[Geysers] Buried Geyser and the Lone Star Group

[sgryc at comcast.net]

On July 9 Will Moats, his son Steven and I hiked out to Lone Star Geyser.  After viewing a minor and a major eruption, we headed for Buried Geyser by fording the Firehole River and bushwhacking our way southeast up the hill.  It is an easier journey than you might think as the river is little more than ankle deep near Lone Star’s main run-off channel, and Buried Geyser is less than a half-mile away.  The only problem was the bugs which were prolific and in a biting mood.

Buried Geyser was in good form, and we sat for five consecutive eruptions. The first eruption topped out at about 6 feet.  Then followed eruptions that reached 8, 10, 15, and 8 feet.  All the eruptions were entertaining and vigorous with massive bursting.  Durations averaged about 6 minutes with the largest eruption also being the shortest (4 minutes).  Intervals ranged between 2 and 4 minutes, so it was possible to see many eruptions in a very short time.  (I’ve listed start and stop times at the end of this post.)  

We walked back to Lone Star to witness two more minor eruptions (a weak eruption followed by a very strong one) and another major eruption.  The first major eruption we had seen was 20 minutes shy of the usual 3 hour interval (according to the log book), but the second major eruption was 20 minutes over the 3 hour interval to bring the average back to 3 hours.  

On the same geyserite mound as Lone Star, Perforated Cone Geyser was active.  We saw at least two eruptions that consisted of mere spitting of water droplets with some accompanying steam.  There was no indication that Black Hole Geyser is active.  

Between minor eruptions of Lone Star Geyser, I walked to Lone Star Pool which was cool and an ugly yellow-brown color.  The highpoint of that side trip was the small stand of Pink Pyrola I saw near the 0-A-1 campground.  The trail to Lone Star Geyser also featured abundant wildflowers: Pink Monkey Flower, Paintbrush (both red and sulphur), Sticky Geranium, Yellow Columbine, Yarrow, Harebell, Blue-eyed Grass, Monkshood, Bog Candle, Ladies Tresses (on the southern bank of the Firehole), Western Coral Root, and perhaps the finest display of Fringed Gentian I had ever seen growing along the run-off channels of Lone Star.

We had company waiting for Lone Star.  After one minor eruption, however, we failed to convince one family to stay for the major.  They were very disappointed in the minor because they had the idea, for some unknown reason, that Lone Star would erupt to the height of 200 feet.  40 feet seemed adequate to us, and the wonderful roaring steam phase more than satisfied our desire to witness the power of nature.

Buried Geyser Times (7-9-06)
15:21 – 15:27 (6 feet)
15:29 – 15:36 (8 feet)
15:39 – 15:45 (10 feet)
15:49 – 15:53 (15 feet)
15:56 – 16:02 (8 feet)