[Geysers] Oct. 14 - 15 Geyser Report (Kitt Barger)

[Barger]

Greetings!
     I spent Saturday, Oct. 13th, in Casper watching my sons participate in the Wyoming Marching Band Festival.  The Worland High School Band got a Superior rating and received all 6 caption awards plus the percussion section received an award for leadership from the Casper Troopers.  Bill and I drove home that night and I switched vehicles and headed for Yellowstone.  The weather forecast had predicted rain/snow showers for Saturday and Sunday with a nice day for Monday.  I left the rain behind before I got to the East Entrance.  There was a slight skiff of powdered snow beside the road going to Sylvan, but all of the roads were dry.  Due to the total darkness (I found the stars on top of Sylvan Pass), I drove at a leisurely pace.  The black velvet sky gently folded over the Park and the stars shimmered in the stillness.  As I headed toward Yellowstone Lake, I had to pause and dim my lights to wait for a Grizzly Bear to move off of the double yellow line on the road.  I seemed to be the only person out driving at 2:30 AM in the morning.  I needed to stop again near Bridge Bay to wait for a single elk to join the rest of the herd that was on the other side of the road.  The herd settled back to the business of eating and I continued on my way.  My bike joined the few remaining bikes in the bike rack at the parking lot and I headed to the Visitor Center to check the Log Book.  As I started to write down the eruptions from Oct. 13th, I heard Old Faithful start to erupt at 0502.  (It was a long.)  I entered the times into my notebook.  I headed in for some much deserved sleep and to await the arrival of the sun.  
     Morning found me absorbing all of the sights, sounds, and smells of the area.  It was crisp and refreshing.  My forecast for the day was for a crisp morning turning into a glorious Autumn Summer day.  In other words, excellent!  After brushing the frost off of my bike's seat, I pedalled to Castle.  I started to attempt walking the boardwalk, but after a treacherous 20 feet, I gave up that plan and headed my bike down to Grotto which was in eruption.  Spa was up and Variable Spring was down ~ 1 - 2 inches.  I was checking Giant when I heard Daisy erupt behind me at 0836 ie.  There was a Giant Hot Period at 0839 with a duration of ~3 minutes.  Kelly radioed the overnight electronic eruption times for Grand (1630 and 2312 on the 13th and 0617 on the 14th) and Castle (1558 on the 13th and 0519 on the 14th).  Riverside wasn't in over flow, so I headed to Oblong.  I waited less than an hour to enjoy a very thumpy, but hidden Oblong eruption at 1034.  I radioed, "Riverside at 1043 near start" and pedalled back to my vehicle to get rid of some of my excess layers.  Kendal radioed, "Daisy at 1144".  There had been a long interval for Grand on Saturday, but I felt it was probably going to erupt on the early side, so I headed back to Castle to park my bike.  I arrived at Grand with West Triplet in eruption at 1148 (ending at 1223) and Rift starting its eruption at 1223 (duration 8 minutes).  Artemisia's steam cloud appeared on the horizon at 1249 ie.  At 1303 we had a Grand start with a beautiful blue bubble (G2Q).  It was a lovely Grand and I had found out that Beehive had erupted each of at least the last 4 days, so I headed straight to the Hill.  No one had called any Plumes, so I went to check on it and then returned to watch for water in Beehive's Indicator.  While checking on Plume I heard something and turned around to see Depression at 1334 ns.  The churning geyser called to me to come and enjoy its out of control wash machine action.  Once again the area was quiet and I thought of other gazers who were far from Yellowstone and decided to call them while I waited.  I missed Donnie and Betty, but reached LC and Nellie.  I was describing how beautiful it was as I waited with my sleeves rolled up.  Daisy 1401 (steam cloud), Plume at 1403 (to the joy of youngsters walking by), and Old Faithful with Chevrons at 1410.  Oblong's steam cloud taunted me at 1444 ie.  Plume erupted again at 1500 and Aurum rushed skyward at 1505.  Beehive had been splashing water almost constantly from 1500 on and I was starting to wonder if I would even see the Indicator.  All of a sudden I noticed water pushing away from the Indicator and jumped up.  Water in Beehive's Indicator!  Beehive's Indicator 1534!  I got ready and then decided to make a long distance Beehive Indicator call to LC and Nellie.  (Unfortunately the Web Cam froze and they weren't able to see Beehive erupt.)  Old Faithful at 1541!  Ooh, maybe we'll get a duo.  No, Beehive wanted all eyes on it.  Beehive 1549 with a slight breeze taking the steam toward Beehive's overlook and then it shifted toward Chinese Spring to give the crowd on the other side double rainbows with much cheering.  Three of us enjoyed the power of Beehive.  Plume erupted again at 1554.  After a brief stop at the Visitor Center, I returned to the basin.  Lion was having its initial eruption at 1654 ie.  I pedalled toward Riverside, but detoured to check on Daisy.  Since I was on my bike I went up the north path, and could only tell that Daisy wasn't splashing (since I couldn't see if there was any water in the pool) I presumed that I had missed the eruption.  I continued on to Riverside and it erupted at 1715.  I relished in the beautiful weather as I headed back to hopefully watch another Oblong.  While I waited, I noticed Castle was in eruption at 1817 but the steam disappeared soon after.  Minor!  Then Daisy's chugging called my attention to the fact that Daisy was erupting at 1822.  As the sun disappeared and the shadows started to cover the area, a small group of us finally got to hear Oblong at 1916.  Excellent thumps, but once again not much was seen.  Grotto was still erupting as I headed in.  Later I found out from Jason, that Grotto was done before 1035 but still chugging.  I went to bed early to help make up for the lack of sleep during the previous night.
