This
Month in Yellowstone
Mudslide at Sylvan Pass
On July 18, 2004 steady rains saturated the mud and rocks on the
steep slope adjacent to Sylvan Pass on the East Entrance Road in Yellowstone.
Eventually the mud became more fluid and at about 8 p.m. the entire
surface of the slope slid downhill trapping three cars that were passing
by. None of the occupants of the cars were injured. One of the people
on the scene for the clean-up described the mudslide material as "pudding
and rock".
Click for a larger image.
When Jim Peaco (Park Photographer) arrived, clean-up
had begun in a two step process. First two people with metal detectors
carefully searched the next bucket-load of earth for metal. That was
necessary because Sylvan Pass is especially susceptible to avalanches.
In order to reduce avalanche danger in the spring, shells full of
explosives are shot into the snowbanks at the tops of the slopes.
There have occasionally been shells that did not discharge and the
metal detection was done to be certain that there were no unexploded
shells buried in the mudslide. When a bucketful of mud and rock was
checked by the metal detectors, it was then picked up in the bulldozer
bucket and dumped into a waiting truck.
Eventually all three vehicles were dug out. Two were loaded onto
trucks. One started right up and was driven away. You will notice
that there was a stretch of road seriously undercut during the mudslide.
Sylvan Pass reopened to traffic on the morning of July 24.
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