After revisiting the Grand Prismatic Spring, we continued with
another highlight of Yellowstone, the Lone star geyser. This is a cone geyser, which erupts roughly once every three hours,
and eruptions last for roughly half an hour. While many geysers in Yellowstone occur in close proximity of each other,
this one is somewhat isolated -hence its name-, and one has to walk for an hour or so along the Firehole River to get there.
The advantage of this is twofold: I found various interesting plants during the one hour hike, and, importantly, it's much
quieter here than at many other sites which have a parking lot closer by.
When we arrived at the Lone star geyser, we had to wait for quite some time for its eruption; this
gave me the opportunity to quietly explore the area around the geyser. Among other plants, I found the Irish Lady's-tresses, a small-flowered
orchid with its flowers arranged in spirals. This orchid seemed to grow especially in the runoff water from the geyser.
|