The very first time I laid eyes on the Wind River Canyon, here in the heart of Wyoming, was just after my 14th birthday.  My parents had decided to move the family from the heart of Rock-and-Roll in the suburbs Cleveland, out to the Wild West!  They'd purchased a small motel two hours from Yellowstone National Park!  It was a traumatic cross-country move to a place more dry than I'd imagined.  A trip across the Plains of America is an experience not to be missed.  

     When we entered the state capital of Cheyenne there were no mountains like I'd expected there to be; I was told there were mountains in Wyoming.  The eight-hour drive from the state capital to a very small town called Shoshoni is eye-opening; there didn't seem to be any trees; a bazillion acres of dry, tall grass, but no trees!  

     It was the last day of July and it was 102 degrees in the shade; I didn't know it got that hot anywhere but the dessert.  No wonder forests don't grow in all that empty space.  Then, we made a right-turn at a western town in the middle-of-nowhere, and my life was changed forever.

     There, a dozen miles away, were the purple mountains my sisters and I were promised more than 1,500 miles from this very spot.  Even to this very day, more than four decades later, the ride past the lake into the Wind River Canyon is one of my favorites.  We had heard stories of the canyon, and even saw a few lousy snapshots of it, but nothing can prepare you for your first trip through the Wind River Canyon.  

     The chasm opens at the dam to reveal the famous Wind River far below; I had never imagined such a place could exist.  The mountains soared to the clear-blue skies like the skyscrapers in downtown Cleveland; but the air didn't have that funny smell.  There were tunnels in the canyon, and golden-cliffs taller than any building I'd ever seen.  "Look, there's a Wyoming Landscape-Wind River CanyonWind River Canyon Landscape Photograph, Wyoming. cave!"  Spires of stone and mountains reaching skyward was exhilarating after a million miles of boredom.  She had me in her grips, the Wind River Canyon did that hot summer's day.

     I made a secret wish for myself that very day....someday, I was going to live in this magical place.  It took over thirty years and many things had to fall into place, but my dream came true; I'd made it happen----I live in the mountains.

     An old college friend once asked me if I'd ever leave the Wind River Canyon.  I said, "Yes, in a zip-lock bag."  It's a line that's meant to be funny, but it also gives you some idea of how easy it is to fall in love with the Wind River Canyon and it's charming personality.  I started writing this edition of my Wind River Canyon Blog at 4:30 this morning; it's now after seven and our Sun is painting the highest snowy peaks a pastel orange.  

     We got another foot of snow this week, for the third time this winter.  The town of Shoshoni, only twenty miles south of our cabin, still has no snow on the ground at all!  South of the canyon is one of the driest places in Wyoming, yet we've gotten nearly three feet of snow so far this winter in the "Heart of the Canyon."  And the biggest snowstorms always happen in what the rest of America thinks of as springtime.  So, the smartest thing my wife Deb has ever purchased, a snowblower, stays ready for action.

     All this incredible beauty and magic of the canyon is easy to see and appreciate, Rufous Hummingbird Portrait - Wind River CanyonPortrait of a Rufous Hummingbird male in the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. but it's the little things, that people never see, that is where the magic really is.  Did you know that 4 species of hummingbirds nest and have baby hummingbirds in the canyon?  I have an adorable little female Downy Woodpecker that I see every day.  Just the other day a Bald Eagle flew by my living room window carrying a trout in his talons, and my heart went into overdrive!  

     Which leads me into my next hurdle----er, project;  I'm in the early stages of filming a documentary about the hummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon.  I'm reading a book by a famous cinematographer, and I've got video software installed.  I've even written a script, a story really, and have started a "shot list."  But as I told my doctor, the acupuncturist who keeps me on my feet, some of the shots I envision for my film could take years.  In the meantime this short, little science-geek gets to live and work on his art in one of the most amazing places on this little blue stone.

*Wind River Canyon Blog written by Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.  

*For many more wildlife and nature photographs from the Wind River Canyon and Wyoming, please visit my website----HogbatsPhotography.com