This morning we made the short drive over to the Beaver Campground at Earthquake lake just west of Yellowstone. The campground is fairly nice with three loops and sites that are well spaced. There are only a handful of people staying here tonight. The wildflowers were just outstanding throughout the campground. After getting setup we went to the Earthquake Lake visitor center. Unfortunately the center was closed for renovations but there we very good signs around the area to tell the story. On Aug. 17, 1959 a 7.5 magnitude quake hit the area around 11:30 in the evening. The quake caused the side of a mountain to slide down into a canyon creating a dam that resulted in the formation of Earthquake lake. Unfortunately in the canyon below was a campground in which 19 people died. All total 28 people lost their lives in this quake. This has special meaning to Valerie who was in Great Falls at the time and remembers being awaken by the quake.
Tomorrow we plan to spend the day in Yellowstone National Park.
Some of the wildflowers in the campground
The side of this mountain slid down into the canyon below and over the campground
This bolder was on the other side of the canyon before the quake
54 years later the tops of a lot of dead trees still stick out the lake
View looking west from the visitor center. Definitely “Big Sky” country
What amazes me is how barren that slide area is after all these years. I was in Sidney when it hit and we didn't feel it that far over in the state.
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