[Geysers] Norris Saturday June 11

[TSBryan at aol.com]

Today's gazing consisted of a couple of hours at Norris, primarily in hopes  
of catching Forgotten Fumarole but also to check on the recovery of Steamboat  
and Cistern.
 
Forgotten was reported yesterday afternoon, with at least one eruption said  
to have been 20 feet high. This morning it was quite obvious that it had been  
active during the night -- every little catch basin in the formation was full 
of  water. However, the activity was confined to a level very deep within the 
vent  and I didn't see the slightest bit of spray.
 
I also did not see any jetting by Steamboat, which was billowing steam from  
both vents. Cistern has finally recovered to overflow, but only barely so with 
 trickles of water from two or three spots.
 
Ranger Melanie Armstrong (I hope that's correct) said the last info they  got 
from the monitor at Echinus dated to mid-May (before Steamboat, if that  
means anything). At that time, Echinus was apparently "fairly regular" with an  
average around 3 1/2 hours. This morning when I got there it had just been  
overflowing a little -- steam along the drainage toward the creek -- but the  
water level was 2 or 3 inches below the lip and the pool was very quiet.
 
I caught Mystic Spring in eruption, splashing gray water a foot or so high.  
The Hydrophane Springs appeared to have drained to some very low water level.  
Porkchop was overflowing but I saw no splashes. Pearl was quite vigorous, 
Vixen  was quiet. Veteran was in near constant minor play, its water now only 
slightly  blueish with colloidal silica.
 
In Porcelain Basin, I actually saw two eruptions by Constant and one -- a  
good one -- by Arsenic. One small vent was active in the Lava Pool  Complex. I 
was also a bit intrigued by rather frequent and vigorous  intermittent overflow 
from the main vent of Ledge.However, Guardian remains in  noisy steam phase, 
as do the vents between it and Ledge, and both Valentine and  Dark Cavern were 
barely steaming. Congress Pool has dropped 3 or 4 feet within  its crater, 
and was murky blue and quiet.
 
Scott Bryan
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