One of the most beautiful and interesting wildflowers in Wyoming is a specimen that very few people have ever seen blooming for themselves.  Most people don't realize that a true Violet (family-Violaceae) even exists in the Wind River Canyon.  The Yellow Sagebrush Violets (Viola vallicola) are rare enough that even good photographs and data is scarce at best.  

     The Yellow Sagebrush Violet is also known as the Valley Violet; they are a perennial, and have fuzzy leaves like the Violets on the kitchen windowsill of my childhood.  This particular wildflower blooms early here in the canyon; late mid-April till early May, weather permitting.  As for the yellow flowers themselves, they are only "picture perfect" for a week or so; they of course hate Spring snows as much as the Snowbirds do.  

     Nearly every day I've been hiking up and down my favorite trail to search for and photograph these rare and precious Sagebrush Violets.  They inevitably flower in the most unlikely of places, and are very few in number; which means lots of hiking and lots of double checking; and lots of fresh air.  There is always a set of these Yellow Sagebrush Violets growing on this dry and deadly looking trail, but they also will flower on cooler hillsides near the Shooting Stars referred to in last week's blog.

     Photographing anything short and small requires the photographer to "get down" and see his subject face on.  This particular action makes the bursitis in my knees act up something awful, but the artist in me doesn't care.  My knees ache most of the time now, but I always return to our little cabin exhilarated from a hike here in the Wind River Canyon, and that helps the soul, as much as the pain, too.  These Yellow Sagebrush Violets were photographed last Sunday.  How can something so wonderful come from ground that looks like this?                                                                                                                                            Yellow Sagebrush Violets - Wind River Canyon, WyomingYellow Sagebrush Violets in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.      The equipment used in photographing wildflowers is not as important as your actions.  As in all artistic endeavors you need to get to know your subject; I downloaded two books from "he-who-must-not-be-named."  But they were of little help, and were supposed to cover this area!  An obscure reference led me to finally ID these Violets and learn what I could.  These yellow Violets are the size of my thumbnail, and are already wilted, but this picture of them documents a wildflower in the Wind River Canyon seldom seen.

Photography, Digital Darkroom and Blog, by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography.                         Wind River Canyon, Wyoming