A Little Note About the Forrest Fires

There are fires burning all across the Western United States!  Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming and all those other western states.  Yellowstone is no different.  In the park, there are currently 5 fires raging: the Range fire (185 acres), Dewdrop Fire (210 acres), Cygnet Fire (1490 acres) and Camera Fire (0.1 acres).  There are also a bunch that have gone out, the biggest of which was the Blacktail fire (29 acres)1

Cygnet Fire, the biggest fire, was a lightening caused fire discovered on August 10th.  There has been heavy smoke along the roadways especially on the road between Norris and Canyon Village. 1


In Yellowstone, fires are allowed to burn as long as they don't threaten structures, roads and, obviously, people.  There is a Wildland Fire Program that Yellowstone employs which as two goals:

1. To suppress wildfires that are human-caused or that threaten people, property or resource values.

2. To ensure that naturally ignited wildland fires may burn freely as an ecosystem process.

Smoke Over the Lake

 Fire Ecology

 Wildfires have played an important park in Yellowstone's ecosystems for thousands of years, and the goal of the National Park Service is to keep it that way.  Thunderstorms are common in the Rocky Mountains, often have little rain and thus produce "dry lightening."  Some of these strikes are powerful enough to rip strips of bark off of a tree in a shower of sparks, and blow the pieces up to 100 feet away.2  These stikes don't always cause fires because the trees and shrubs have to be dry, and most of the year they aren't, but in summertime they can get very dry and that is when most fires in the park seem to occur.  This year has been a very, very dry summer so we have quite a few fires.

The 87-acre Sygnet Fire burns near Norris on August 19, 2012 3

Nearly all of Yellowstone’s plant communities have burned at one time or another.  Some trees, however, such as Douglas-fir have very thick bark that insulates the tree against heat. The bark protects the cambium (the water and nutrient areas) which will die if exposed to fire.  Thick bark ensures that wildfires seldom kill mature Douglas-fir trees.  Other species like lodgepole pines have cones are glued shut by resin. The heat of a wildfire is needed to melt the resin and allow the cone to open and disperse the seeds within. This adaptation ensures that the seeds of lodgepole pine will not disperse until wildfire creates conditions that favor the establishment of seedlings-- diminished litter on the forest floor and plenty of sunlight.

Although whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir are also thin-barked, they are adapted to fire by escaping: they grow in places less susceptible to wildfire. Aspen clones are connected by a network of roots which survive even very hot fires because they are insulated underground.

Forrest recovery after a fire in Yellowstone 4

1 Information from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/12-61f.htm

2 Information from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parkmgmt/fireecology.htm
3 Photo from http://www.nps.gov/yell/parknews/12061c.htm 
4 Photo from http://live.psu.edu/story/54245

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Union Falls hike

Last week we decided to hike Union Falls with some friends, but we got lost on a forest service road and never found the trailhead.  We were on this road for about 30 miles before we hit pavement again and realized we were in Idaho.  We ended up in the small town of Ashton, where we bought some chocolately rice crispie treats and drinks from two kids selling snacks on the street.  After talking to some locals, we drove off on a scenic drive towards Jackson, WY, which was about 60 miles away.  Just a few miles into our trip we spotted a moose cow and her calf grazing off the side of the road!  It was a fun drive, and once we got to Jackson we had dinner at the Snake River Brewery and caught a little bit of the Olympics on the TV there.  We continued driving north into Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and stopped for an evening swim at String Lake.  The water was surprisingly warm for the time of day, and it was very refreshing.  We planned to do the hike for next week, since we didn't accomplish our task on this particular day.

Moose!

 

    With some extra planning, we set out early Tuesday morning to hike, and camp, on the same trail we couldn't find the week before.  This time we had all our ducks in a row.  The trail itself was pretty challenging, but the scenery was beautiful.  We started out pretty easy, with the one obstacle being a river crossing in the first mile, but the water was fairly low so it wasn't too bad.  The trail then climbed gradually up a ridge, where we walked through a beautiful pine and spruce forest for about two miles.  The trail then descended sharply to another creek where we rested, filled up on water, and had lunch.  We met quite a few hikers along the way, many of them Boy Scouts from a nearby summer camp.  After another mile and half or so, the trail began following a nice creek nearly all the way to our campsite.  We took our time along the creek and fished for our dinner.  Our friends, Mikey, Evan, and Cristy all caught a rainbow trout that we would have for dinner later that night.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch any until the next morning, when I caught two rainbows back to back (my first Yellowstone fish!).

Sam crossing the Falls River

Crossing the creek after the steep descent

   

Our friend Evan and his first fish, which would be dinner later

Once we arrived at camp, we found the the creek next to us was unusually warm.  So we all took a swim to cool down and relax.  After setting up camp, we all hiked up to Union Falls.  It is called Union Falls because it cascades right where two creeks come together, forming a union.  It is also one of the tallest waterfalls in Yellowstone.  This was definitely one of the better moments of the summer, it was absolutely breathtaking.  The view from the top was amazing, but a steep trail wound down to the base of the falls which we decided to check out.  Near the bottom the spray from the falls was so intense it was like standing under a cold shower, we were all soaked without even getting in the water!  After a few minutes we had to abandon the bottom because it was just too cold.

the creek at our campsite

Me and Sam at Union Falls

Union Falls!

   Luckily we knew that there was a nice swimming hole in the warmer creek not too far from the falls.  Once we got to the swimming hole we all jumped in immediately, it was amazing.  A small waterfall had eroded a 10 ft. deep hole just made for jumping into and swimming.  The water was really warm too, it reminded me of Panther Falls back home.  There was even a fun rock to jump off of into the water.  We hung out here until just before dark, and headed back to camp to cook up the day's catch.  The trout was delicious, and even Sam liked the fish and went back for seconds.  Catching and eating fish in the back country was definitely a very cool experience.  Not long after eating, we all turned in for the night.  

Jumping into the swimming hole

The next morning, we got up and broke camp to head back home.  I did have time to walk around a bit and enjoy the morning sun.  I also saw a little garter snake sunning on a rock, but he got away before I could get a picture.  Garter snakes are one of the very few reptiles and amphibians that inhabit Yellowstone because of the intense climate here.  We took our time hiking back, especially on the steep ascent up to the top of the ridge.  But after catching those two fish early on, my morale was so high that even my tired legs and aching shoulders couldn't slow me down.  I do believe that this may be the longest hike I will ever get Sam to do however.  But she is always a good sport when I drag her out in the wilderness!

Morale was very high after I caught my fish just after starting to hike back!