[Geysers] Yellowstone July 10

[Lynn Stephens]

July 10
 
Again, most of the morning was spent in the office working on the geyser activity article.  I did take a break to go watch Beehive.  When Kitt called "spitting in the Indicator" then "water in the Indicator" then Beehive's Indicator at 08:05 I shut down the computer, drove to the Lodge parking lot, and was not rushing to get up onto Geyser Hill because I was expecting a long indicator.  
 
I had taken my camera with me because I wanted to take a picture of the first False Indicator of the season if that happened.  Instead, Beehive erupted at 0823 (an interval of 13h30m) with the Indicator leading Beehive by only 18 minutes.  Beehive's duration last night was just over 4 minutes.  This morning it was just over 5 minutes, another sign that Beehive may be shaking off any attempts by the Indicator to take over, and/or starting to recover from the Giantess effect.
 
Plume has also apparently shaken off the Giantess effect.  Intervals this morning were 65, 58, 68, and 60  minutes.
 
I did put the camera to good use.  Chris and Terri Daubert, with Jake, Gus and Gideon arrived this morning.  I had to take a picture of Gideon (and Terri) in front of his first geyser--Beehive with a rainbow.
 
The wild roses on the path leading from the bridge across the Firehole River up Geyser Hill are starting to open their blossoms.
 
I stayed at the office until 11 am when I headed out to Great Fountain.  While I was waiting for Great Fountain to go into overflow, I watched A-0 to get some intervals (28, 29, and 28 minutes today).  The shady spot from which I was watching A-0 is across the road from Surprise Pool, which one visitor reported to her friend sitting in the car was "just another hot pool named Sunrise Pool."  
 
I overheard a tour guide tell at least one member of his group "It's better if you get out and see it" in reference to Firehole Spring.  When the tour guide got his bus to Surprise Pool, he told them to watch for Botryoidal Geyser, which "Erupts every 5 minutes.  It is very reliable.  It spits up 10-20 feet."  Well, usually two of those three statements are correct.  I've recorded 27 intervals this season, varying from 3 to 6 minutes.  The mean and median are both 4 minutes.  But this time, he was right; this interval was 5 minutes.
 
As he was telling his tour group about Surprise Pool, he said he couldn't show them the surprise but he could tell them about it.  "The mineral content of the water precipitates out, creating a skin on the top of the pool, which forms a surface tension.  If the surface tension is broken, it erupts. I can't show you that because it is illegal to through foreign objects into the pool."  I knew that breaking the surface tension on some features, including Surprise Pool, allows the feature to erupt.  However, I didn't realize it was mineral content that formed the surface tension.  I'll have to ask Scott or some other reliable source about that.  I also wish the guide had explained that the reason it is illegal to through foreign objects into the pool is because it damages the thermal feature.
 
While I was sitting beside the road in the shade of a lodgepole pine tree, a raven landed in the top of the tree and started cawing.  One woman referred to it as a "partridge in a pear tree," singing the phrase in time with the cawing.  I also noticed a small round (4-5" in diameter) bird nest in the branches above my head, but have no idea what type of bird had been using the next.
 
Fountain's steam cloud was noticed at 1232 (early in the eruption).
 
Great Fountain erupted at 1528 (of=85, p=7).  We didn't have a superburst, but one lateral burst got the four motorcycles parked one or two vehicles in front of mine (yes, the windshield was wrapped in the orange tarp) as well as at least two of the riders.  The third burst had one tiny blue bubble and one large blue bubble.  The fifth burst had no energy whatsoever.
 
Pink Cone sent up a small steam cloud at 1613, then I started watching a sustained steam cloud at 1615.  Kitt confirmed Pink Cone was in eruption as she left Great Fountain.
 
I drove right past Pink Cone, then had to stop a short way down the road to wipe the spray off my window.  I also stopped to look at some deep lilac colored flowers.  The blossoms looked very much like carnations, but slightly less round and slightly more fan shaped.  Naturally, here's another flower that I can't find in Shaw's Yellowstone flower books.  
 
I also watched the red-tail hawk circling east of Great Fountain this afternoon.

 
Lynn Stephens


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