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Ram Jam

MacNeil Lyons (Formal Education Office Park Ranger) headed into the park on Saturday, April 3 to take one of his frequent weekend hikes. He was on the Yellowstone River Trail between Gardiner, Montana and the Bear Creek drainage when he noticed a row of bighorn sheep rams walking up a slope below him. (Open full-sized image.)

Since it is rare to have a vantage point looking down on bighorn sheep from above, MacNeil grabbed his camera and took this photo. When describing it to me he called it a "ram jam" on the trail since the biggest ram, in front, was definitely the leader. "If he stopped, they all stopped. They wouldn't go around him," MacNeil said. So the big ram was causing a ram jam every time he decided to take a rest.