[Geysers] Shoshone Geyser Basin Report (Sep 11)

[Kim Chambers]

Sorry this is so late, it took a while to get this put
together. Please contact me before re-publishing any text
or photo's given here.

I was finally able to get to the park for a all too short 5
day visit. It was a very intense but enjoyable trip and I was
able to visit many different geyser areas. On one of the days
(September 11) I was able to visit Shoshone Geyser Basin
for 6 hours which I will report on here (I'll try to get out
another report with some of the other
observations I made also). I'm not sure this
adds much to Jeff Cross's report as I pretty much
saw most of the same activity, but I'll reference some
pictures that I've posted on my website for added interest.
Also, although I tried to prepare for the trip by reading
the GOSA T92 and T98 articles, I may have mis-identified
some features - let me know if so (I'm still just a beginner).

First of all, I want to emphasize that I was following the
'leave no trace (including footprints)' rule during the
visit. It has been said before, but this really requires
caution with every step in this backcountry area.
This obviously included staying away from the geyser
formations, bacterial mats, and 'soft' ground. Also, a
particular problem which I've not heard mentioned here
are what appear to be areas of 'thermal moss' which look
deceptively like firm grassy areas but are quite fragile.
This is particularly true for the North, South, and Fall
Creek groups. Where there was a trail, it was much easier
to just stay on it.

Also interesting to note is the thermal basin that had a
defacto trail thru it to Shoshone Lake when I last visited
in 1991 has been signed as closed to protect and preserve
the rare species within it - seems like a good idea to me.

If I've included a photo on my website, I'll reference it
as "page #, photo #" - where photo 1 is at the top of the
page. The photo pages are listed on the page:
http://www.geocities.com/geosciboy2003/geysers.html. Again sorry
about the annoying popups.

Trailside: I saw no activity, but it was out of sight during
most of my visit.

Double Geyser: (page 1, photo 2) I saw 2 'eruptions', no closed
intervals recorded. Heights ~3-4 feet. Duration's ~3 minutes.
It seems to be constantly active at 3-4 inches height when not
'erupting'. Also during 2nd eruption I saw a few small
(3-4 in) bursts from nearby Little Giant.

Soap Kettle: (page 1, photo 3) Active, no closed intervals recorded,
A few bursts to 2 feet.

Shield: (page 3, photo's 1,2) Active, no closed intervals recorded,
Some bursts to 2 feet.

Minute Man: (page 3, photo 4) When I entered the basin (10:30)
it was in-active (between series). It was within sight for most
of my visit so I believe I recorded the first eruption series
start at 15:20, the next eruption at 15:24. From then on intervals
were from 1-4 minutes until leaving the basin at 16:30. Heights
were 10-15 ft. Durations ~10 seconds.

Taurus Spring: (page 3, photo 4) no activity or washed areas seen.

Union: (page 4, photo's 1-2) No activity but boiling water
heard, also across the trail
both sea green pool and white hot spring were very dry.

Knobby: (page 4, photo 4) active, 6 closed intervals recorded,
average 7.833 minutes (max 11 min, min 5 min). Activity seemed
typical following the descriptions in the T98 article. Most
eruptions were minor with heights about 1-3 ft. One major
occurred with heights 10-15 ft. Minor durations were 10-15
seconds. Major duration was ~1 minute.

Bead: Active, no closed intervals recorded. 1 Eruption seen,
Height was 10-15 ft. Duration ~1 1/2 minutes.

Mangled Crater: (if I identified this correctly), active, no
closed intervals recorded. The crater contained water and
one surge took place with height ~6 inches.

Lion: (page 5 photo 1) Dormant, algae/bacteria growing in
crater.

Iron Conch: Active, no closed intervals recorded (but from
memory, some were 5-10 minutes). Heights 6-12 inches.

Hot Spring West of Knobby: (page 5, photo 2) At first I thought
this was snail geyser but now I don't think so. No closed intervals
recorded. It was occasionally bursting to 2-3 ft.

Snail (?): (page 5, photo 3) If I identified this correctly, no
activity seen.

Pectin (?): (page 5, photo 4) If I identified this correctly,
no activity seen.

I didn't see any other activity (None from either Frill or 
Velvet spring's).

Low Point of the Trip: I was panning around the basin with a
video camera from the north group and as I zoomed in on
Union I noticed 2 people were there. Suddenly, one
of them went towards Union and climbed onto the center
cone (apparently to take a picture) and also looked into
the center cone. They then left. I don't think any damage
was done (I didn't check closely), but I was still upset. Union
has already been damaged enough and doesn't need any more. This
was not the kind of video I wanted to get. Also, I noticed some
footprints on the outskirts of the outflow channel of
Boiling Cauldron that had disturbed some of the algae/bacteria
mats that had formed there. Apparently the damage was done as
people had tried to cross the channel. This is quite tricky
and requires great care to not leave any ugly footprints.

High Point of the Trip: It was a perfect late summer day with
a touch of autumn in - the kind of day you usually only dream
about.

I was glad to have seen this area again. It is a national
treasure that is fragile and needs to be protected.

Kim Chambers


		
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