About 15 miles before reaching the road block (that would prevent us from continuing by vehicle to the now-closed East Gate to the park), we were surprised to see a handful of vehicles stopped along both sides of the highway.
Some people were still in their vehicles and some were standing along the side of the road, and all were looking in the same direction.
Looking to our left we immediately saw what had their attention.
Driving past them we quickly turned around, but before LC could drive back the way we had come I asked him to stop for a moment so that I could take a picture of this lone elk from our slightly elevated position.
After snapping a couple of quick pictures of him I lowered my camera and regarded him for a moment.
Why was he standing on a section of frozen river?
Why was he alone?
How long had he been there?
People had obviously been watching him for a while. Why was he just standing there and not going about the normal business of an elk in the winter - namely - eating?
Something was wrong................
We drove back down the shallow hill and slowly pulled over to the side of the road before finding a place to park in between two other vehicles.
He didn't move.
He just stood there.
Looking at us and not moving..............
We sat watching him for almost 10 minutes and in that time he never took a step.
He just stood motionless.
Was he ill?
Possibly but we would have thought that this beautiful animal would have just sat down underneath a bush somewhere to die if that was the case.
Possibly but we would have thought that this beautiful animal would have just sat down underneath a bush somewhere to die if that was the case.
These pictures are all zoomed-in pictures.
In real life this elk was 100 yards or so away from us.
But even from this distance we wondered if one or both of his back legs was injured.
His hide on his hip looked different from the rest of the fur we could see. Was he injured?
We thought that there may be a very good possibility that he was injured.
But why was he standing motionless in the middle of a half frozen river if he was injured??
But why was he standing motionless in the middle of a half frozen river if he was injured??
We didn't know, but something was bad wrong................
Five more minutes and we pulled out from our parking spot alongside the winding two-lane highway, turned the truck around one more time, and continued on our way.
We would check in on our elk on the way back................
One last picture to show how far he was away from us.
Click on the picture and it will enlarge.............
We had sat watching the elk for almost fifteen minutes.
The elk was not the only animal that never moved throughout that encounter.
What does a New Hampshire sled dog, who we adopted from Florida and then moved to Idaho and then Wyoming, make of such a sight?
I don't know, but Kory was silent and completely mesmerized for the duration................
Throughout our drive I had been disappointed that there wasn't more snow in the Northfork.
That all changed as we continued driving towards Pahaska:
There was more snow during the last few miles of our drive.
Much more snow.
As there always is this close to the East Gate...................
Our turn-around point was Pahaska and by that time in the early afternoon I climbed out of the truck, looked around me and was immediately and absolutely enamored with where we were.
Mountains, river, snow, pine trees, endless blue sky.
The magical combination to end all magical combinations.
There is nothing more beautiful than this...........
There were a few people x-country skiing and snow shoeing, and I watched them for a moment, immediately missing both of those things.
I don't care that I've been wearing the same three or four clothing combinations without interruption for the past few months.
Not really.
But I miss my snow shoes.
I miss my skis.
I miss my mountain bike.
I miss my spin bike.
Those things I miss a lot, but those things were all in storage back in Idaho while I was here in Wyoming.
Smiling through the truck window at my restless and pacing dog, I opened the back door, reached for her leash and hopped out of the way so that she could ecstatically jump down into the snow.
Looking over at LC I told him that Kory and I were going to walk back to the bridge and then asked him to meet us there when he was ready to head back.
But not TOO soon, OK?
OK.............
We had only been back on the road for a few minutes when we saw them.
Two bison quietly grazing just off to the side of the road.
They hadn't been there on the way up, so the sight of them caught both me and LC by surprise.
Breaking.........pretty hard...........LC pulled the truck off the road and I slid down the window while at the same time quietly reaching for my camera.
One bison was directly in front of me and only about 50 yards away.
The second was about 25 yards from the first.
I snapped a few quick pictures of both and while one had all of my attention I heard LC say "I think that one's hurt".
Surprised I turned to look at him.
"Which one?"
He pointed to the huge, prehistoric and completely beautiful animal that was furtherest away.
"What's wrong with him?"
"His back leg"......................
One bison was directly in front of me and only about 50 yards away.
The second was about 25 yards from the first.
I snapped a few quick pictures of both and while one had all of my attention I heard LC say "I think that one's hurt".
Surprised I turned to look at him.
"Which one?"
He pointed to the huge, prehistoric and completely beautiful animal that was furtherest away.
"What's wrong with him?"
"His back leg"......................
LC inched the truck closer to the second bison and I watched him closely, waiting to see evidence of the injury that LC had seen.
This wonderful animal used his huge head and neck to easily sweep snow away, so that he could gain access to the dormant grasses below.
He looked a little thin, but generally healthy and strong.
Was he really injured?....................
When he slowly began to walk I had my answer.
Yes.
He was injured.
One of his back legs - the lowest joint in his leg closest to his hoof was not bending the way it was supposed to.
As I watched him limping and watched the malformed joint (a severe tendon or ligament injury or maybe even a break) I was overwhelmed with empathy that was unexpected in its intensity.
He was moving.
He was surviving.
But he was going to struggle mightily to continue to survive through many more months of winter.
Slowly and methodically he hobbled across the snow-covered grass, wandered along the side of the road for a minute, and then we watched at this wonderful creature hobbled across the road and disappeared into the trees.
I hope that he can recover from his injury.
I hope that this continues to be an easier winter than last years winter.
I hope that he makes it.................
We passed so many small and large herds of big horn sheep on this trip.
This herd we decided to stop for.
We never get tired of this place.
An adventure around every bend in the road for almost 50 miles.................
We stopped again on the way back to Cody to check on the elk and he was still there.
Still in the same place - standing motionless on the half frozen Shoshone River.
A couple of minutes after we stopped a Fish and Game vehicle pulled up and the driver also looked across the field at this apparently ailing creature.
We told him about the bison with the injured rear leg.
He hadn't known about him and thanked us for the information.
We also told him what we knew of the elk and that he had been standing in the same position for well over an hour that we knew of.
The F&G guy told us that this was the third time he had checked on the elk.
That elk had been standing in the same position all morning and now into mid afternoon...............
I hope that he can recover from his injury.
I hope that this continues to be an easier winter than last years winter.
I hope that he makes it.................
The bison may make it.
I doubt that the elk made it through the next couple of days.
Not every nature story has a happy ending.................
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