Subscribe | What is RSS

Date: September 10, 2006
Contact: Nash, (307) 344-2010
Contact: Vallie, (307) 344-2012

Yellowstone National Park Chief of Maintenance Steve Iobst serves as a lookout as park staff work to remove loose material above the road west of the Undine Falls Picnic Area.

A mid-morning rockslide has temporarily closed the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Junction in Yellowstone National Park.

The slide was reported shortly after 8:30 Sunday morning.  Rocks and debris covered a section of road about 4 miles east of Mammoth Hot Springs near the Undine Falls Picnic Area.  Rangers cleared the area and close the road to all but emergency traffic. No one was hurt or trapped by the slide. 

Rangers are staffing barricades at Mammoth Hot Springs and the Undine Falls Picnic Area. Visitors and residents wishing to travel between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Junction or Cooke City are being temporarily rerouted by way of Norris and Canyon.

The cause of the morning rockslide is unknown. There is no apparent damage to the road bed. Park employees remain concerned about the large amount of loose rock and dirt above the roadway which could easily dislodge and fall. They are working to stabilize the situation and hope to have the road reopened to traffic sometime Sunday evening.

Information on park road conditions is available 24 hours a day by calling the park’s road information hotline at 307-344-2117.

-www.nps.gov/yell –

Producers/Editors note:  A publication quality version of the digital image above is available upon request by calling 307-344-2010.