Getting Personal with Indian Paintbrush

Because of the unseasonably wet summer so far, wildflower season is stretching on as far as it possibly can. Small shoots of Indian paintbrush, late bloomers by all accounts, peak up through monotone sage and fields of yellow balsam root flowers. They surprise you as you walk along lonely forest trails and through ghost towns of tired wooden homes and neglected dams. They sneak up on you as you pick your way across muddy streams and massive fields of beetle kill.

But they are never demure, never shy. Always flirting with the accruing dustiness of Wyoming summer.