[Geysers] Geyser report May 6

[TSBryan at aol.com]

First the bad news. Today a large grizzly downed a bison about 1/2 mile  
north of Biscuit Basin, in plain sight of the road. Thus... The UGB trails  downbas
in are likely to remain closed "for the forseeable future." Quote-unquote  
from head-honcho OF ranger, Colleen (which maybe isn't spelled quite that way,  
since I think the initial on her name tag was a "K"; when patrolling the basin 
 around 1400, she "confiscated" a bicycle at Grotto!). As of now, one can go 
to  Castle and from there over to Sawmill. But it isn't legal to even go to  
Spasmodic yet alone Grand. From Sawmill you can go to Geyser Hill. But 
downbasin  -- sorry, lots of mystery. Watch the webcam.
 
Since there is weather moving in (it was "precipitating" over Lionshead as  I 
drove home) and the forecast for tomorrow says 2 inches of snow in the Park,  
I'm likely to stay home tomorrow. Just might anyway, given the trails.
 
However, today was a pretty good day, all-in-all.
 
Plume intervals of 50, 52, 51, 55, and 102/2 minutes.
 
Beehive's Indicator was seen at 1305ie and Beehive didn't start until  1324  
-- at least, that's the longest Indicator I've seen so far. This  interval 
from yesterday is 27h 16m, which I'm sure is a double interval since I  never saw 
Beehive splash even a little until 1002.
 
Depression was 0911ns.
 
I walked up on Aurum, 0836, waiting not more than 10 seconds for the  
eruption. Yay. Didn't see it again, though.
 
Lion was fine: 0847 ini, 1008, 1122, 1233, 1331, 1436 (which might have  been 
the last, as its duration was less than 1 minute).
 
Giantess did not erupt.
 
I wasn't around for Castle, since it was 0247E, but it was already  splashing 
at 1430 so maybe was about to pull a minor.
 
Grand, though we can't go there, is running short. From yesterday's 1042,  it 
went yesterday at 1723 (6h 41m), 2359E (6h 36m), 0701wc (7h 02m), and this  
afternoon at 1407 (7h 06m). However, nuts, this afternoon's display was a -1Q  
(yes, my first one burst eruption this year) with a duration of about 11 1/2  
minutes. (The nats have permission to go that far only to download the  data.)
 
Down basin, mostly "who knows." Never saw Oblong today. Only one Daisy  
(0917). Grotto appeared to be on at 0800 and off before 0900. This might have  been 
the end of a ~20 hour marathon; or not. Bijou was definitely dead and was  
still dead at 1400 when at 1402 there was briefly a whole lot more steam from  
the Giant area. But when that decreased, I still couldn't see anything from  
Bijou.
 
At Midway -- Steve Eide noted a spell in which Flood seemed to rise and  fall 
at short intervals without really erupting. Today it sat still, well below  
overflow and surrounded by a bone-dry formation. It looked that way on three  
visits (roughly 0745, 1120, and 1445). Circle Pool has cooled way down and has  
large mats of orange bacteria floating on its surface. West Flood appears to 
be  overflowing a significant and steady stream with little variation.
 
At Lower, I just missed Fountain. Great Fountain was 1033ie.
 
Noted is that (started a few days ago, actually, but really busy today) a  
construction trailer and equipment is being installed adjacent to the site of  
the new OFVEC... People at the Upper Store advise that the Lower Store will 
open  on the scheduled May 23, not a few days early as happened last year. But 
the  restrooms are open at the Lower Station.
 
Scott Bryan



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