A large American bison stands drinking from a rocky, steaming river in Yellowstone National Park, with a hillside covered in fallen logs and misty pine forests in the background.

American Bison (Bison bison)

Guardian of the Shrouded River

The primeval chill of a mountain autumn wraps around the valley, where thick, ghostly shrouds of thermal steam rise lazily from a crystalline river.

David S. McMeans · Canon EOS R5 · Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

Firehole River, near Midway Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Park County, Wyoming, USA

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Guardian of the Shrouded River

The primeval chill of a mountain autumn wraps around the valley, where thick, ghostly shrouds of thermal steam rise lazily from a crystalline river. Wading deep into the icy, stone-strewn current, a massive American bison lowers its head to drink, its dense, woolly coat holding the damp morning air. The sharp, clean scent of wet river stones and frosted lodgepole pines hangs thick in the basin, mingling with the subtle, sulfurous tang of nearby thermal springs. In the background, a steep hillside cluttered with a dense tangle of pale, fallen logs rises toward a wall of evergreen forest, while distant, snow-dust peaks loom over a landscape that feels unchanged since the dawn of time.

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