[Geysers] GIANT 15 Sept @ 21:37

[Tonya Mathews]

Details on September 15th's Giant....

I guess someone needs to send something about Saturday's Giant eruption and since there were only two of us there and one is tied up I will write a few things.  We (Dean Lohrenz and myself) had gone out expecting a wait on other things so were packed for cold and rain.  We ended up going down to Grotto and seeing everyone else was already gone we headed to Oblong.  It erupted at 20:15.  Eric Hatfield called a Giant hot period as "the last hot period of the day" at about 20:18....not sure about that exact time as I didn't write it down, but it was close to Oblong.  The three of us were seeing increased steam at Grotto so were runing back and forth checking on it.  Then Eric called Grotto Fountain at 20:26.  Grotto continued to make more noise so we stayed to see if we would end up having a Fountain solo or if we would get Grotto.  We got a Rocket Major at 20:52 with a duration of 8 minutes.  Figuring that Rocket would probably kill Grotto we were thinking of leaving when Grotto began making more noise.  Then 14 minutes later, at 21:06, we got a Grotto eruption.  The stars were brighter than ever and totally clear skies and no wind made it a perfect time to be out.  So eventually Dean and I made our way to the cage wondering what the hot period would bring us.  It came a little earlier than expected.  We had fleece and more layers scattered out getting ready to bundle up for the wait and were looking around with optics when, in the dark I saw someting bubbling.  Dean found a light and saw it was the SW vents and started calling on the radio.  Then we found a feather.  That time was 21:26.  Never did we see anything from Mastiff.  We were watching a weak feather and talking about how poor the hot period seemed when suddenly India was flooded and the entire platform filled with steam.  We were trying to see feather and Mastiff to see where the water was coming from and kept saying "I can't see anything!" .....then Dean called on the radio something like 'We can't see anything through the steam but we're hearing lots of noise from Giant's cone.....water filling the.....water twice the height of the cone!!....oh my gosh, we have GIANT!'  We grabbed our packs and ran, forgetting other things on the platform.  The plume rained everywhere as there was not a breeze.  It didn't seem to matter which direction we walked it was raining.  With the large flashlight we saw a column of water here and there.  It's amazing how much louder the eruption seems in the dark when there are no other people.  Eric Hatfield ran out of nowhere to join us, without rain gear.  (:    It was a pretty spectacular eruption, three people, bazillions of stars overhead, and no wind.  It would have been warm had there been a dry spot in the vicinity.  Sorry to all those who waited so many daytime hours in the cage...you guys deserved it.  


I hope this is good enough to satisfy the curious folk.     (:

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