Soda Springs Shenanigans

I played tourist in Soda today. It was a spur of the moment decision reached last night around 21:00. I grabbed a bunch of travel brochures at a rest area on the way back from Layton and finally started looking through them last night. Several things in Soda caught my interest, especially "Formation Springs." It's a nature conservancy park with some interesting wildlife and geology, as well as mineral springs (which are largely responsible for the geology). Much of it was dry. I don't know if it's a case of the springs drying up or if it's just too late in the year. As large as some of the bushes are, I think some sections have been mostly dry for a while. They must get enough water to support the bushes, but it doesn't linger long enough to drown them. Anyway, there's a very large cave there, supposed to be a hundred feet or more long. If I had thought to bring, say, a flashlight, I might have been tempted to explore a bit. As it was, I didn't. So here's a picture of a much smaller cave:
From the looks of things, this "park" has not had any maintenance for quite a while, and it is not well-labelled from the road. If you come into Soda on Highway 30 from Lava Hot Springs, turn left at the light where it meets Highway 34 (there's a turn to stay on 34), then turn right at Trail Canyon Road, across from the phosphate plant. Then keep a sharp eye out for an itty-bitty sign on the left. It's not very far down Trail Canyon Road, but it's very easy to miss. Look for a long series of fences made from unpolished tree trunks. (And if you find yourself going through a narrow valley, you've gone too far. If you meet a fork in the road, you've really gone too far. Needless to say, I needlessly wandered some back roads this morning.)

The main trail going right from the parking lot is in good shape up until the stream crossings. Some side treks going in and among the caves and rocks are not in good shape, but it's well worth it to go down and take a closer look. After the first bridge, the trail becomes overgrown. I pushed through and got nice shots of some mineral pools back there, but I gave up when I got to a swampy region where the trail just vanished. Swampy trail, I might have gone on (depending on how swampy). Solid ground with no trail, I would have cast around trying to find it. As it was, I turned back. As I pushed my way back through the overgrown sections, I felt a sharp pain in my right hand. It was...Stinging Nettle!
The sensations were rather interesting. The actual encounter felt more or less like an injection. Then it started to tingle and hurt a bit. The pain made a half-hearted effort to spred through my hand, but didn't get far. There was a white bump at the site of contact, surrounded by red that also made a half-hearted effort to spread. I hadn't gone very far when the pain faded, almost to a dull itch. I was both disappointed and relieved. When I noticed the bump fading, I tried to get a picture of it. Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of your own right hand? *sighs* None of them focused. So when I had another encounter with it, attempting to explore the trail that leads straight out from the parking lot, and it was with my left hand, my first thought was, "Cool. It should be easier to get a picture of the left hand." Then I realized what I had just thought and mentally slapped myself. At any rate, the one on the left hand was on a finger and didn't even get the bump or the redness.

From there, I went to Hooper Springs. For this one, there are obvious signposts. I think the road is called "Dam View" or something like that. There's "Dam" in the name, at any rate. It goes on the south side of the phosphate plant. Mostly, it seems to be a picnic area and playground. There's a pavilion built around the spring itself. Here's the view from inside:
This is probably a carbonated spring. The water contained a lot of bubbles, and Soda Springs gets its name from the carbonated springs in the area.

The last stop in Soda was the Geyser. If it has a name, other than "Soda Springs Geyser" or "Tame Geyser," I never saw it. It's not exactly a natural geyser. In 1937, someone was digging down, looking for a hot water source. The plan was to give Soda Springs some thermal pools much like those in Lava Hot Springs. Well, they found a water source, and it began spurting everywhere. There weren't too many other details, but I'm assuming they capped it off, then realized that the pressure build-up would eventually make it burst. So they put a timed release valve on it. Voila! A geyser that would really go off every hour, on the hour. They hoped it would be a huge tourist draw. It wasn't. A little kid summed it up to his dad and brother as I was leaving. He said, "Manmade," in a rather disgusted tone of voice. Of course, he also thought the orange coloration in the rocks was manmade. His father began trying to explain about minerals in the water making the rocks turn colors. :^D At any rate, here's a shot of the geyser going off:


And here are a rather amusing warning sign and the run-off channel for the geyser:


Before heading back to Pocatello, I drove north on Highway 34, looking for Gray's Lake Wildlife Preserve. Mostly, it seems to be protected marshes and grassland. I didn't see too much wildlife. Some swallows, possibly a prairie dog (or else a very fat ground squirrel)...then at the far end, there was a vulture perched on a fencepost, surrounded by a parliament of about 12 ravens. Presumably there was carrion nearby. There didn't seem to be much encouragement of wildlife viewing, as there were no easy stop-off points until you turned on West Side Road to get back to the highway. *shrugs*