Can’t really do anything except stop and admire wildlife in motion. As you know, there’s all kinds of rules of the road as to who has the right of the way, but it was clear in this instance that the bison herd had the green light in Yellowstone National Park. Everyone and everything else had no other choice but to come to a stop on this road in the Lamar Valley area of the park… but hey, at least the view was nice as they waited for the bison to pass.
It’s estimated that somewhere around 5,000 bison call the national park home, and you can see a few of them in action in the video below. Fully grown bison can weigh over 2,000 pounds, which means that most of these that are trotting by the car weigh nearly half as much as the resting vehicle does. The massive beasts can also reach top speeds as fast as 30 miles per hour, meaning that bison can legitimately give a car a run for its money if it wanted to.
This herd decided they’d rather take their snow day slow, and I don’t blame them.
And do I really need to say that America’s largest land animal is pretty intimidating on their own? I don’t think people realize just how big these things are until videos like this really give a good idea of their size as they parade down the road. This isn’t even that large of a bison herd, and yet they still effectively shut down this road in Yellowstone. Their choice of route led to a good, old-fashioned traffic jam.
In case you didn’t know, these moving traffic stops are affectionately referred to as “bison jams” in Yellowstone National Park.
Considering bison can often be seen grazing in the Lamar and Hayden Valleys of Yellowstone, visitors and locals alike know that animal-induced traffic is very likely in these areas. One Yellowstone park goer by the name of Cindy Shaffer recently videoed her experience driving through the Lamar Valley, and the footage she captured put that kind of traffic on full display.
The road was covered by both snow and slow-moving bison. They took their time walking up the road (they actually tend to use plowed roadways to travel in the winter in order to conserve energy), and weren’t even the slightest bit worried about holding up Shaffer’s vehicle. In fact, some bison made themselves comfortable and stood like statues in the middle of the road.
Cindy Shaffer didn’t mind one bit:
“I had a great bison jam this morning in the Lamar Canyon.”
That’s the thing about a traffic jam at Yellowstone National Park… how could you be mad?
Getting held up by some animals just means you get to spend a couple of extra minutes inside the confines of one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Being stuck on the interstate in standstill traffic? Horrible. Coming to a full stop on a road within Yellowstone? That’s actually a blessing in disguise.