     I woke Monday morning to find out that Jason had left a message on my phone that Grotto had quit last night.  Yikes!  I headed straight to Giant, noting West Triplet and Rift were both in eruption at 0727, and Castle had a low roar implying that it had had a major earlier that morning.  It was much cooler this morning with areas of fog hiding sections of the basin.  I was on the path across from Giant noting the signs were in place when a Hot Period started.  The duration was 3 1/2 minutes.  Oblong was getting very steamy and it started to erupt as I stood there at 0746.  I enjoyed the early morning eruption as I occasionally heard thumps at my bike path vantage.  (On Saturday, Daryl S. had called to tell me that Fan and Mortar had erupted overnight Thursday to Friday, and now there was not marker on it.)  I decided to place a marker on Fan.  Bill W. radioed, "Plume at 0838", so I knew he was in the area.  Daisy erupted at 0844 and I headed back to my car.  At Castle, I was given the electronic times for Castle (0604) and Grand (0605 and Sunday night's 2141).  I headed to the Lower Geyser Basin to check on Great Fountain (which wasn't even close to over flow) and couldn't see anything at the Paint Pot Area as I exited that road, because the entire area was fogged in.  (I missed a Hot Period that was ie at 0957 greater than 5 minutes.)  I was visiting with Bill W. when I heard Daisy in eruption at 1059.  A short Hot Period was radioed at ~1103 as we headed for Giant.  I continued on to wait hopefully for Oblong.  Bill returned to wait for Grotto Fountain.  Grotto Fountain started at 1144, Oblong started at 1202, and Grotto started at 1203.  Oblong sounded like a giant was tromping around the area and the eruption was huge, with the entire pool lifting up at one point to ~ half again the height of the hillside and then the water started jetting toward the boardwalk.  Water pushed under the boardwalk as we enjoyed the rush of the water toward the river and were thrilled by the heartbeat.  The duration was 7 minutes.  At 1215 we had another Giant Hot Period that lasted 7 minutes with South West Vents, Feather, Feather Satelite, Rust, slight bubbling in Cave, Mastiff to 1 or 1 1/2 feet and about 80% coverage of India.  We were in Grand's window, so others headed to Grand as I went to retrieve my bike and move it to Castle.  Riverside erupted at 1232.  I hurried to Castle knowing that Turban had erupted after the Hot Period.  I made it to Grand as Turban erupted again at 1246.  We were enjoying the blue sky, the eagle flying overhead, and the general beauty of the day, when I noticed the pool was full at the 21 minute mark.  I moved to get in a better camera position and pointed out to the visitors that Grand was ready.  Waves on Grand!  The pool continued to well up.  Wow!  Another Grand start.  Daisy erupted at 1310.  Vent was very strong during Grand's eruption and I moved past the tree to get a side view if Grand would oblige with a second burst.  Pause!  People started leaving.  Wait!  Water filling in Grand's pool.  Second burst!  What a lovely spike of bright white water shooting skyward.  Yes, a G2C.  I waited for a possible after burst, but Grand just couldn't quite gather itself.  West Triplet erupted for less than one minute at 1314 and then started again at 1348.  Someone radioed, "Aurum ie (1334)".  I headed toward my vehicle as Plume erupted at 1354.  As I made it to Castle's overlook, Tilt's Baby was ie at 1357, so I stopped to enjoy the medium eruption with the drain afterward.  After a quick meal at the Geyser Grill, I parked at the end of the Inn's parking lot to keep an eye on Beehive.  It was having frequent splashes like the day before.  Plume erupted at 1445 and I noticed that the wide splashes at Beehive's Cone had been replaced by a spike of water shooting out of the right side.  Yikes!  "Beehive Indicator 1505 near start."  I hurried to the overlook encouraging people to join me for a fantastic sight.  Once again Beehive wowed the crowds that had just watched Old Faithful.  Beehive at 1515 with rainbows!  What a great day!  I headed back to my vehicle radioing, "Daisy at 1525 ie."  I was heading for home and decided to check on Great Fountain.  Unfortunately I never made it there.  Three individuals were wandering off the boardwalk near "Salt and Pepper" in Biscuit Basin and headed back to the boardwalk past Black Opal Spring only after I yelled from my vehicle to get back on the boardwalk.  I reported the people to the Visitor Center via cell phone and Enforcement did stop and talk to the people, but the lengthy delay changed my travel pattern and I skipped Great Fountain and headed home via West Thumb.  I saw two Grizzly on the way home and got home to watch the end of the Rockies Game.  No Giant for me, but still an excellent weekend.  (I just saw the post on the list serve from Bill W.  Yeah Bill and Andrew!!!!!)  Take care and hopefully I'll see some gazers on the 20th.  Go Giant!  Go Beehive! 
                                                                                                                            Kitt Barger
     
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