Swift Creek Canyon, Intermittent Spring
November 2nd, 2024
Located in Star Valley Wyoming just north of Afton, the Swift Creek Canyon is a unique place where a creek stops flowing for a time period between 10 - 15 minutes. This was my first time with a close friend visiting such a unexpected event. The intermittent spring is the largest rhythmic spring in the world. Just being right down the street from where I live I had to take a visit. My friend was out looking for new places to hike as she visited from Oregon and stubbled upon this interesting creek. The hike started as you drive through a canyon, totaling a 2 mile hike. Which, was perfect for us. Once we got to a small bridge the trail came to a dead end where we took our time to watch the creek stop and start. It was a pretty amazing experience, being both of us had never seen anything like this before.
We both spent some time reading into the information board and monitoring the creek. The siphon theory. The idea is that as groundwater flows continuously into a cavern, it fills a narrow tube that leads out. As it pours over the high point of the tube, it creates a siphon effect, sucking water out of the chamber. Eventually air rushes in and breaks the siphon.
