Yellowstone flowers

Here a few of the beautiful flowers of the Yellowstone trip. I think these are their names. I am very weak on flora names even though I am attracted to beautiful flowers.

Buttercup ??

Bracted Lousewort ??

Richardson's Geranium

Buckwheat??

Harebells

Rosy Pussytoes

Shining Penstemon

Prairie Smoke

Lewis' Monkey-flower

Indian Paintbrush

A Thimble berry blossom with a beetle enjoying it.

R-Mountain - North Menan Butte

Last week my wife and I hiked up the "R" Mountain or the North Menan Butte. The Menan Buttes are two of the worlds largest tuff cones that was formed by when hot magma boils up through ground water. These are also the only two tuff cones in the United States that occurred in fresh water.

Now thousands of years later, the North Menan Butte has been declared a National Natural Landmark.

The edge of the cone is decorated with junipers acsenting the skyline surrounded by multi-colored licken covered rocks.

A host of beautiful flowers decorate not only top of the cone but also the large crater in the middle.

Here are just a few of the flowers we encountered on our hike:

Blue Penstemon

Evening primrose

Plains Prickly Pear

Meadow Salsify

Nuttal's sego lily

And the Menan Buttes tower over the Henrys Fork of the Snake River as it meanders past them on its way to join the Snake River, then on to the Columbia River and eventually on to the Pacific Ocean.