Yesterday we decided to celebrate Independence Day early by driving up into the Beartooths and then having a nice dinner in Red Lodge.
Just a few miles from home the skies darkened and rain started to fall but by the time we reached the top of the plateau the skies were beginning to clear.
We had no real destination in mind. The goal was simply to see what the snow condition looked like in advance of some backpacking trips in the area. Unfortunately it seems clear that we will have to wait a few more weeks at least before we can think of taking llamas into the mountains.
The wildflowers in the snow-free areas are colorful and abundant as is to be expected in a year with such high moisture levels.
The mountain goats were visible from afar. We could see at least three kids-of-the-year so decided to stay quite a ways back to keep from stressing the animals.
Years ago I took a workshop from renowned wildlife artist Robert Bateman. One thing he said that has stuck with me is that when depicting wildlife you can either feature the orchestra or the soloist but not both. I think the shot above is about the orchestra. The goat is an interesting focal point but the image is really about the wonderful textures and lines of the background.
I told Ken I wanted to try and capture a shot of a pika. He was willing to scramble among the rocks with me in search of the small rodents. There was no shortage of the creatures but getting a good shot was not easy as they seemed to know exactly when the lens was pointed their way!
The last shot shows that there are many more wildflowers to come. This is a cluster of silky phacelias just getting ready to bloom.
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