The world’s largest active geyser roared back life in Yellowstone National Park last week.

Based on temperature and seismic data from the Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone officials confirmed that Steamboat Geyser erupted at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

But because most of the park’s roads are closed because of spring plowing, park officials said nobody witnessed Steamboat going off.

Later on Thursday, park employees saw a steam plume billowing from the geyser, and on Friday geologists caught the steam on video. As of Monday at 3 p.m., the steam plume was still visible.

Steamboat Geyser is the world’s largest active geyser, but it only erupts sporadically and it is impossible for geologists to pinpoint when it will go off. Since May 2000, there have only been 10 eruptions. Before Thursday, the last eruption was on Sept. 3, 2014.

Geysers are constricted hot springs that erupt as the water heats up. Steamboat’s major eruptions can shoot steam to heights of 300 to 400 feet.

By comparison, steam from Yellowstone’s world-renowned Old Faithful Geyser, which erupts like clockwork more than a dozen times daily, averages 130 feet in height.

A husband and wife died and another person was injured in an East Idaho boating accident on Monday, while multiple people have died in ATV wrecks across the region over the past few days.

The boating accident occurred on Monday afternoon at Blacktail Park on the Ririe Reservoir, which is located east of Idaho Falls.

According to the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, 63-year-old Idaho Falls resident Mike Kingston was operating a boat on the reservoir with two passengers, 68-year-old Neal Jenkins and 65-year-old Elaine Jenkins, both of Centerville, Utah.

The sheriff’s office said that while completing a turn in the water, all three individuals were ejected from the vessel. They were then injured after being struck by the unoccupied boat as it turned in circles around them.

Once the unoccupied vessel stopped, other boaters in the area pulled Kingston and Neal and Elaine Jenkins out of the water and began life-saving efforts.

Emergency personnel arrived at approximately 3:15 p.m. Elaine Jenkins was pronounced dead at the scene, while Neal Jenkins was transported by Idaho Falls Ambulance to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries later on Monday.

Kingston was transported by Air Idaho Rescue helicopter to EIRMC, where he is still being treated.

The incident is under investigation by the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office. Anyone who witnessed the boating accident is asked to contact Deputy Mike Vasquez through dispatch at 208-529-1200.

In a press release issued on Tuesday morning, the sheriff’s office thanked the witnesses and bystanders for their quick response in pulling the victims from the water and initiating life-saving efforts.

In a separate incident a few hours earlier, a Washington woman was killed in an ATV accident at the west end of the St. Anthony Sand Dunes.

According to the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, Allen Connelly and 58-year-old Kimberley Bailey, both of Vancouver, Washington, were ejected from a Polaris RZR 800 after the vehicle rolled several times.

Connelly, was who driving the ATV, was transported to Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg by Saint Anthony ambulance. However, life-saving efforts to revive Bailey, the passenger on the ATV, were unsuccessful.

In a separate incident near the Idaho/Wyoming border, a Texas man visiting the area to watch the total solar eclipse died in an ATV crash.

According to Teton County sheriff’s Sgt. Todd Stanyon, 30-year-old John Benson Mione and a friend were riding about a mile and a half east of the Idaho/Wyoming border on Sunday when their ATV got stuck.

Stanyon said Mione stepped behind the ATV to keep it from rolling down a hill, but it tipped and the roll bar struck and pinned him.

The friend attempted life-saving procedures, but Mione was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the Associated Press, Stanyon called the death “one of those scary, freak accidents.”

In a separate incident on Saturday, a 33-year-old man died when he drove a four-wheeler off a 15-foot drop-off in northern Utah.

The incident occurred at around noon in Logan Canyon’s Franklin Basin area about 4 miles off U.S. Highway 89.

According to the Associated Press, bystanders attempted to perform CPR on the ATV’s driver, Cassidy Wakely, of Logan, but emergency crews were unable to revive him and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators say Wakely was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash but sustained significant internal injuries. Deputies believe that speed was a significant factor in the fatal accident.

