[Geysers] Yellowstone June 11, 2009

[Lynn Stephens]

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Late yesterday afternoon I kept hearing the Visitor Center calling out to the basin in case they had missed a radio call announcing Grand.  About 1810 Bob Bailey announced "Still No Grand, and we are leaving."  I grabbed my poncho, walked out to Castle and got to see a three burst Grand at 1828.

 

It sounded like it rained most of the night, and there were rain showers off and on most of the day today.  I spent most of the day in the Pink Cone Group.  Labial interval of 5h37m; Pink interval of 5h25m.  Pink Cone erupted at 14:21 with a duration of 107 minutes.  Assuming 7 intervals since the last observed start, the average was 25 hours.

 

While I was watching Pink Cone I heard a tour driver give an answer I'd never thought of before.  One of the people asked him how long Pink Spouter (which is what the driver had called Pink Cone) would last.  The driver's response--"It'll keep spewing as long as there's enough heat and water for it to erupt."  Accurate, but I personally don't think it was very informative.

 

While I was waiting at Pink Cone, a van pulled up and I was asked, "Did the first splash at Giant go off around 12 today?"  I decided the visitors really wanted to know about Great Fountain, which had erupted at 11:30 (p=7).

 

Before Pink Cone started, another set of visitors asked for a prediction, but I didn't really have one.  I just knew the road bubblers had been active for awhile.  Anyway, they had watched Pink Cone erupting 70-80 feet high for about an hour and a half a few years ago.  Geez, how come I never get to see it have that kind of height?

 

Bill Warnock, Jim Schreirer, and Allan Friedman once again took advantage of the +/- 15 minute prediction for Great Fountain.  And once again, I was bombarded with their various theories and names for the geysers in the area.  Luckily I don't have to report them because a 10-11 year old boy had two comments for me at Great Fountain.  During one of the pauses he asked if I knew why it took so long between bursts.  When I started to say something about the system needing to recharge itself, he said, "No, it's because that's how long it takes the men to set the dynamite."  He also informed me that I should never refer to a geyser as a she because it's a "guy"-ser.

 

A couple from Switzerland came over to thank me for the +/- 15 minute prediction.  They had been waiting at Grand when the Visitor Center called my prediction out on the FRS radio, and they decided to abandon Grand to come watch Great Fountain.

 

Allan Friedman called Beehive's Indicator at 1718, and Beehive at 1729 this evening.  I knew there was no steam coming from it at 5 am this morning, but haven't heard an overnight eruption time yet.

 

This morning the bison herd was bedded down in the meadow in front of Geyser Hill.  About 6 am they gradually became mobile, wandering through the Inn Parking lot as well as the DNLBS parking lot.  One little orange calf got separated from all the other calves, which were still in the meadow, and wandered onto the asphalt road.  The calf kept sniffing the road, looking at the yearlings and adults munching away on the grass, then sniffing the road again.  One young bull was standing guard at the bike racks making certain no other bison or people came near the bicycles.  Even if the sky hadn't been dripping, the herd effectively prevented me from cooking breakfast in the parking lot this morning.

 

Lynn Stephens

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