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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1864 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
Does anyone know the story behind the "mystery shower" off the Middle Fork Trail, below Hester Lake, a short ways past Goldmyer hot springs?
Here's what it looks like:
Mystery Shower
Here's about where it's located (see red icon):
Location
I assume there was maybe a trail crew or someone with property nearby who put it up, but I really have no idea. There was also some rusty old iron pipe with water gushing from it.
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cdestroyer Member
Joined: 14 Sep 2015 Posts: 1249 | TRs | Pics Location: montana |
i been hearing ya for three days and smellin ya for two
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mosey Member
Joined: 18 Dec 2018 Posts: 165 | TRs | Pics
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mosey
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Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:58 pm
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Anecdotally I've heard it was built by miners, and someone I'm acquaintances with that was part of a claim up there told me they helped build it, so it can't be too old. It's sulfurous anyways, along with the other spring.
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fourteen410 Member
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
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+1 to what mosey said. You might smell worse than you came in
Puzzlr will probably know the answer. He's the MFK guru.
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Bramble_Scramble Member
Joined: 28 Dec 2012 Posts: 312 | TRs | Pics
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zimmertr
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puzzlr Mid Fork Rocks
Joined: 13 Feb 2007 Posts: 7216 | TRs | Pics Location: Stuck in the middle |
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puzzlr
Mid Fork Rocks
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Wed Jul 28, 2021 10:18 am
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Tony Roat, a person involved with drilling the geyser spring (the warm one) got in contact with Goldmyer and in turn me last year. I got together with him to hear his story. He was interested in whether the spring was still there and flowing -- he is getting older and didn't remember exactly where it was. He wrote the account below about that spring.
That crew did not drill the cold spring by the barrel a little farther up the trail. I don't know what group did that one, but the shower head was placed on the pipe a few years ago by the owner of an unpatented claim high up on the side of Burntboot ridge. A nice way to clean off after working the diggings all day!
There were a number of mining companies during that time exploring the area, probably to find out what might be included in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in following years. The USGS also did some pretty comprehensive surveys, but I don't think they did any drilling. NWhiker member belayon was part of another exploration team in the valley in 1963 -- Bear Creek Mining Company. They did a lot of surface exploration on the breccia pipes above Hardscrabble Creek. He also was able to do the first ascent of Burntboot while working in the area.
Quote: | THE STORY OF GEYSER SPRING
The year was 1967. I was employed by Longyear Drilling Co. as a driller. We were drilling core samples for a mining company called Westland Copper LTD./ out of Vancouver BC.
The area we were drilling in was along the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River in the area of Goldmeyer Hot Springs. We drilled for five months living at the drill site from Monday through Friday. We were flown in by helicopter and had two small plywood cabins, one for sleeping and one for cooking. We drilled at six different sites and the drills and cabins were moved by helicopter, dismantled and assembled using the helicopter as a crane. All of the sites, except for the last one were hard to access by trail. Supplies were flown in and core was flown out. There was two drilling rigs operating for most of the summer. Two two man crews at each site each crew worked a ten hour shift. Water for drilling was pumped from the creeks and river to the drill sites at one site it was pumped up a 1200 foot rise.
At each drill site four bores were done. Each bore was 1200 ft. One straight down and three at 45 degrees in different directions recovering a core sample all of the way. As the drill advanced through the solid rock various fractures and voids were encountered as the rock strata changed and that would change the drilling procedure.
In Late September we were down to two crews and one drill rig. The last site was approximately ¼ mile up river from the camp the mining company had at Goldmeyer. The drill rig was flown in piece by piece and assembled on site close to the river. Access was by going up the road and crossing a log over the river.
I was drilling day shift and the bore was down about 200 feet. I released the chuck on the machine and the drill stem started coming out of the bore. 200 feet of drill stem is quite heavy so it took a moment to figure out what was going on. When the core barrel is in the bore there is very little distance between it and the walls of the bore. Water is pumped down during the drilling and there is return to the surface if things are going right. Something was pushing the drill stem back out of the bore. I pulled the drill stem and when the core barrel cleared the end of the casing a fountain of water was coming out. I reached down and the water was warm.
I had seen the flow of the spring at Goldmeyer and this was tremendously more. This was at the end of October and I had accepted a job at the power company so I was not there when the drill was removed. I had always wondered what became of the site because it was a novelty but not very accessible.
Tony Roat |
One of the four drilling sites Tony worked at, this one on the crest of Burntboot ridge Tony Roat in October, 2020
Unfortunately, Tony did not take any photos of the geyser spring at the time it was created.
Mid Fork Rocks • flickr
reststep, mosey, Navy salad, RichP, fourteen410, fjoro, Bramble_Scramble, altersego, Stumblina, zimmertr
Mid Fork Rocks • flickr
reststep, mosey, Navy salad, RichP, fourteen410, fjoro, Bramble_Scramble, altersego, Stumblina, zimmertr
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JonnyQuest Member
Joined: 10 Dec 2013 Posts: 593 | TRs | Pics
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Thanks Puzzlr! This is an example of the rich, unique content that makes nwhikers.net a treasured resource. Far more interesting than another abbreviated L22 or Colchuck trip report.
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Navy salad Member
Joined: 09 Sep 2008 Posts: 1864 | TRs | Pics Location: Woodinville |
Thanks Puzzlr!!
Very interesting hearing the history of this area. And the location mentioned above is correct, not far from Goldmyer. And for the record, the water wasn't all that stinky from the sulfur.
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