[Geysers] Miscellaneous geyser report, June 27-July 6

[Tara Cross]

This is a report for geysers other than Giant, June 27-July 6.
 
After having an apparent 4-day interval prior to my arrival, Beehive erupted faithfully every other day during my visit.  Eruptions were as follows:
 
June 29 @ 1045, Indicator 1045 (about 7 seconds before Beehive)
July 1 @ 1247, Indicator 1243
July 3 @ 1415, Indicator 1401
July 5 @ 1212, Indicator 1202
 
On the 1st, Barb Lasseter reported that she saw water barely visible in the Indicator for several minutes before it bubbled up, but wasn't sure she should call it at that stage.  On the 3rd, Beehive had a lull in splashing in the late morning, but pucked up again before noon.  Barb reported that the size and frequency of the splashing was increasing steadily prior to the start of the Indicator.
 
I also saw Beehive's Close-to-Cone Indicator with each of the aforementioned eruptions.  In most cases it was erupting 2-3 feet during Beehive, but once I saw it erupt well over the height of Beehive's cone, which I personally had never seen before.  As reported before, both the Close-to-Cone Indicator and Bubblers were active for a number of hours before each eruption of Beehive--though I think I remember Barb asying that they weren't active until mid-morning on the 1st.
 
>From June 30 through July 5, Depression was seen at least once and sometimes twice a day for double intervals of 22h56m, 21h55m, and 23h57m and closed intervals of 11h35m, 10h36m, and 1034m.  Then Depression erupted at 0606 on July 5 and 1300ie on July 6, so I'm not sure what happened there.
 
Tilt's Baby had at least one eruption that I know about, on July 3.
 
Oblong intervals were *mostly* in the 4-5 hour range, but there were some exceptions.  The day after Giant, June 29, Oblong had a (definite) closed interval of 9h31m while Grotto was in marathon.  And on July 5, the range of 4 closed intervals was 3h21m-4h09m.
 
I did spend some time at Fan & Mortar, but the only thing of significance that I noted was that the water levels were consistently much higher than last year, even on mediocre cycles.  It appears that "event" cycles are occurring at least once a day, sometimes more often.  These include pauses, long-duration Bottom Vent eruptions and splashing in Main Vent.  In the cycle I saw, Main Vent splashing essentially ceased a few minutes into Bottom Vent's activity.  At this stage it is hard to assess anything as "good," since we don't know what leads to an eruption yet--but at least the water levels were encouraging.
 
Lower Basin:
 
In 90 minutes of observation on June 29, I obtained closed intervals of 31 and 53 minutes for Logbridge and 28 and 30 minutes for A-0.  The range of 8 closed intervals for Botryoidal was 3m51s-5m25s.
 
Morning's Thief had several large bursts with both of the Fountain eruptions I saw.
 
In 90 minutes of observation at the Fountain overlook on June 29, I saw 9 eruptions of Drain with intervals ranging from 9-17 minutes.  Honey's Vent was also regularly active though I didn't take any intervals, and Deep Blue Vent #12 started a series.
 
 
And a few non-geyser notes:
 
--I had a good view of a very new Madison Arm fire as I approached West Yellowsotne on Highway 287 on the afternoon of June 27 (it had apparently started less than 2 hours earlier).  On the way to Eino's on the 28th, we could easily see flames from the road.
 
--The bald eagles were visibe in and around their nest near 7 Mile Bridge all 3 times I passed through in daylight.  On my way out of the park on the 6th, there were 2 juveniles in the nest.
 
--I had a new Yellowstone experience on July 4 as I was walking to Artemisia.  A group of gazers and I saw a male skinny dipper splashing around in the Firehole River next to East Sentinel.
 
--I made a brief trip to the River Group on the afternoon of the 4th, but have nothing to report because the deer flies were horrendous.  Standing still for any period of time was totally intolerable, and it didn't get much better when I was moving.
 
 
--Tara Cross
fanandmortar at hotmail.com
 
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