[Geysers] Geyser Report - 4/22/06 - Strangest Hot Period Ever!!

[Matthew McLean]

Hello all,

Couple of things of note happening today:

Beehive erupted at 1616.  Lots of big splashes in the hour and a half 
leading up to it.  Between 1515 and 1520 the bubbler behind the cone 
started.  The indicator started at 1601.  The last reported eruption was 
yesterday morning.

Dome active again.

West Triplet and Rift seen ie at 1630.

Giant . . . interesting stuff.

Many people sat here all day and should be able to embellish on my report.  
The Grotto Marathon ended shortly before 7 this morning (others will be able 
to report exact times).  Throughout the day water in the system was getting 
higher and higher until you could see water sitting in Mastiff between 
bathtubs.  Shortly after 1700 Feather and Feather Satellite started and 
Mastiff dropped!  Bijou joined in and, for 11 minutes or so, nothing but 
Feather, Feather Satellite, and Bijou were erupting.  Eventually Mastiff 
rose and Bijou stopped again.  Very quickly Mastiff surged to the height of 
the cone.  Within seconds Mastiff was in full eruption!!  My estimate might 
be bad but it was 2 to 3 times the height of the cone.  Every body thought 
that this was it!! (By this time Rust, Posthole, and the Southwest Vents had 
joined in) After a couple of minutes everything on the platform stopped . . 
. ?  After about 3 minutes Mastiff refilled and started surged again to a 
few feet - feather eventually restarted.  But soon Bijou restarted and the 
hot period came to an end - no eruption :(  For the duration of the "Hot 
Period"  Giant only showed minor vertical surging a couple of times.  This 
will forever be known as the "Opening Day Weekend Debacle of 2006".

As I said before, others will elaborate on this with specific times and 
other observations.

Take care,

Matthew