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Spring Wildflowersof the Wasatch Foothills
We have had rain off and on for the past week, so I was afraid that we
would have more of the same this morning -- or at best, that the trails
and foothills would be muddy and the grasses and other plants would be
dripping with moisture. Instead, we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning.
A small group of us met at a parking lot near the foothills, on Wasatch
Boulevard and about 3900 South.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BEGINNING OF THE TRAIL:
Drive northward along Wasatch Boulevard until it is about to connect
to the freeway. At this point there is a traffic semaphore -- turn east
for about half a block onto the old Wasatch Boulevard, and again travel
north until it dead ends. There is a small parking area here, and beyond
the road barrier -- a lush green sloping hillside, with the remains of an
old dirt road meandering up the hill.
It is like a different world here. Civilization is within our sight and
hearing -- sounds of the freeway traffic whizzing by just below us, over
the edge of a steep cut, and a view of the whole Salt Lake Valley spreading
to the west, filled with houses and other buildings. But we are in the
middle of nature -- a hillside which looks today much as it did a hundred
and fifty years ago.
The grass and other vegetation is thick and green, but not soggy wet as
I had feared. We can see flowers at our feet, and scattered up the hill as
far as we can see. Ty Harrison, the leader of our group today, teaches
Botany at Westminster College. He has led groups of students to this area
several times over the past years, and tells us that this year is
particularly good for wildflowers because of the extra moisture we have had.
He says that we can probably expect to see about twenty different species
of plants in bloom today. Others will come out later in the year.
We follow the old road up the hill, taking side trips into the vegetation
to investigate interesting specimens. We are "creeping" slowly along,
trying not to miss anything that might be of interest -- this is typical
of a UNSS outing. We notice several piles of droppings left by elk -- they
must have been browsing here not long ago. Perhaps they are watching us
from cover somewhere above us on the mountain. We can hear birds calling.
We can smell a skunk!
The surface of the ground is damp, but not muddy. We can see tracks on it
-- mostly people and dogs, but also deer and other animals.
We climb up to the old Lake Bonneville bench, and from here the road is
perfectly level because it is built along the remains of the shoreline
of the ancient lake which disappeared about 14,000 years ago.
There are plans to set aside a corridor wide enough for a walking and
biking trail, following this shoreline level as much as possible, all along
the Wasatch Front. How great it will be to preserve this area in a
relatively natural state, and keep it from further "
development".
There are six participants in our outing today in addition to our leader:
Connie Sedlar, Marjorie Paul, Sandra Bray, and the Abraham family -- Allen,
Britt and Miriam. Britt is keeping a list of the different plants as we
see them and learn interesting facts about them. We end up with twenty six
species, which tops Ty's estimate. They are listed below. Several have a
link to another page, which will give more information and possibly a sketch.
Wild Phlox Storks Bill Pink Lady Slipper Cibarian Loco Weed Sweet Vetch Bitterbrush Death Camas Evening Primrose Pentstemon Wall Flower Cat's Eye Borage Stickseed Stoneseed Forget-Me-Not Arrowleaf Balsamroot Yarrow Indian Paintbrush Currants False Dandelion Thistle Western Wheat Grass Gambel's Oak Serviceberry Spurge - Introduced Noxious Weed Snapdragon - Introduced
The following list includes plants which may be found here earlier or later
in the season. This second list was obtained from handouts which were
prepared for workshops or outings sponsored by the Utah Nature Study Society
in the past. It originally included many of the same plants listed above.
After eliminating duplicates, these remain:
Sego Lily Dog Tooth Violet Fritillary Spring Beauty Indian Parsnip Mule's Ears Beckwith's Astragalus Scarlet Globemallow Hound's Tongue
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Utah Nature Study Society From a Workshop Handout and Report of a Field Trip |
Adapted for The INTERNET by Sandra Bray |
