[Geysers] Re: Geysers Digest, Vol 1469, Issue 2

[Denise Herman]

regarding concessionaire issues, you can contact Judy Jennings, who is the
NPS person in charge of concessions.  She would be happy to hear about the
improvement.  You can mail her at PO box 168, YNP, WY 82190,

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM, <geysers-request at lists.wallawalla.edu>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Yellowstone July 8 (Stephens) (Lynn Stephens)
>   2. Giantess start July 6 (TSBryan at aol.com)
>   3. Re: 1940's Geyser-Themed Mystery (Karen Webb)
>   4. Help with a thank you (Karen Webb)
>   5. Thanks, Lynn (Debby Stahl)
>   6. Yellowstone July 9 (Stephens) (Lynn Stephens)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 07:54:19 -0600
> From: Lynn Stephens <lstephens2006 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Geysers] Yellowstone July 8 (Stephens)
> To: <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Message-ID: <BAY126-W12BA66BAC459F5C6A79743A5260 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
>
> THIS REPORT IS FOR THE PERSONAL READING USE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS
> LISTERV
>
> AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, FORWARDED, OR OTHERWISE USED FOR ANY OTHER
> PURPOSE,
>
> INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT, EITHER IN WHOLE OR IN PART.
>
>
>
> Since Ben has already covered most of the information for July 8 (thank you
> Ben), I'll limit my report for July 8 to the Fan & Mortar event cycle.
>  Thank you to Kitt Barger for calling the cycle and to Dean Lohrenz for
> doing the relay from Castle for the first half hour or so.
>
>
>
> The event cycle:
>
>
>
> 1858 River Vent (RV) on; 1904 Main Vent (MV) roared and turned RV off at
>
> 1906  First RV pause
>
> 1908 First MV splash.
>
> 1920 RV on, Bottom Vent (BV) splashing intermittently sending water to the
> river but not yet erupting
>
> 1927, 1928, 1929 MV continues to splash with frequent splashes.  No buckets
> of water to East Vent (EV) and no "white water"--just
>
>        frequent low splashes.  RV turns off
>
> 1931  Second RV pause.  MV continues to have frequent splashes
>
> 1933 RV heavy steam and dribbles on.  MV continues frequent splashing and
> turns RV off at 1935 for an RV "cough"
>
> 1938 Heavy splash in MV
>
> 1939  BV turns on and continues to erupt for 23 minutes.  Lower Mortar
> (LM)was having nice fuzzballs, but water levels
>
>        dropped between the splashes so no LM was not erupting from a pool.
>
> 1943  Last splash from MV recorded although MV continued to have roars
> through 1946
>
>        BV continues to erupt.  Depending on the observer it was either
> "entertaining" or "annoying."
>
> 1958  RV turns on
>
> 2000  Gold turns on
>
> 2007  Angle turns on with a burble but then starts spritzing.
>
> 2011  Water levels in High and Gold improve with Gold 2 and 3 making an
> appearance but then water levels started fluctuating
>
> 2014  Water levels have been up again, then down again, up again, then down
> again
>
>        2016  Frying Pan turns on and Upper Mortar (UM) has a fuzz ball
>
> 2019  UM again fills the cone with a fuzz ball, lifting High to 2-3 feet
> and Gold to 2 feet.  At this point I put on my poncho and Dean
>
>        declared quietly that this looked like a lock.  I wasn't nearly as
> confident as he was and no one was yelling "It's a lock."
>
> 2020  Fan's Vents lift with High to 3-4 feet.
>
> 2021  High to 4 ft, but then Gold disappeared and High dropped to less than
> a foot
>
>        Sometime during these ups and downs, Kitt and I started saying mean,
> but not naughty, things to the pile of rocks.  Some of
>
>        the crowd decided to get into the act, especially Amy Hatfield, who
> came up with some really good insults for F&M.
>
> 2022  UM again fills and lifts High and Gold to encouraging levels before
> they once again drop to barely adequate levels
>
> 2025  UM fills a third time, lifting Fan's Vents.  But this time UM just
> continues building to 2 ft-4ft-6-ft-8ft.  UM's buildup was a
>
>        sustained build-up rather than rise, fall, then rise again.
>
> 2026  UM is in full eruption at 10, then 15, then 20 feet.  Water levels in
> Fan's vents were not impressive until
>
> 2027  East Vent takes off lifting Fan's other vents with it and now we are
> all yelling with excitement and Eric Hatfield is seeing
>
>        another F&M eruption without seeing a "lock."
>
>
>
>     The water from Fan's eruption barely reached the boardwalk.  For the
> first several minutes the wind direction made it possible to stand between
> Mortar and Fan providing a wonderful view of both Upper Mortar and Fan's
> vents.  Lower Mortar joined in about 4 mintues after Fan started (I didn't
> want to dig out my logbook from underneath the two layers of rain gear to
> record the exact time).  Then the wind shifted, pushing the water toward the
> boardwalk and those of us still standing there parted to either side to get
> away from the downpour.
