Badlands National Park: Bison

You'll see this advice in nearly every travel book, and I'm here to tell you it's absolutely true: You have to talk to locals. Even when the whole point of your trip is to "get away from it all," insight from the residents will result in experiences you'd never have on your own. Thanks to a chat with a ranger in the Ben Reifel Visitor Center I learned that bison herds were most likely to be found along the Sage Creek Rim Road, a part of the park I hadn't planned on visiting. So there I went, and there I indeed saw bison.

These two look like they've just been caught doing something they weren't supposed to.  More likely they were wondering why I was walking across the prairie in their direction.  And then the one on the left pooped.

The whole silent-sentinel-on-the-alert pose really works for me.

This guy (or gal, I'm really not sure) was munching away quite contentedly on whatever this patch of vegetation is.

None of the bison I saw seemed in a particular hurry to get anywhere, except this guy who broke into a brief trot.

The silent sentinel thing again.  I love how this guy seems to be master of all he surveys, and the idea that he's on the fringe of civilization with the gravel road.

After I'd sat near one small herd for a while they got comfortable enough with my presence to get closer, but still kept a watchful eye on me.

One of the few calves I saw.

They called him "Straight Horn" behind his back.  But nobody dared to his face.

I don't believe bison are the smartest of animals.  True or not, expressions like this do little to dispel that notion.

Sitting among these gentle giants was a definite highlight in a day chock full of them.  It was one of those rare moments of near total tranquility, where virtually the only sounds were the great beasts moving, breathing and chewing.  As soothing to my ears as running water, and I felt privileged to spend some time with them.