[Geysers] Giant Sunday, July 23 (A true Mastiff Function?)

[David Monteith]

I just heard from Tara.  Please excuse the approximate times.  I'm sure 
we'll get a better report but there were a couple facts about the eruption 
that have me excited.  So here is what a I gleaned from my very excited and 
happy wife.

Giant erupted today, Sunday July 23, at 1320.  The eruption came 
approximately 10 hours after an approximately 34 hour Grotto Marathon.  At 
the time of the expected Grotto re-start.

The hot period was unusual.  Mastiff started erupting about 3 1/2 minutes 
into the hot period with both the front and back vents taking part.  The 
eruption reached 30 feet and lasted about 2 minutes.  At which point 
everything stopped.  Mastiff dropped a few inches below overflow and 
feather stopped (I can't remember what Tara said about Bijou but I think 
she said it was off.)  After what seemed like an eternity to those watching 
but was actually relatively quick, Giant started surging vertically and 
Mastiff began to quickly rise again, boiling constantly.  Mastiff erupted 
to 50 feet and then Giant kicked in.  Mastiff continued to erupt for the 
first three minutes of the Giant eruption.  Catfish also joined in.  I can 
only image all three of those geysers erupting simultaneously.  What a 
sight it must have been.  In Tara's words the eruption was huge.   Giant 
was estimated at 220 feet.

Tara said it appeared that every gazer in the park was at Giant.  Please 
excuse any inaccuracies in this report.  This eruption has me excited.  For 
a while now, the behavior of the geysers along the line from Grotto to 
Oblong have been an excellent indicator of impending Giant eruptions.  The 
only surprise for me about today's eruption was that it waited until the 
afternoon.  Furthermore, this is the first Mastiff function I know of in 
the last 12 years that mimics the behavior reported by Marler in the final 
years of the 1950's activity.  In particular, the simultaneous eruptions of 
Catfish, Mastiff and Giant resulting in exemplary eruptions of all three.

Oh What A Year.

Dave