Here are some clues: 

• it is one of the first showy golden-yellow wildflowers you'll see blooming on the hillsides early in the spring
• it is a bright, sunny "harbinger of spring", and it's in the family that includes sunflowers
• its flower is "composite", having both disk flowers (the center) and ray flowers (the outer, bright yellow "petals"), one flowerhead per stalk
• it has leaves shaped like arrow - broad at the base near the stem, but tapering to a point - and are mostly at the base of the plant
• its leaves are covered with short silvery-gray hairs, so the leaves look somewhat green-gray and are not shiny
• it is a plant that can tell you about the land it's on - most of the time when you see this plant, you can be pretty sure this is an area that has never been cultivated, so where you see this wildflower, you may be looking at a patch of Palouse Prairie or Canyon Grasslands
• it often will occur in groups - usually you'll see several of these sunflowers spread across a hillside
• it is a perennial, and is very long-lived, able to persist on a site for decades
• it is used by a variety of wildlife: many species of insects, as well as elk, deer, bighorn sheep, and horses
  
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Here's another yellow wildflower that blooms in early spring at about the same time or slightly later than the first mystery plant and is often seen on hill sides, too.  Here are some clues:

• it has leaves that are finely divided very lacy, almost "fern" like in appearance, and are clumped at the base - the leaves may remind you of the leaves of a carrot, which is in the same family
• it has yellow flowers densely packed into an "umbrella" shape
• it has hollow stems that are tall so the flowers may be as high as 4 to 5 feet above the ground
• like the first mystery wildflower, this one also occurs in large groupings on uncultivated slopes or roadbanks
• it is a perennial, very long-lived, and seems to be able to persist even when a site is invaded by weeds, continuing to occupy an area and helping to keep some plant diversity on the site
• it has a thick, long, fleshy root that helps to stabilize the soil where it grows, especially helping to keep roadbanks from slumping
• it is sometimes called "biscuitroot", as are many other plants in this family; the "biscuitroot" name comes its use by native Americans for food
• it is an important spring forage plant for deer, elk, antelope, and rodents
  
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