Flower Power and Bouncing Bambi’s: Wyoming-Part I

A fawn pauses for a moment in a field of lupine.

Flower Power in Wyoming

On a recent camping trip to Wyoming, I was amazed to see wildflowers like I’ve never seen before. The wet spring and early summer made for some severe flower power in the Bighorns. As I drove up the mountain from Dayton and crested the last hill, clumps of blue and purple dotting the roadside caught my eye. My desire to get to camp and set up my tent was overrode by my desire to capture the beautiful lupine lining the road. Little did I know, there was going to be plenty more to see! The wet spring and early summer was conducive to flower power throughout the Bighorn Mountains.

Lupine grows rampant along the road in Wyoming.

Once I thought I had my fix of flowers and set up my tent, I went out looking for some wildlife. I ran into this cute little buck and his friend. The flower power of the lupines just wouldn’t stop. The opportunities to showcase the deer against the lupine and sage were perfect. At one point, the deer were both on the shadowy side of the road for cool, elegant photos but soon pressed on to greener pastures for more vibrant photos.

A young buck poses in the sagebrush and lupine meadow.

After crossing the road, a buck tries to decide whether to follow his young friend or not.

The buck continues to munch on the grass with the Bighorn mountains as the backdrop.

A seven point buck pauses for a portrait in the golden light.

The buck looks over his shoulder in the field of wildflowers.

Bouncing Bambi’s

By this point as a photographer, I was pretty happy how the evening was going. I didn’t need to take any more photos. I would have been happy with what I had already captured. However, fate was going to intervene. I went up the road a bit and came across these twin fawns in the distance. It was so much fun watching them bounce from place to place. I’ve always thought that fawns don’t walk or run but bounce from here to there. It’s been a goal of mine to get photos of the bouncing bambi’s but I usually only see them in dusky light and they are moving way too fast to capture. This was my lucky day! Not only did I see them with golden light showering down on them but instead of running away they bounced right over to me!

Twin fawns run through the meadow.

Bouncing bambis!

Two fawns seem to bounce more than they run.

Inquisitive twin fawns bounced right over to where I was standing,

A fawn walks through a sagebrush meadow.

After a bit, the fawns got nervous and bounced away. They seemed to travel together and if you saw one the other would soon be by it.

A fawn turns around to see where it’s other half is.

They found each other, but where's mom?

Once playtime was over, mom got her babies back close and they continued feeding.

Before they went on their way, I was able to snap one last shot of these irresistible fawns.

A fawn looks around in the golden light before sunset.

My first night out in Wyoming was exceptional and it would seem that the rest of my camping trip would be hard to live up to this experience. Can it get better than bouncing bambi’s and the flower power of the lupine? You’ll have to wait for another edition of my blog to see if it did…