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming man has food for days after catching a massive, record-setting catfish in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

The Rocket-Miner reports Christian Cosby caught the fish weighing more than 28 pounds on June 24. The fish measured 39 inches long, with a girth of 23.25 inches.

Cosby says he thought it might have been a carp, but as it got closer to the shore he realized it was a giant catfish.

“I yelled, “Holy cow it’s a catfish!” Cosby said in a news release from Wyoming Game and Fish. “I thought maybe it was a carp. I pulled it as close as I could get it to the shore in the shallow water. Then I jumped in the water, stuck my hand in his mouth and pulled it onto the shore. I was afraid he was going to jump off the line.”

He and his buddy Brandon Chadwick then took the fish to an unlikely location to weigh it.

“We also took the fish to Staples to get weighed-in and we got a lot of funny looks,” Cosby said, according to a news release from Wyoming Game and Fish. “They made us take the fish outside after about five minutes. They said it was making the store smell. We felt like real hillbillies. Afterwards, I took the catfish home because I plan to eat it!”

Cosby now holds the state’s record for largest channel catfish caught. The previous record fish was caught in 2005 in the same reservoir, by a man from Cosby’s hometown of Rock Springs.

A hiker who went missing in Yellowstone National Park earlier this week has been found dead.Search crews located the body of 53-year-old Jeff Murphy on Friday. According to the National Park Service, his death appears to have resulted from a fall on Tu…

Officials at Yellowstone National Park are searching for a hiker who went missing earlier this week.

Jeff Murphy, 53, was last seen at the Rescue Creek Trailhead near Yellowstone’s North Entrance at 8 a.m. Wednesday. According to the National Park Service, Murphy was planning to hike for the day to Turkey Pen Peak. However, he has not been seen since Wednesday morning.

Park staff members spent Thursday searching for Murphy on foot and by air, according to a news release from Yellowstone.

Murphy is from Batavia, Illinois. He wears glasses, is 5-foot 11-inches tall and weighs 190 pounds. Park officials said he may be wearing khaki pants, a yellow t-shirt, a navy pullover, a green and gray rain jacket, and an army green backpack.

Anybody with information about Murphy’s whereabouts is asked to call 307-344-2643.

Murphy is the second hiker to be reported missing in the Yellowstone area this week.

Searchers began looking for 42-year-old Mike Petersen on Sunday night after he failed to return to a designated rendezvous point near the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. However, the Bismarck, North Dakota, resident was found dead by searchers on Tuesday.

According to the Associated Press, Petersen had been in the area several times over the past four months, knew the area and had backcountry experience. He also had enough equipment to stay in the forest and signal for help.

Investigators have not said how Petersen died.

ALTA, Wyo. — The body of a snowboarder who went missing near the Idaho/Wyoming border was located on Thursday.

According to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming, Lee Kidd, 34, of Driggs, was found dead and buried in the snow in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness near the Grand Targhee Ski Resort at approximately 11:50 a.m.

Kidd was reported missing on Dec. 23 after he did not report to work at one of Grand Targhee’s kitchens.

His ski pass had been scanned at the Dreamcatcher lift at the resort at 10:45 a.m. that day. According to the Associated Press, Kidd had mentioned to friends that he wanted to explore the backcountry, but he left his transceiver, shovel and other backcountry equipment at home, along with his cellphone.

Search teams spent the next six days looking for him, which authorities said was challenging and expansive. A foot of snow and high winds covered any possible tracks, and stormy weather limited a helicopter search to about an hour on Saturday.

Information provided by a friend of Kidd’s led searchers to an area where they found a snowboard, which was sticking up from the snow.

Searchers then started using K-9 teams to try to locate Kidd. One K-9 began showing interest in a specific area. Search teams started to dig in this area and eventually found Kidd’s body, which was buried about two-feet deep in the snow.

Investigators believe Kidd had been buried in the snow since last Friday, which was the day he was reported missing.

According to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, Kidd’s body was located near a mountain bowl that is not skiable because it leads to a steep and unavoidable 500-foot cliff.

Investigators believe Kidd fell from the cornice above the bowl. Then he fell down the length of the bowl and then over the cliff. He came to rest in an area known as “Beard’s Wheat Field.”

