[Geysers] Geyser Report, Nov. 5-6

[Tara Cross]

A message from Tara Cross <fanandmortar at hotmail.com> 11/7/05

We knew when we planned our Yellowstone trip for closing weekend that we 
might experience some winter weather.  We awoke Friday morning to 6 inches 
of fresh snow, but had some sunshine during the day before a mid-afternoon 
blizzard blew through.  Saturday was the nicest day of the weekend--the sun 
was out for the late morning and early afternoon, and there was no 
substantial snow.

Today, however, was one of those days that reminds you that it's already 
winter in Yellowstone.  Both Old Faithful and West Yellowstone had gotten 
about 8 inches of snow overnight.  The roads were plowed, so most of us 
braved the trip into Old Faithful, where it was not snowing.  It began 
snowing again around 1130, and with the temperature slightly above freezing, 
it was a very wet snow.  By the time Dave and I had walked back to our car 
from Fan & Mortar, the outer layers of clothing were soaked.  By 1300, it 
was looking like Kitt and Lynn had made the right choice by leaving the park 
mid-morning.  The roads were wet to slushy driving out of the park in the 
afternoon.  I heard that conditions were treacherous at times driving from 
Madison to Mammoth.

Now, to the geyser report:

Saturday, Nov. 5

When we drove through Firehole Lake Drive, Great Fountain was completely 
finished and had refilled within a few inches of the rim.  Pink Cone was in 
the waning stages of its steam phase.

When we arrived at Old Faithful, Kitt told us that Grand had not yet 
erupted.  So, we hurried out to Grand in the snow.  I took one last look at 
Beehive, which had been splashing, as I passed Sawmill at 0945, and planned 
to look for the Indicator again after the next Turban.  However, just as it 
became clear that Grand was not going to erupt on that Turban cycle, the 
Visitor Center called Beehive's start at 1000.

Shortly after Beehive, the VC called with the overnight time.  I didn't 
write it down, but it was around 0345, meaning that we were at the very 
early end of the window.  West Triplet started at 1009, and then Rift at 
1045.  Rift finally stopped, and Grand erupted at 1139 (T2C).

Jim Holstein called that he had seen Fountain at 1239 i.e./n.s.  That was 
the only Fountain time reported all weekend.  In 6 trips through the Lower 
Basin, we saw very little in the Fountain/Kaleidoscope area.  The only 
geysers seen were Clepsydra, Honey's Vent, and NTFL.

Aurum had 2h50m-3h30m intervals throughout the weekend.  On Saturday, it was 
seen at 0935, 1240, and 1605.

Lion had an initial at 1402 and followed up with an second at 1525.

I was hoping to spend more time at "PLH/Improbable" on Saturday, but only 
looked at it for about 10 minutes late in the day.  The minor activity 
continued as seen on Friday, though in the 10 minutes that was there, the 
vent further from the boardwalk never did anything more than bubble.  It 
also appeared that there had been major activity overnight, as there was 
fresh wash.

Oblong erupted at 0917ns, but would not oblige the patient Oblophiles with 
another eruption before dark.  It had not erupted as of 1645.

Giant had a hot period around 1430 with a duration around 4 minutes.  It was 
difficult to figure out what Grotto was doing.  On 11/4, it was clearly 
recovering from a marathon, having its first eruption at 1443.  Then on 
11/5, Grotto was quiet all day long, implying yet another marathon.  When it 
was checked around 1600, Grotto Fountain and the Pressure Pool showed no 
sign of an impending eruption.

Riverside erupted at 0920ns and again at 1559.

We saw Till i.e. at 1706 on the drive out on 11/5, and then again at 1350ie 
on 11/6.

Sunday, Nov. 6

Both Beehive and Grand had erupted early in the day.  Beehive erupted 
sometime before ~0615 according to Lynn and Kitt, who saw Grand erupt at 
0737.  After that, very little was reported; we had Artemisia at 0928ie, 
Aurum at 0958, and Castle around 1115 (sorry, I forgot to write down the 
time).

The VC called the overnight Grand times as 1807E on 11/5 and 0059E on 11/6 
for intervals of 6h28m and 6h38m.

On a trip down-basin, it appeared that Grotto was possibly having yet 
another marathon.  At Fan & Mortar, Main Vent was splashing along with 
Bottom Vent splashing and a River Vent pause.  Yawn.

The highlight of the day for me, actually, was not geyser-related.  While 
walking from Fan & Mortar to the pit toilet, I noticed coyote tracks and 
rabbit tracks in the snow.  The tracks ran together for a while, up from the 
culvert towards the outhouse, then up into the trees  It was clear that the 
rabbit was running as fast as it could, while the coyote had made a great 
leap over the bench next to the outhouse.  There were just coyote tracks 
coming out of the trees.  Upon further investigation, we found drips of 
blood along the coyote tracks coming back towards the culvert, and then 
across the jugwalk at Spiteful.

It was good to have one last weekend with the geysers and gazer friends.  I 
hope everyone has safe travels, and we'll see many of you in the spring.

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com