[Geysers] Geyser Report (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

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Re:  Events leading up to Saturday, June 17 eruption of Giant-- Grotto 
started at 16:39 (per Lynn and Kitt) and ended approximately 18:10 (per 
Carolyn).  Grotto Fountain started at 1636 and I think it had a duration of 
either 9 or 11 minutes (I just started a new logbook and the old one with 
that information is in the pickup.)  The morning eruption of Grotto was 
originally reported as one with "no Grotto Fountain" but there was a Grotto 
Fountain, it just wasn't tall enough for the people at Grand to see it.  
Someone commented that it was strange to have Grotto without Grotto Fountain 
but about 10% of Grotto eruptoins occur without an eruption of Grotto 
Fountain.

Other:  I finally caught Gemini in eruption yesterday (Sunday, June 18).  It 
was ie at 14:20, erupted at 14:29, then was quiet until 15:49 when it had a 
series of two--one at 15:49 and one at 16:01.  It was quiet again until 
18:41, when it had a single eruption.

Between Eruptive episodes of Gemini, I timed a few eruptions of the UNNG in 
Tangled Creek, which still has durationso f about 10 seconds, but the 
interval were all almost exactly 5 minutes this year instead of the 3 minute 
intervals of prior years.

Pink Cone erupted yesterday (6/18) at 20:04.  I have only obtained 7 closed 
intervals with a mean of 20h31m and a median of 20h36m.  The minimum closed 
interval is 19h55m and the maximum closed interval is 20h59m.  Average for 4 
intervals from and early morning eruption on 6/1 to a mid-day eruption on 
6/4 was 19h32 minutes.  Average for all intervals since May 31 is 20h7m.
So far it has been fairly predictable.  I've only timed two durations--one 
of 95 minutes and one of 100 minutes.  The road bubblers activate about 18 
1/2 hours after the preceding eruption.  Activity of the road bubblersi s 
different than it has been in previous years though.  The thumbhole starts 
the action and the thumbhole is spurting water out with enough force to send 
droplets out up to 12 inches away from the hole.  As the interval lengthens 
out, the thumbhole will have a greater amount of water and the crack and 
triangle will start oozing water also.

Weather report:  The last two days were nice with the exception of a cool 
and sometimes downright cold wind.  It's gloomy and raining this morning.

Visitor comment:  Young girl to parents as family walked past Grotto toward 
Morning Glory:  "Well, when ARE we going to get somewhere?"

Animal report:  I watched a deer come out of the trees near Oblong, run 
across the sinter meadow toward the boardwalk and then run along the edge of 
the boardwalk toward Economic.  I lost her in the steam about the time she 
reached Wave Spring.  Somewhere between there and Grand's benches she 
finally decided to jump over the boardwalk.  I'm used to seeing deer in the 
Upper Basin when I come in for December trips, and many years ago we used to 
have a small herd of deer that stayed around the Artemisia area, but this is 
the first year in some time that I can remember frequent deer sightings in 
the upper basin.

Lynn Stephens

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