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!