• Afton making plans to remove material.

A large rock and scattered debris has collapsed into the mouth of the Periodic Spring causing pressure on the flow of the spring and threatening an underground pipeline that serves as Afton’s prime source of culinary water in Swift Creek Canyon.

Greys River District Ranger Justin Laycock explained a large rock dropped into the top of spring and then “crumbled into smaller pieces.”

He advised, “That material is causing some abnormal pressure inside and that is causing some kind of change in the way the spring flows.”

In the meantime, Laycock said the water is making it’s way through some small openings in the rocks, “but there’s a lot of material and a lot of pressure.”

There are concerns for the Town of Afton’s water system Laycock said. “We have been working closely with the town of Afton.”

He noted the town holds a special use permit for use of the spring that serves as the community’s key source of culinary water.

“They have a plan to get up in there and remove some of that material and relieve some of that pressure,” he explained. “We’ll see what they are able to do and how it will relieve the pressure at the spring.”

He continued, “We’ll see if we can get it back to normal, but that rock slide has really changed things for us.”

The Forest Service trail is open up to the base of the spring where a picnic rest area is available, but the path leading up to the mouth of the spring has been closed through an emergency area closure notice around the immediate area of the spring.

Additional short term closures may occur to accommodate the Town of Afton work at the site.

“The first priority is trying to relieve that pressure,” said Laycock. “Following that we are concerned about the safety of users in this popular hiking area.”

The rock slide is the second in the Swift Creek Canyon area in as many years. In early summer 2023 a mudslide nearly blocked Swift Creek, eliminating a large clear pond along the hiking trail downstream from the spring.

That slide muddied the waters with a light red and brown tint along the full length of Swift Creek and it continued into the Salt River for much of the summer.

Afton crews cleared that slide out while making improvements to the trail leading to the spring. Remnants of that slide can still be seen.