Yellowstone Geyser Spits Out Weird Stuff!

Living this close to Yellowstone Park, we all get a tiny bit nervous when we read the stories about how doomed we are going to be when "the big one" blows again. It happens about every 600,000 years and they say its been about 600,000 years since the last one. Plus or minus 50,000 years or so.  I'll take those numbers. It's not like we can do anything about it anyway.

There was some excitement in the Park last month though, when a geyser named Ear Spring did it's thing in a big way for the first time since 1957. Sure, it's popped before, but this eruption was a big one for this normally quiet little geyser.

Steam and water and rocks were blasting 30 feet in the air. It seems like little Ear Spring had a little backed up pressure. So when Park employees went to investigate the next day, they were a surprised to see that the geyser had shot out some unusual stuff.

The little steamer had hacked up a big vent full of garbage. Almost 100 coins, some of them quite old. A cell phone. Two old beer can and a half a cinder block.  A baby pacifier from the 1930's.  A rubber shoe heal. Old tin signs (that probably read: "DO NOT THROW GARBAGE IN THE GEYSER"). Read the full story here. I guess naughty tourists in Yellowstone Park are not a new phenomenon.  They've been breaking the rules for years.

Next time,

Michael