While the exact cause of death has yet to be determined, authorities believe it was due to severe trauma sustained from the fall.

The search team consisted of multiple organizations, including the Grand Targhee Ski Resort and the members of their ski patrol, Teton County Search and Rescue, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Teton National Park.

ALTA, Wyo. — The body of a snowboarder who went missing near the Idaho/Wyoming border was located on Thursday.

According to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office in Wyoming, Lee Kidd, 34, of Driggs, was found dead and buried in the snow in the Jedediah Smith Wilderness near the Grand Targhee Ski Resort at approximately 11:50 a.m.

Kidd was reported missing on Dec. 23 after he did not report to work at one of Grand Targhee’s kitchens.

His ski pass had been scanned at the Dreamcatcher lift at the resort at 10:45 a.m. that day. According to the Associated Press, Kidd had mentioned to friends that he wanted to explore the backcountry, but he left his transceiver, shovel and other backcountry equipment at home, along with his cellphone.

Search teams spent the next six days looking for him, which authorities said was challenging and expansive. A foot of snow and high winds covered any possible tracks, and stormy weather limited a helicopter search to about an hour on Saturday.

Information provided by a friend of Kidd’s led searchers to an area where they found a snowboard, which was sticking up from the snow.

Searchers then started using K-9 teams to try to locate Kidd. One K-9 began showing interest in a specific area. Search teams started to dig in this area and eventually found Kidd’s body, which was buried about two-feet deep in the snow.

Investigators believe Kidd had been buried in the snow since last Friday, which was the day he was reported missing.

According to the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, Kidd’s body was located near a mountain bowl that is not skiable because it leads to a steep and unavoidable 500-foot cliff.

Investigators believe Kidd fell from the cornice above the bowl. Then he fell down the length of the bowl and then over the cliff. He came to rest in an area known as “Beard’s Wheat Field.”

While the exact cause of death has yet to be determined, authorities believe it was due to severe trauma sustained from the fall.

The search team consisted of multiple organizations, including the Grand Targhee Ski Resort and the members of their ski patrol, Teton County Search and Rescue, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office and Grand Teton National Park.

Hunters and anglers can once again purchase their tags and licenses online, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game announced on Tuesday.

Fish and Game officials took down its online system in August due to a computer breach experienced by the agency’s online vendor, Active Network. After the breach, the vendor notified Fish and Game that some of its license holders may have had their personal information compromised.

Due to the breach, Fish and Game said it has created additional security features, including requiring online buyers to create an account with a password to gain access to the system.

“We realize adding user identification requires a little more effort to log on, and it’s another password to remember, but we think the trade-off of having another layer of protection for our hunters’ and anglers’ personal information is worth it,” said Michael Pearson, Fish and Game’s chief of administration, in a written statement.

Shortly after the breach occurred, the Dallas-based Active Network mailed notices to license holders with instructions on how to check for identity theft. The company, whose management software is used by thousands of event organizers across the country, said the threat was isolated to fishing and licensing systems in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.

Active Network said the breach might have compromised millions of records, including Social Security numbers. In September, the company said the breach could have affected Idaho residents and non-residents who started buying hunting and fishing licenses before 2008. Fish and Game said at the same time that those who made their first license purchase after 2008 were not at risk.

However, Fish and Game spokesman Mike Keckler told the Associated Press that it’s still not clear if any personal information was actually stolen. The FBI is continuing to investigate.

Oregon and Washington have also resumed online sales of its hunting and fishing licenses. During the three-month shutdown in Idaho, hunters and anglers were still able to purchase licenses and tags at Fish and Game offices and approximately 400 businesses across the state.

Before the breach, Fish and Game had already started the process of seeking bids for a contract to run online sales, according to the Associated Press. The agency’s current contract with Active Network ends in February.

Keckler said the bids will be examined for beefed-up security measures.

“It’s not behind us,” Keckler told the Associated Press. “We are still learning from what happened. We’re doing everything we can to make sure nothing happens now or with the next contract.”