bison seemed to be moving into Geyser Hill, and off the trail, to the right. But that's when I noticed two bison on my left, and knew the only choice now was to climb back up Observation Hill and exit on the other side.

It was getting close to 3 p.m., starting time, so I hurried back up the hill, past Solitary Geyser, and down to the boardwalk. Only when I reached the end of the boardwalk I found that they were now grazing there, and there was no way to exit . Thwarted again, I had to take the boardwalk all the down to Castle Geyser and then back up towards the Snow Lodge. All in all, an hour--and 1.5 mile--detour. And that's when I realized that this is probably the only place in the world where "I'm sorry I'm late for work, I was trapped by a herd of bison!" is a plausible excuse.

Adding to the excitement around here, this morning I felt my first earthquake. Around 9:45 a.m. I was reading in bed and I felt my bed shake a little, as if someone had jiggled the bedframe. I had no idea what it was (I even looked underneath the bed!) until Steve called to ask me if I'd felt anything. He'd heard on the radio that we're in day 3 of "swarms," but I hadn't felt anything prior to this.

Today I'll hop on the snowcoach and meet Steve up in Mammoth. He went up a day early and is fishing one of the spring creeks south of Livingston this afternoon. We'll spend tonight and tomorrow night out at the Buffalo Ranch in the Lamar Valley, before returning to Old Faithful on Thursday.