After entering the park
from Montana at the north
entrance, I follow US 89
for five miles south
to the Bunsen Peak Trail.
On the almost four-mile
hike, I drift past meadow
wildflowers—fireweed,
white asters, thistle,
and mountain dandelions—
linger for only minutes
near Osprey Falls
where above its one hundred
fifty foot drop are groves
of aspen, lodgepole pines,
and Douglas fir.
I calculate the distance
between camera lens
and a moose when
a park visitor startles
her into retreating
to nearby foliage
in a cloud of dust—
an unexpected glimpse
of wildlife on my mid-morning
Yellowstone Park visit.
Crossways Literary Magazine (Cork, Ireland)