Today we’ve visited the Mammoth Hot Springs here in the park. It has a very misleading name, as it didn’t seem to have any relaxing hot springs to get in. However, it did have amazing rock formations! The place was filled with travertine and limestone - both mainly composed of calcium carbonate -, which were then sculpted over thousand of years by the scalding running water around the place, forming beautiful terraces that resemble coral reefs. Their colors were majestic going from plain white to beige to flaxen to dijon yellow. It was an unique place to visit!
After that, later in the day, we went to hike the Elephant Back trail. ⅔ of our classmates decided to stay behind to work on their assignments and/or save energy and prepare for the Specimen Ridge hike tomorrow. So, besides Profs. Gulezian, Staats and Bowen, there was only Gaby, Nosheen, Allison and I. This, in a way, made the hike more special, as we were able to appreciate the forested mountain more deeply, with more unity and less noise. At one point, we all stopped and held a moment of silence. It was astounding to realize how removed from civilization we were at that moment: no cars, no chattering. Even the animals were quiet. It was a moment of peace.
On this trail, Nosheen and I saw a lovely flower. It was apparently the only of its kind on the trail we took. It was blue on the tips, and purple as it reached the leaf axis. Each inflorescence had multiple opposite flowers with 4 fertile stamen and a staminode, which is a non fertile stamen. The scientific name of this plant is Penstemon sp. from the Plantaginaceae family. Since it’s quite hard to identify which species this flower belongs to within its genus, I’ll name it Psychedelic Jimi, to honor Jimi Hendrix (as Dr. Gulezian requested) and The Beatles. Seriously though, the colors of this inflorescence can’t be anything if not psychedelic, and that’s mainly why I picked it actually. That and the fact that Nosheen and I stopped in the middle of a hail storm to take a picture of this beauty! It reminded me of Letters from Yellowstone, as Alex would stay a little longer in the rain to finish her drawing, all in the name of science. In a way, we were following her footsteps, albeit with less compromise, as she was drawing in nature while we were taking photographs to then draw in comfort. The pros and cons of technology!
Journal entry by Deborah
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