Category: **Our Awesome National Parks

ANOTHER, BETTER Five-Geyser Day

Posted on by Joy

Yellowstone started opening for the summer season on a staggered schedule  April 20.  We can only get to Mammoth, Norris, Canyon, and Old Faithful this first week in May, but before the crowds start, let’s enjoy the Old Faithful area. Although there are a lot less people, spring weather has been elusive. Today’s forecast predicts partly sunny skies, very light wind, and temps to about 50°, so it looks like a spring day. Let’s go see some geysers!

Even long-time visitors to the Old Faithful area head to the Visitor’s Center. At the Ranger’s Information Desk we’ll check the anticipated eruption times for the more predictable geysers and plan our walk around that schedule. Old Faithful is the most predictable geyser. Currently they say eruptions every 98 minutes +/- 10 minutes, but that can change. Surprise, you can watch Old Faithful anytime online. Let’s head to Geyser Hill for a different view of Old Faithful. We have about 20 minutes so let’s go!

Onward . . .

Mammoth Upper Terraces–What a Difference a Day Makes

Posted on by Joy

A winter morning on Mammoth Hot Springs’ Upper Terraces. Wow, what a difference a day hour makes! From blue skies to whiteout snow conditions in a matter of hours, but I always love the peace and beauty when walking the Upper Terraces. Let’s explore these amazing travertine terraces.

upper terraces

Come on along . . .

Grandma Bighorn, a Sweet Goodbye

Posted on by Joy

It has been a gray winter in Yellowstone. Overcast, snow, and WIND. During a few days stay in mid-February, however, there was a sweet moment early in the week. We pulled into a protected pullout near the Yellowstone River. This poor old grandma Bighorn sheep headed toward us and we retreated to make room, but there is not much room to retreat in this pullout. OK, OK, she was about 10 feet away–don’t tell. We are supposed to stay 25 yards from such wildlife, even when they come to us. Broken horn on far side, looks like arthritis in her front shoulders, eyes somewhat sunken, moving very slow–all alone and females travel in groups. For a few minutes she just hung with us, checking us out every once in a while but not anxious, fearful, or in a rush to leave. Perhaps for a moment we offered safety and a sense of peace. With our presence, wolves are very unlikely. We may be just about the last people to see her alive.

A tribute to your life, sweet girl.

SNAP*Shot: The Marvelous Monument Plant

Posted on by Joy

What are those tall stalks growing in the meadows? Do you see them? Let’s explore.

This four- foot stalk is covered with small flowers, and the flowers are green with purple dots. They look more like they belong in subtropic areas of the world, not the meadows of Yellowstone. So unusual and so beautiful.

This is a Green Gentian (Frasera speciosa), also called the Monument Plant, and is monocarpic. No, I didn’t know what that was either, but it thoroughly explains this unique plant. Green gentian can live to be 80 years old, but each year of its life all you see are the pretty basal leaves growing a few feet tall and reaching to the sky until . . .

. . . the last year of its life when it produces a stalk from 4 to 7 feet tall covered with beautiful small  flowers. The flowers range from pale green to white with purple or blue dots, but I’ve only ever seen the flowers in shades of green. This is the  “monument” phase. Each flower produces up to 60 seeds ensuring the next generation. The plant then dies leaving the dead stalk which may stand a few years, as you can see above.

So “monocarpic” means growing many years without flowering, then flowering and dying after its seeds are developed. We may see many stalks across a meadow or only a few, but the stalks tell us that this is the last hoorah of this amazing monument plant.