>
>     The first pause in the action occurred at 2043.  Last water from East
> Vent was at 2103.
>
>      One of the messages Dean relayed from F&M during the first part of the
> event cycle was "It's cold down here at Fan & Mortar."  Kitt was warning
> some of the other gazers to bring warm clothing rather than light jackets.
>  It got even colder last night and there was a little ice on my windshield
> this morning.
>
>
>
> Lynn Stephens
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that’s right for you.
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>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 11:07:34 EDT
> From: TSBryan at aol.com
> Subject: [Geysers] Giantess start July 6
> To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> Message-ID: <c32.580db73a.378761b6 at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> This will let you know two things:
>
> 1. I made it back to Arizona with no problems whatsoever;
>
> 2. Not much to say about what I saw of the Giantess start on Monday, 7/6.
> Having been up to Castle, I was just back to my car at the lower store
> parking  lot (DNCBSPL?) when I saw a billowing steam cloud rise above
> Giantess.
> The time  was 0708 and the billowing was enough to make me take notice.
> Which
> is no doubt  why at 0713 I was pretty much looking straight at Giantess
> when it billowed  again and then poured water off the side of the platform.
>
> I think it was Lori(?) who made the radio call before I did (apparently
> first saying "Great Fountain") but her call was extremely faint, so I
>  called
> it seconds after she did. Fun.
>
> Scott Bryan
> **************Looking for love this summer? Find it now on AOL Personals.
> (http://personals.aol.com/?ncid=emlcntuslove00000003)
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:27:31 -0600
> From: Karen Webb <caros at xmission.com>
> Subject: Re: [Geysers] 1940's Geyser-Themed Mystery
> To: Geyser Observation Reports <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Message-ID: <4A560C63.6090809 at xmission.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> They missed one other fallacy --- "We checked in this morning and drove
> immediately to see the geyser." Morning check-in? *Quick* check-in?
> Driving to see OF from anywhere in the OF lodging area? And, really, the
> "tourist indicator" starts way before most eruptions. Fun strip though.
> Karen
>
> Sarah Heiner wrote:
> > Minneapolis columnist James Lileks also heads up buzz.mn, a website
> somewhat related to the Star Tribune newspaper, and supposed to be a
> community blog-type site.  But Mr. Lileks ends up writing most of the
> posts--and if you know anything about him, you know how amusing he can be.
> >
> > Once a week, he digs up and posts an old comic called 'Lance Lawson,'
> which was a try-to-solve-this-mystery type of comic that ran for a few years
> in the 1940's.  The reason I'm letting all of you know about it is that the
> comic posted today takes place in Yellowstone.  I thought you might enjoy
> it!
> >
> > Link for the best-sized image of the strip:
> http://www.buzz.mn/?q=node/6123&size=_original
> >
> > Link for the originial post, with comments:
> http://www.buzz.mn/?q=node/6124
> >
> > (And to explain some of the comments already posted--yes, Mr. Lileks
> accidently posted the solution for this comic on last week's comic.  Oops.)
> >
> > --------
> > Sarah "Bookworm" Heiner
> > bookworm1225 at yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Geysers mailing list
> > Geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> > 
> >
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:37:45 -0600
> From: Karen Webb <caros at xmission.com>
> Subject: [Geysers] Help with a thank you
> To: Geyser Observation Reports <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Message-ID: <4A560EC9.1090908 at xmission.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> Since we're among the most articulate complainers about problems with
> the concessionaires in the park, we wondered if someone on the list
> could help us figure out where to direct an actual compliment. We had
> two issues, including surviving the Great Flood of '09 in the Inn (the
> other was a dinner issue at Lake Lodge cafeteria). I know in years past,
> it would have been like pulling teeth and would have required writing to
> site managers and other higher-ups to get a fair resolution (and the
> attitude of all but the site managers would have been to just blow us
> off. After having made our reservations a year in advance and checked on
> what Snow Lodge cabin we were likely to get in August when we visited in
> July one year, we actually got told when the three of us got stuck in
> one of the shoebox-sized cabins that there were many rooms we could rent
> in West Yellowstone and the park could do nothing for us except rent us
> a much pricier room in the Inn). This year with both issues, we got the
> attitude my business partner and I try to convey in our business --- if
> there's a problem, we ask what we can do to fix it or offer immediate
> recompense of some sort. The entire attitude of the staff (at least in
> our experience with these two problems) seemed so oriented toward
> satisfying the customer when there was a problem and actually validating
> that there was a problem that needed to be fixed that it really took us
> by surprise. Does anyone know if there's a chief of ops or chief of
> concessions we can write to just to comment about this exemplary change
> in attitude and level of service?
