Jackson Hole II

I've been here for a week. It's been a hard week, worked hard, long days, early mornings. Been up for sunrise most days, the light is so beautiful. Of course this week the leaves are also turning, which makes the colors in everything so rich. The temperature fluctuations are crazy. In the early morning hours it's around 24º F (-4º C) and in the middle of the day it gets way up into the mid 70's (20's C).

Yesterday I went out early morning and drove up towards Oxbow Bend to a large prairie. I've seen horses and buffalo up there but in the dying light of the day. I wanted to get them at dawn. First up were horses. I could see a couple of off in the distance so we drove down a little, then realised that they were heading towards us... whipping the car back to a pullout the horses galloped into view before the sun even came up.



As the sun started to ignite the long yellow grass I noticed that the buffalo which had been in the field behind had made a beeline for the road... and then crossed it... and headed into the field I was looking at.

There were hundreds of them. Beautiful in the warm morning sun.



Many of them jumped the fence to take off into the field with the horses.



Some just stopped and stared straight at me.



These things are big. Big enough to stop traffic on the main road heading from Jackson to Yellowstone.



Further on down the road, the horses had come to a halt and were relaxing in the sun.



Every once in a while they'd all take off, galloping across the prairie.