[Geysers] Geyser report, Sept. 2-4

[Tara Cross]

A message from Tara Cross <fanandmortar at hotmail.com> 9/5/06

Here are a few notes on geysers other than Giant over Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 2-4.

I had the following for Beehive:

9/2 @ 1254, Ind. 1231
9/3 @ 1156, Ind. 1141
9/4 @ 1217, Ind. 1213

The variance in the length of Indicators was annoying; on the 2nd, I was afraid to try to get to the Hill and wound up watching 23 minutes of the Indicator from the overlook.  Then on the 4th I thought I would have time to get to the Hill (from Oblong), but Beehive started as I was passing Sawmill.  Beehive's eruptions this weekend were superb; all in essentially perfect conditions.

Aurum erupted at 0939 and 1817 on the 3rd.  There were reports yesterday that someone had sawed down the wooden railing next to Aurum and left pieces of it a few yards away in either direction.  I didn't get a chance to look at it myself however.

I'll let Lotus share in greater detail, but Tilt's Baby was active all weekend having intervals of 75 or 90 minutes.  Eruption sizes were variable from a foot or two, to above the top of the boardwalk railing.

Penta had a full eruption on the 4th at 0802 after prolonged waving episodes by Oval Spring.

I'll just give you what I have on Grand:

9/2 @ 0740 and 1610
9/3 @ 0751 and 1629
9/4 @ 0850 and 1506

On the 2nd we were treated to some entertainment while waiting for Grand.  Three bison had been making their way past Economic towards Grand.  They might have crossed the boardwalk prior to reaching the Grand area, but there were too many visitors getting too close.  So, all three bulls walked out in front of the benches full of people at Grand, stood for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do, and then clopped through the shallow area of Grand's pool towards Rift.  I don't normally take pictures of bison, but that was too good to pass up.  We were thankful that nobody did anything to upset the animals...

Artemisia was seen all three days:  9/2 @ 1509ie, 9/3 @ 0959ns, and 9/4 @ 0925.

Atomizer majors were called at 0924 on the 2nd and 1350 on the 3rd.

Not much from the Lower Basin due to Giant, but Fountain erupted at 0951ns and 1943 on the 2nd for an interval of nearly 10 hours.  I waited for Fountain from 1715 on and both Fountain and Morning were at fairly high levels.  At first we could not see water in Morning's Thief but it eventually rose.  Then Fountain rose by maybe an inch, followed by a rise with boiling in Morning's Thief.  Morning's Theif was overflowing into Morning for a minute or two, then dropped down again.  By this time Fountain had dropped 2-3 inches again.  Finally there was another push from Fountain, and while Morning's Thief came up and overflowed again, Fountain finally erupted.  Morning's Thief also erupted to 10-15 feet during Fountain's eruption (starting at 1945).

In an earlier report this summer, I said that Fitful Geyser was active near Kaleidoscope.  Anyone with The Geysers of Yellowstone can see that this report was obviously in error--I misunderstood something I was told (Fitful is right next to New Bellefontaine Geyser).  The geyser that I was reporting is actually #28 (no name).  I have seen it less in the past few weeks than earlier in the summer.  I also saw an angled geyser erupting to 15-20 feet, to the right of "1B" and on the Fountain side of Drain Geyser.  Even after looking at a map I am not sure which feature this was; Mike Keller thought it might be Collapse.  Deep Blue's Vent # 12 remains active.

It was great to see everybody on Labor Day weekend!

--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
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