Home ›

Boulder Blocking West Entrance Road Keeps Yellowstone National Park Crews Busy

Submitted by NPT Staff on January 1, 2012 - 1:00am

This boulder went bump sometime in the night, and temporarily blocked access into Yellowstone National Park from West Yellowstone, Montana. NPS photo.

It was big, potentially bad, and fell at the right time -- sometime in the night when there was no snowmobile or snowcoach traffic coming into Yellowstone National Park from the West Entrance.

The blockish boulder, equal in size to a large SUV, but certainly much heavier, came down sometime in the night late Wednesday or early Thursday about nine miles inside the park from West Yellowstone, Montana.

Park officials aren't exactly sure why it fell. Some seismic activity had been noted at a nearby station, Yellowstone spokesman Dan Hottle says. But, he adds, there is some question as to whether a seismic event triggered the boulder fall, or whether the crashing down of the boulder was recorded seismically.

Park crews have pushed the boulder off the road, and will now determine the best way to break up the rock and remove it.

Comments

Submitted by Barky on January 1, 2012 - 3:37pm.

Holy crap that's a big boulder!!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 1, 2012 - 4:49pm.

Submitted by Kirby Adams on January 1, 2012 - 5:14pm.

If that's the guy that pushed it off the road, I'd like to shake his hand...or perhaps not.

Submitted by Nordic Girl (not verified) on January 2, 2012 - 9:33am.

Love the caption of something went bump in the night. Why not leave it and see if visitors would like to take a crack at it with a sledgehammer for $2.00 a try. Make you some money that way! ;-)

Submitted by Dick G. (not verified) on January 3, 2012 - 11:13am.

Yea-- I'd leave it on the side of the road also-- pretty neat!