Kitsap Waterfall Survey: "Stephenson Canyon Falls"

Located in the heart of East Bremerton is a small park encompassing a steep-walled defile carved into the glacial deposits and clay layers near the Port Washington Narrows. This is Stephenson Canyon. flowing through this canyon is small but quaint Stephenson Creek, which flows year round. Looking at topographic maps and google terrain imagery. I entertained the idea that somewhere along this canyon there might be a waterfall. I wasn't expecting a titanic 50-60 footer producing a jet like roar, but I entertained the possibility of maybe a small one ten to twenty feet tall or a pretty cascade, and my curiosity drove me on.

Shaded relief map from Google Maps showing the location of Stephenson Canyon in East Bremerton. 

One afternoon I drove down to the canyon, parked at the trailhead and began walking upstream along the creek. The gently rounded boulders and vegetated slopes soon gave way to hard blue clay shelves and carved notches. Once or twice I passed by some very tiny cascades maybe one to two feet high tumbling over more resistant clay outcrops. And soon the clay gave way completely to slippery bedrock, which suddenly rose out of the creek producing a delightful three-foot-tall cascade.

Three Foot Cascade. Photo by Micah Kipple

Pushing on around a couple more bends, the sound of hissing water made me look up, and there leaping off of a small ledge of rounded rock into a green-blue catch basin was a five-foot waterfall. A smile crossed my face as I stepped onto a nearby ledge on the creekside to get a better look. Then I saw the second tier. Almost hidden by a sharp turn in the creek, this tier slid down the shallow face of another basalt ledge another five to six feet, bringing this waterfall's total height to about 10 feet. I was ecstatic, while there were numerous signs I wasn't the first one here. I was still pleased I had found a waterfall, regardless of how small it was (Ok, if it was under four feet it would be pushing it), and smack in the middle of Bremerton no less.

The lower horsetail tier of Stephenson Canyon Falls. Photo by Micah Kipple

While these falls are beautiful, getting to them is somewhat of a chore, and they aren't as pretty as they could be. I'm going to make an effort to pick up trash while I'm there in the park, and I need to find a way to put this on the City of Bremerton's radar so maybe there can be an official volunteer effort to clear the area around the falls. That would be very nice indeed and would make this a destination to keep going back to.

A close up of the lower tier. Photo by Micah Kipple.

Both tiers of the falls. Photo by Micah Kipple. 

Fan and Mortar July 15, 2014

It was the 2nd River Vent Pause and I was riding at a even pace down to Fan and Mortar. It was day 5 since they last erupted and a considerable crowd had gathered. I parked my bike just as High and Gold came on and it quickly became apparent they were on for the long run. Angle Vent came on a few minutes later and the following events took place between three of my friends and I.

High Vent starts going steady trying to lock, droplets reaching halfway up the opposite bank from my perspective. Gold can't make up its mind.

Ryan's on the verge of psychological breakdown.

Demetri has his radio halfway to his mouth but has a face of "I have no idea doing".

A few minutes later I notice "chevrons"  becoming visible in High. Will starts flapping his arms like hes trying to take flight. "DEMETRI LOCKITLOCKITLOCKIT."

Demetri hesitates: "uuuhhhh, uuuhhh."

Ryan's excitement is about to hit critical.

Gold joins in and Fan is in full lock, I just about explode. "DANG IT DEMETRI! LOCK IT!"

Demetri calls lock, it lasts for 5 minutes, during which im running up and down the boardwalk screaming like a bafoon. Demetri's glued in place, Ryans shaking like a leaf. Will is wooping and staring from near Mortar.

Im standing next to Ryan, snap a picture of his idiot grin. 23 seconds later East Vent explodes without even a puff of steam to precede it. All hell breaks loose.

Fan's East Vent takes off! 

Will screams and dives off the boardwalk, racing to get in the splash zone, Demetri calls it like a nuclear strike just occured. Ryans just screaming, glued in place next to me. I snap another picture of his face (its his first F&M.)

Main Vent rockets upward, Will leaps into the deluge and embraces it like its the second coming of Christ. Ryan and i scatter towards the bridge. I don't know what Demetri's doing. We continue to cheer and watch F&M for the bext 30 minutes.

Unfortunately fan and mortar have not been as well behaved as we have hoped. They've erupted twice since the 15th eruption, and its been 5 days at the time of this writing. And just 30 seconds ago I got a message they're in an event cycle, will they go? We can hope!

Geysers by Moonlight 2014, Beehive shoots for the moon.

After the debacle that Beehive and it's Indicator decided to put us through last season, I was pleased to arrive in Yellowstone to find Beehive is now cooperating quite nicely, erupting anywhere between  13.5-19 hours. On June 10 Beehive erupted at 1018 in the morning, I was present for the eruption, and I elected that I would go out during the bright nearly full moon and see a moonlit Beehive while taking some pictures with my new Nikon DSLR Camera. I'm pretty sure the camera was the only thing that saved me from going insane.

Beehive Geyser's cone by Moonlight. Photo by Micah K. 

After hauling all of my gear up to Geyser Hill around Midnight, I was greeted by a nice tall eruption of Lion Geyser, which was finishing up a series it started earlier in the evening. Pleased, I walked past Beehive and set up my camera, and began to shoot some pictures. Eventually, I got everything the way I wanted, put the lens on, and walked away. I was fully expecting Beehive to erupt on a 13-14 hour interval and expected that I would be in my cozy dorm bunk at 3 am, I forgot the number one rule of Geyser Gazing. NEVER say always with a Geyser. 1 am and 2 am waltzed right on by with nothing but a distant Grand and a handful of Big Anemone's to show for it. I began to get chills while muttering made up curses at the 4-foot hunk of geyserite in front of me. Beehive looked dead, I was getting cold, and fog was. gathering on the hill. It was the gazing equivalent to watching paint dry, and I was not pleased with Bug.

Throughout the evening, blowing steam had given me momentary cardiac arrests by giving the illusion that water was in Indicator, but it always turned out to be false. However, at 0300 exactly, I suddenly heard a gurgle and burble. I trained my light on Indicator just as a rocking pool of water appeared, seconds later, Indicator erupted. I whooped and ran to my camera, wary of the ominously shifting wind, which kept on pushing Beehive's steam towards me. I knew that if I moved the wrong way, I could get very cold and wet indeed.

Beehive's Indicator erupting with the lights of the Old Faithful Lodge in the background. Photo by Micah K. 

Then....my camera died, I managed to get a couple photos of Beehive's indicator in eruption. And then kaput. But all the better, because what happened next will be engraved into my memory for the rest of my life. Beehive splashed, splashed, surged, and erupted.

Immediately my jaw dropped, Beehive's roar filled my ears as it rocketed into the sky, knifelike jets leapfrogged from the column and reached for the highest stars. I could help from screaming and jumping up and down as Beehive climbed to almost unbelievable heights. The boardwalk shuddered in tandem with the pulsing cacophony emanating from the cone. A curtain of water fell northeastward and doused a large portion of Geyser Hill before cascading back towards the Firehole.

My smile stayed glued onto my face as Beehive gasped out its last steam huffs into the night sky. It's good to be back.