A Large Bison Bull Takes A Moment To Roll In The Dirt Of The Remote Lamar Valley In Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming is known for several things including the status as being the location where by far the most thermal features in the entire world are concentrated and having the largest and most active geysers in the world. Yet it is also possibly equally or perhaps better well known for its wildlife. The Wild Images Team has spent several months photographing the entirety of Yellowstone National Park, and our experience have shown that more visitors are there to see the wildlife than all of the thermal features themselves, with the exception of Old Faithful Geyser. The wildlife can be found just about anywhere in the park, and we have encountered bears, wolves, bison, elk, coyotes, and marmots around even the thermal feature locations. But the odds are much higher of finding wildlife in the eastern half of the park north of Yellowstone Lake, such as the wide expanses of Hayden Valley or the much more distant and isolated Lamar Valley in the little visited northeast section of the park. The Lamar Valley is a wide canyon carved by the Lamar River which originates from the high peaks to the south, drops down where it is blocked by even higher peaks to the north, and is therefore forced to travel west where it eventually meets the Yellowstone River. The highest concentration of wolves are found in the Lamar Valley, likely mainly due to its isolation and the nearby high country. It is also home to the incredibly fast pronghorn which seem to prefer open prairie land, and large herds of bison that slowly migrate up the valley during the summer and back down as fall and winter approach. The Wild Images Team has observed the behavior of bison here and elsewhere on many occasions, and one common theme arises. The bison bulls often claim a patch of bare dirt, usually routinely turned up by their hooves, and will be seen laying standing in the area for days at a time. We even had to keep an eye out one time as a lone bison bull spent almost a week in a dirt patch near to Oblong Geyser, before just as suddenly disappearing one night! Occasionally the bull in a dirt patch will drop down onto its back and roll around while kicking its hooves high into the air. That is the exact moment at which we caught the above image. It is absolutely comical to see a 2500 pound beast behaving like a puppy, but it happens! The Wild Images Team has captured many other photos in Yellowstone National Park including a Beehive Geyser eruption with a massive rainbow, the world famous Old Faithful Geyser with water textures, a towering Grand Geyser pause burst eruption, a sunset Castle Geyser eruption with a bright rainbow, an afternoon Riverside Geyser eruption with a rainbow, an early morning Lion Geyser eruption with a rainbow, a very difficult to catch Oblong Geyser blue burst eruption, the extremely powerful Artemisia Geyser eruption with deep bursts, the very moment of waves from a Great Fountain Geyser initial eruption, an iconic White Dome Geyser eruption at sunset, the large bursts of a Fountain Geyser eruption in steam, the delicate red light on a Grotto Fountain Geyser eruption at sunset, the defining moment of a Rocket Geyser eruption at sunset, the extremely brief Aurum Geyser eruption with colors, a view through a Cliff Geyser eruption of Black Sand Basin, the colorful patterns of bacterial mats in Midway Geyser Basin, the changing conditions that cause a rainbow to parallel the Snow Lodge, the Biscuit Basin duo of Black Diamond Pool and Opal Pool, the colorfully pock marked waterways of the erupting Blood Geyser, the active steppes of the Mineral Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, the distant double rainbow over the Lewis River Canyon, the before eruption reflections of sunset over the terraces of Great Fountain Geyser, the deep colors of sky reflections over Beauty Pool, the thermally induced sunset light filters through the steamy trees, the intense moment of mammatus clouds over the Firehole River, the very early morning fog surrounding Lower Yellowstone Falls, the runoff created reflections over the colorful runoff pan of Constant Geyser, the unworldly terrain of the extensive Porcelain Geyser Basin in Norris, the deeply hued steam over colorful bacterial mat reflections of Grand Prismatic Spring, the contrast of runoff channels surrounding the blue superheated water of Sapphire Pool, differing wave patterns created by the colorful submerged Fishing Cone Geyser, the strong green created by the record depths of mysterious Abyss Pool, the moment the full moon rises over the Grant Village Lakehouse, the cloud symmetry of a sunset reflection over a calm Yellowstone Lake, and moments earlier with a cloud shelf reflection over a calm Yellowstone Lake, each of which are available for sale in our store. Blog posts from Yellowstone National Park have documented the Old Faithful Geyser eruptions, the steamy Oblong Geyser eruptions, the deep drain Uncertain Geyser eruptions, the steep crater Depression Geyser eruptions, the amphitheater Grand Geyser eruptions, the impressive Fan and Mortar Geyser eruptions, the very quick Aurum Geyser eruptions, the rooster tail Whirligig Geyser eruptions, the series type Lion Geyser eruptions, the tall grotto White Dome Geyser eruptions, the frequent Sawmill Geyser eruptions, the double cone Atomizer Geyser eruptions, the nozzled Beehive Geyser eruptions, the cratered Fountain Geyser eruptions, the deep pool Artemisia Geyser eruptions, the playful Vixen Geyser eruptions, the scenic Riverside Geyser eruptions, the very rare Ledge Geyser eruptions from above, the very rare Ledge Geyser eruptions from below, the gurgling Tilt’s Baby Geyser eruptions, the bursts of Great Fountain Geyser eruptions, the hidden Dome Geyser eruptions, the tilted Daisy Geyser eruptions, the remote Pink Cone Geyser eruptions, the long Castle Geyser eruption water phases, the loud Castle Geyser eruption steam phases, the stark Constant Geyser eruptions, the rim wall Cliff Geyser eruptions, the initiation from Grotto Fountain Geyser eruptions, the continuation of Grotto Geyser eruptions, the defining moment of Rocket Geyser eruptions, the marathon Spa Geyser eruptions, the blue waters of a Spouter Geyser eruption, the isolated Artist Paint Pots throwing mud, the little seen intricate burst of a mud volcano, a view of a dozen visitors under a Beehive Geyser rainbow, the eruption through numerous vents of Fan and Mortar Geysers, the enormous amount of water through the runoff channels of Excelsior Geyser, the otherworldly view of cloudy blue runoff pools in the Porcelain Basin, the moment that a large bison bull rolled in his claimed dirt pile, the rule for the right of way wildlife, the high altitudes where a large raven that perches over the Dunraven Pass, the the day that a phoenix streaked across the backcountry sky, the trail from Grant Village that crosses over this suspended bridge, The Wild Images Team in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, our Photographer Jeremy Robinson shadowed in Morning Glory Pool, and The Wild Images Team Travel Gnome at the Yellowstone National Park entrance sign.

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