> Thanks for any help anyone can give us here,
> Karen Webb
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 09:40:54 -0600
> From: Debby Stahl <joeerg at aol.com>
> Subject: [Geysers] Thanks, Lynn
> To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
> Message-ID: <FC280701-64DF-40C2-9A7C-9FFF4BCB1AAA at aol.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii;       format=flowed;
>  delsp=yes
>
> Hi!  I'm happy to report anything and actually did give the Pink Cone
> time to the VC yesterday.  They were closed when we got back from
> Great Fountain and haven't been there yet today--I figured I'd give it
> to them when I am there.  We have walkie talkies and I
> did call the GF start at the time, but I have no idea how far it
> carries--probably not all the way back to OF!  Apart from those two
> things, we really haven't seen anything to report -- all well covered
> by others.  The awful wind yesterday slowed us down.
> Thanks for the encouragement, glad you confirmed that our reports are
> valued even if sparse.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 17:47:27 -0600
> From: Lynn Stephens <lstephens2006 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Geysers] Yellowstone July 9 (Stephens)
> To: <geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu>
> Message-ID: <BAY126-W1422C8A2CD1FCA4D331E0AA5260 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"
>
>
> July 9, 2009
>           One of Kitt’s calls during the Fan & Mortar event cycle had been
> “It’s cold down here” warning everyone to bring a warm jacket.  It got cold
> enough during the night that I had to scrape ice from the windshield this
> morning.
>            Last night Castle had one of its "pause" eruptions.  Hatfields
> watched it start at 21:15, watched it for a few minutes, then left.  I
> arrived at 21:20 and it was going up and down, up and down, with pauses of
> several seconds between the 10 to 15 foot bursts.  After a few minutes of
> this I announced to the few visitors still there that it appeared Castle had
> had a minor eruption and was in sloppy phase, especially since this was 50
> minutes past the close of the window.  I rode away at 21:24 and when I
> arrived at the parking lot at 21:25, Castle had resumed continous jetting
> and the bursts were going 50+ feet high.  Boy, did I feel foolish!  Today's
> eruptoin started at 11:11, just 1 minute off the midpoint of the window that
> had been posted based on the 2125ns time.
>            I stopped in the Visitor Center to add last night’s Beehive
> eruption to the logbook, then came to the office to work on the geyser
> article again today.  Beehive decided to have an even shorter interval this
> morning.  Tricia called water in the Indicator at 0835 and the Indicator was
> called in the same minute.  I decided to drive from the parking lot in front
> of  the ranger station to the Old Faithful Lodge cabins, park there, then
> run up onto Geyser Hill so I could watch Beehive up close and personal.
>            I forgot that maintenance was repainting some of the turn arrows
> in the parking lots and roads, so I had to drive an extra mile.  I had also
> forgotten Kitt’s warning call to people in the cabins that a bull bison had
> plopped himself down on the path from the cabins to the boardwalk that goes
> to Geyser Hill.  Since I had already been delayed by the paint, I took an
> old path from the cabins through the trees to Geyser Hill.  As I rejoined
> the official path, a couple asked if I worked here.  I responded, “Yes,” and
> told them that Beehive was going to erupt soon and it was much taller than
> Old Faithful.  They asked me to show them where Beehive was, so I pointed
> toward the steam cloud from the Indicator and said they could either take
> the path that way past Blue Star Spring or they could follow me up on Geyser
> Hill.  They asked which way was faster and I pointed toward Blue Star
> Spring.  Having come that far though I was going to take the longer way and
> go up on Geyse
>  r Hill to watch the eruption.
>     I arrived at Beehive in plenty of time because the indicator lasted 21
> minutes before Beehive finally started.  People were trying to get pictures
> of me on Geyser Hill since some of them had not yet seen me there this
> summer, but I kept maneuvering myself behind LC Doughtery to block their
> cameras, assuming none of them had one of those right-angle lens that takes
> a picture 90 degrees away from the lens appears to be aimed.  Beehive
> erupted at 0856, an interval of 10h36m.
>    After saying goodbye to the Millers who are returning to England today,
> I went back to the office and worked on my geyser activity article until
> noon.
>            I moved to Great Fountain.  Fountain's steam cloud went up at
> 1321ns and ended at 1351.
>            Great Fountain erupted at 1547 (oflw = 82, p=2).  The first
> burst was pretty with the white water against the blue sky that was dotted
> with white clouds.  Several bursts had good hang time and the steam took a
> few seconds to catch up with the water.  The sun caught the water droplets
> turning them into glistening crystal globes.  The second, third, and fourth
> bursts had a few pretty bursts, but generally were fairly lackadaisical so I
> expect the next interval will be shorter than average.
>            When I returned to the Upper Basin, Kitt flagged me down to tell
> me that Beehive’s Indicator had had a mid-cycle eruption that lasted about 3
> minutes.  This morning we were discussing the possibility of false
> indicators since the lead-time has increased to 21 minutes for the past few
> Beehive eruptions.  Hopefully this won’t be a summer of false indicators
> where the indicator erupts but Beehive doesn’t.
>            After Great Fountain I returned to the office to work on the
> geyser activity article some more, where I'll stay until I hear the call of
> water in Beehive's Indicator or until my shoulders start to ache from too
> much typing.
>
> Lynn Stephens
>
> _________________________________________________________________
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> End of Geysers Digest, Vol 1469, Issue 2
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