[Geysers] More info on Giant and other stuff

[Stephen J. Eide]

Greetings and Salutations,

I think Giant has it in for me.  My daughter Michelle and I arrived in
the park very early Wednesday morning and while we were unloading the
car we heard the 0256 Giant eruption call.  Now I find out that just
after we left the park on 10-8 at 1200 Giant erupts at 1341.  Grumble
grumble grump grump.

I guess first I should give some of the background prior to the Giant
eruption.  The Grotto eruption of 816 on 10-5 continued for about a 45
hour marathon I believe.  I saw Grotto i.e. several times on the fifth
with my last view at 1740.  As Scott Bryan said on the morning of 10-6
Grotto was still in eruption with Marathon Pool only a few inches below
the pink shoulder and Variable Spring was down about an inch.  I last
saw Grotto i.e. at about 0940 and went up to Mammoth.  However Kendall
Madsen saw it i.e. during the afternoon of the 6th.  The morning of 10-7
at 0630 I found Grotto off with Spa i.e. (with only eruptions to up to
three feet, but still i.e.), Marathon pool was down a foot or more and
boiling/erupting six inches to a foot, and Variable spring was down
about three inches.  I am guessing that Grotto shut off about 0500 or
so, for about a 45 hour Marathon.  Spa finally stopped at about 0800.
Giant was quiet most of the day with drops of water showing up in
Mastiff at about 1700 and Bijou finally having short periods of
eruptions to 1-1.5 feet at about 1800.  It rained all day and my
daughter was soaked and cold so we turned in about a half-hour after
sunset (about 1930).  Kendall Madsen and his son stayed out and called
the Giant Hot Period at 2131 (I think, I woke up to write the number
down but I'm sure it is close as they called Riverside i.e. at 2134).
The hot period was 10 minutes 30 seconds with Mastiff to about 6 feet
for the first half of the hot period but after it went flat it never
came back.  The other vents were Feather, Feather Sat., and the
Southwest Vents that I remember.  On 10-8 I saw a weak Giant Hot Period
at 0938 for 1:30 where Mastiff never reached overflow and never boiled
and only Feather (to maybe three feet) and the Southwest Vents erupted.
I had to get back to Boise by Supper so I drove out of the part at
noon.  I guess you never know...

Most of the big stuff has already been reported by Scott Bryan, but I
have a little additional stuff.  Tilt's Baby is still active, we caught
several eruptions all to about 10-15 feet but no closed intervals.
Beehive erupted on 10-7 overnight  i.e. at 0216 (Michelle was hot and
got up to open the windows in our rooms at the inn, and could see and
hear Beehive).  Little Squirt was i.e. on 10-7 at 0846.  All the
Riverside intervals for the 4 days we were in the park were at about 6.5
hours, all longs.  Whether this is due to a lengthening of the interval
or just a statistical abnormality only time will tell.  Beehive erupted
on 10-8 at 1041 i.e. (one long interval or two shorts?)  Plume eruptions
were still at about one hour intervals.  Daisy had intervals of 2.5 to 3
hours.

By the way, I agree with Kitt, it is great to have the morning
interperative ranger have a laptop with the ability to give the
overnight times for Castle, Grand, and Daisy as they download them.
It's about an hour or two quicker to get the overnight times and allows
the ranger to update the signs right way.

If I remember anything else I'll send it later.

Stephen Eide