Re: Parts of Yellowstone National Park closed after massive supervolcano beneath it melts roads

Firehole Lake Drive in Yellowstone National Park has been temporarily closed due to a damaged road surface. Extreme heat from surrounding thermal areas has caused thick oil to bubble to the surface, damaging the blacktop and creating unsafe driving conditions on the popular, scenic road, located off the Grand Loop Road halfway between Old Faithful and Madison Junction in the park’s Lower Geyser Basin. The 3.3-mile loop drive takes visitors past Great Fountain Geyser, White Dome Geyser and Firehole Lake.

The road will remain closed for the next several days while maintenance crews make repairs. The date for reopening the road is uncertain at this time, and will be determined after crews assess the effectiveness of their efforts.


Firehole Lake Drive, superheated by surrounding thermals.
NPS Photo

Temporary repairs have been completed, allowing Firehole Lake Drive in Yellowstone National Park to open to travel. The 3.3 mile scenic loop drive is located off the park’s Grand Loop Road, halfway between Old Faithful and Madison Junction. This side road travels through an active thermal area with normally high ground temperatures. The addition of high air temperatures last week resulted in damage to the blacktop surface. Park road crews removed some damaged sections of pavement and used a mixture of sand and lime to soak up some of the thick oil which had bubbled to the surface of the roadway. These actions have successfully mitigated most of the impacts, allowing the road to reopen to traffic.

There is no indication of increased hydrothermal activity in the area.

Boy, what a boring title to this thread.

Here's a "better" one from an article that a friend of mine posted on Facebook tonight:

Parts of Yellowstone National Park closed after massive supervolcano beneath it melts roads

“Tourists at Yellowstone National Park are being barred from areas of the park because the massive underground supervolcano beneath it is melting the asphalt roads.

“It basically turned the asphalt into soup. It turned the gravel road into oatmeal,” Yellowstone spokesman Dan Hottle said. In particular, Hottle said that the road between the park’s most popular attraction, Old Faithful, and Madison Junction has been dangerously compromised...”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/14/parts-of-yellowstone-national-park-closed-after-massive-supervolcano-beneath-it-melts-roads/

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The story didn't scare off enough people since it was really crowded in the popular thermal areas when we were after that. We escaped to the non thermal areas to watch wild life, fish and get away from the crowds

It was really nice both times when I went during the first week of October. But I did get snowed on:


http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/yellowstone/pa050021.jpg.html

Great picture. With a kid in school we are sort of locked in to going during the summer. I would love one day to go in the winter.