Day 4: Geysers and Bogs

Friday, July 14, 2017

Upon entering the gate this morning we were informed that the trail we had planned to take today was closed. We only had a few hours before we needed to meet Sarah so we improvised.  Today we are going to focus our efforts on seeing the flora the Southwestern portion of the park and site seeing along the way.

The first section we came to was Fountain Flat Drive. A beautiful stream with a fumarol near the river. Here we found Eleocharis palustris a sedge that was eaten by some native peoples. We also saw a very cool pink thistle, Cirsium drummondii.

In the Fountain Paint Pots area I was fascinated by the ‘Bobby Sock’ trees. Named after the 1940’s white sock fashion they are very cool mummified in the thermal areas. Since Oleg has gotten quite sunburned while he has been here he has we have dubbed him Squatting Bobby socks for the day.  There were no new species in this area, but we did see probably 10 of the parks invasive species in this one location.

Of course we couldn't go by with stopping at Grand Prismatic Spring.

After two previously failed attempts on family vacation to see this area, I was a little bit excited that I could actually see it this time!

Sisyrinchium montanum

Next we decided to go see the Old Faithful geyser basin area. We were running out of time but did a quick tour of the Upper Geyser Basin before we had to leave to meet Sarah. One of my favorites was Sisyrinchium montanum.  Native peoples used the root to make into a tea to help with stomach troubles and expel intestinal worms. Isn't she a butte!?!? Gentiana species we couldn't get close enough to key exact.

Now on to our favorite part of the day! We met Sarah, the parks seasonal Biological Science Technician, who works on wetland restoration and delineation. She gifted us with a field guide to the rare plants within Yellowstone which was so invaluable to us. Thank you Sarah!!!!

Starting near Old Faithful we followed her to a wetland site that was full of so many interesting species!  Seriously, it was half of the rare species book!!!

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves but we saw:  Antennaera flagellaris, Carex cusickii, Erigonum umbellatum var. cladophorum, Drosera anglica, Juncus filiformis, Mulenbergia glomerata, Orobanche corymbosa var corymbosa, Mimulus moschatus, Equisetum laevigatum, and Spiranthes romanzoffiana just to name a few.

We went on the hunt for Botrychium simplex, called the key plant in Russia, but were unsuccessful. (Found out later it isn't in this area).  It is said that whenever you find this plant there will be treasure underneath! Alas, we will not be retiring as we have no treasure today.

This area was so large you could've spent all day here!  My favorite part was watching the species change as you moved through the wetland.

We also went to another site nearby were we saw Ross’s Bentgrass (Agrostis rossiae var. rossiae) growing in the fumaroles.  It was a bit past peak, but still very cool. We were soaked, muddy, mosquito bitten, and my allergies flared up, but we had an awesome time!!!