YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyoming – Millions of people head to Yellowstone National Park every year with the hope of seeing a geyser eruption. The park hosts more geysers than anywhere else in the world, many named, many unnamed. While some of these geyser like Old Faithful are predictable and decently easy to see in person, others are much rarer and completely unpredictable. The Steamboat Geyser, for example, is a rare treat to see erupt in person. But be aware, if you leave your car in the adjacent parking lot, your next stop might be the car wash.
The Steamboat Geyser is the tallest active geyser in the world, launching water over 300 feet into the sky. Mud, sand, rocks, and silica are shot up with the water, including anything else that might be in the geyser at the time of its eruption. The downpour has broken trees, covered the boardwalk at the bottom of the hill, and even covered cars in the nearby parking lot. A recent visitor learned this the hard way:
“Urgent!.. we were at Steamboat when it erupted today!!! Help! How do I clean the minerals off my car. Update: drove to West Yellowstone and tried to wash, tried dawn dish soap. Got a good layer off, but still a layer on it… will be taking it to a detailer. But did appreciate seeing the eruption.” – Cindy Lawson Dittmer via Facebook
Silica, what likely covered Cindy’s car, is essentially insoluble in water, so cleaning it off your car’s paint and windows can be extremely difficult. Yellowstone National Park warns visitors of the damage possible to cars by a Steamboat eruption, both online and with signs in the parking lot.
Linda Kinzy shared a few tips and tricks for protecting your car if you choose to visit Yellowstone’s Steamboat Geyser:
“A few words of caution: 1) if you are parking in the main parking lot, find something to cover your windshield with. You need to be able to see out of the windshield even if the silica gets on your paint job. 2) if you happen to have a tarp in your car and some bungee cords cover as much of your vehicle as you possibly can. 3) there is overflow parking along the road at the four-way stop sign. You can voluntarily park there instead of in the parking lot, and there are signs pointing you to the trail through the woods to access the geyser basin.”