Kelseya

May has not only been an incredibly busy month, it has been a study in photographic diversity! Since the beginning of the month I have, among other things:

- Moved in as a partner to Open Range Images gallery in Cody, Wyoming

- Shot an old fashioned branding

-Led two all-day photo workshops in the Beartooth Mountains

-Vended my images at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West 

- Traveled to Columbus, Ohio to shoot photos of a quilt exhibit for publication

Yesterday, Ken and I decided to take a break - in our particular style of doing so. We gathered our gear and set out to photograph one of my favorite wildflowers, kelseya, before the spring blooming season came to an end. The good news about this relatively unknown flower is that it is not hard to find. The bad news is that it grows only at high altitude on limestone cliffs. I have never found an easy way to reach it but that is part of the adventure! 

We started out at 8am and reached our destination, 4 miles and 3000 feet higher than our starting point, at around 11am. The kelseya was as I remembered. We did not see any of the plant until the last 300 feet or so of our journey at around 8000'. In this first shot you can see dozens of them surrounding and clinging to the extremely rough limestone rocks.

It is such a strange looking plant. It appears to be part bonsai and part moss. In reality it is - surprisingly - a member of the rose family. The flowers are less than 1/4"in size and each flower is surrounded by a "cup" of many miniature leaves. There are hundreds (thousands?) of flowers on each plant.

The plants flow around the rocks like a floral waterfall.

The trees at this elevation are miniature as well; a desperate protection against gale force winds that blow more often than not.

The other advantage of climbing above the floor of the plains was that we got to experience early spring all over again as we rose in altitude. The shooting stars that had already been and gone at lower elevations were evident by the hundreds in the high meadows.

Ken was just as excited as I to capture their colorful beauty.

Another favorite evident in droves of newly bloomed perfection was the pasque flower.

One of the biggest surprises of the day, florally speaking, was the discovery of a field of wild Missouri Iris near the bottom of our hike. This is the only native iris to grow in this part of the west.

Besides the many floral wonders of the day, the view from near the top of our hike made it well worth the effort to get there!

The East Gate is Open!

It really seems that over the last few years the number of photographers traveling Yellowstone Park has increased dramatically. Most are respectful of both wildlife and their fellow visitors but there are some who seem to think the Park is their private shooting gallery and everybody else should stay away.

I will admit it sometimes make me more determined to try and capture those amazing locations and special moments in areas outside the park boundaries.

Be that as it may, it is tough to ignore opening weekend of the East Gate - the entrance nearest Cody - in this incredible place. I was unable to attend either of the first two days; the ones when all my friends and fellow photographers captured unbelievable shots of grizzlies, fresh out of their dens, fighting over carcasses left from winter hardships. But I did have a chance to go in on Sunday with wonderful friends in the group "Shoot like a Woman"

 While we saw moose, bighorn sheep, elk and lots of mule deer along the Northfork, our sightings inside the park were of the smaller variety of creatures. I am always happy when I can photograph birds  and there was no shortage of those. The sandhill cranes in the first and last photos were along Yellowstone Lake. The pintail, below, was in a small lake in Hayden Valley. The coyote was near Gibbon Meadows and he was determined to track down a meal under the snow even though he was constantly plunging through the soft spring cover.

One of my favorite moments of the day was watching the standoff between a pair of Canada Geese and some cranes. The geese finally got frustrated and flew at the bigger birds who seemed unperturbed by the noisy twosome.

May Day

 I have been really busy the last few weeks moving into Open Range Images Gallery in downtown Cody as well as preparing for the photography workshop I will be leading for Spring into Yellowstone in a couple weeks.

On May 1st we decided to take a working holiday by hiking the trail on Bald Ridge where the workshop will take place. The area is closed all winter for wildlife and reopens to the public the first of May so we knew we would be some of the first humans through in several months. What we hadn't counted on was the fact that the deep snow still blanketing the mountains meant that all the horn hunters were looking for low elevation territory. We were shocked to pull into the parking lot at 7:30 am and find a dozen vehicles already parked. While that may not seem like many for those used to populated trailheads, it is probably the most vehicles I have ever seen in that lot. According to one fellow we ran into, the serious hunters had arrived at midnight!
Even so, we saw a total of two people on the trail and caught sight of a couple horsemen far off in the distance so their presence had little effect on us.

The bird-life was impressive, as hoped. In the first photo above you can see a flock of avocets getting ready to land on Luce Lake. I have taken dozens of shots of these birds over the years but never have I seen a flock like this one. At first I thought they were snow geese.

The landscape shot above is from my favorite perch on the ridge. It is what I think of when I dream of hiking lower Bald Ridge in the middle of winter.

This kestrel was one of several battling for territory.  

We didn't see any rattlesnakes on this trip through but we did find some extremely fresh grizzly tracks.

 I love this upthrust rock on the north end of the trail. I probably should have had Ken pose beside it to show the scale. It stands approximately 30 feet high and provides a wonderful shady spot for a lunch break.

One of the things that makes this hike so ideal for a landscape photographer is the variety of incredible red rock formations.

I feel as if I could do this hike everyday and come up with a unique image each time!