[Geysers] Yellowstone Report 6/12 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS POST IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE SUBSCRIBERS TO THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE 

REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT.

 

I started the morning on geyser hill with a dead radio.  

 

I watched a delicate rainbow in a Lion initial at 6:51, then recorded Plume intervals of 69 minutes and 75 minutes.  Someone called Plumes with an interval of 69 minutes this afternoon.

 

I was watching a killdeer running across Geyser Hill from Beehive toward Depression.  The killdeer's legs are so slender and move so quickly that it looked like the body was suspended 3 inches above the ground, gliding from one point to another.  I was following the killdeer toward Depression when I got the start of Depression at 0757.  I stayed for a few minutes after Depression's eruption had ended.  I had forgotten how noisy it is for the first few minutes as it refills.  The sound is like a very loud washing machine.

 

When I checked out books Tuesday in the West Yellowstone library, I had chosen two from the outdoor non-fiction section.  As I was looking up at the shelf above, I saw a copy of the anthology "Montana--the Last Best Place."  Since I can only check out three books at a time, I decided to get that as the third book, going for several inches of reading material in a single book.  What I didn't think about was just how heavy an 1100 page book was going to be in my bag and how difficult it was going to be to support the book when it was open as I was sitting on the boardwalk.  So, I gave up reading while waiting for Beehive.  As  I was watching the water undulating down the brown and orange algae terraces toward Beehive's Indicator and beyond, it had a hypnotizing effect.  

 

The second Old Faithful eruption I watched this morning from Beehive had a stunning bay surge.  The column of water and associated steam column were going straight up with the exception of the billowing collar of steam that surrounding the base of the column.  After an Old Faithful eruption, I noted that it took 9 minutes before the waterfalls near the boardwalk from the Beehive overlook to East Chinaman Spring because audible from my seat in front of Beehive.

 

At one point a 2 year old girl and her parents walked by.  She was ahead of her parents, and as she arrived as Scissors Spring, she started calling quite excitedly to her father, "Look at this Daddy, it's going up."  She certainly hadn't become jaded and lost the sense of mystery of hot water erupting into the air, even if it was just the few inches of Scissors Spring.

 

I walked over to Lion hoping to get another rainbow in Lion's second eruption.  While I was on my way, Ben Hoppe arrived on Geyser Hill, and called water in the Indicator.  He called the Indicator at 8:17 and Beehive erupted at 08:29.  There was a really intense, vibrant rainbow in Beehive's column.  

 

As the crowd from Grand had arrived at Beehive, someone said to me, "How far do you think we'll get on the way back before Grand eruptions?"  My answer was, "Not very far, because there's Grand now," just as Sam Holbrook called it at 08:33.  Grand erupted this afternoon at 17:04.

 

As I was leaving for the Lower Basin, someone called Daisy at 08:51.

 

When I arrived at Great Fountain, I updated the prediction board.  Then, because overflow hadn't started yet, I started adjusting the board to let people know it would be at least another hour before it erupted.  One visitor wanted to know how I knew, so I explained about overflow.  He was quite upset though because he was afraid the eruption might happen without overflow and so he would miss it if he left.  I just agreed that would be quite upsetting and left it at that, because after all, maybe someday it will decide to forego all the preliminary activity and just erupt.

 

Pink Cone started sometime during Great Fountain's first burst, so I'll just record the time as 1229ie.  As I was editing yesterday's post to cut and then add other parts for my family, I noticed I had cut off part of the sentence about Pink Cone intervals.  The sentence should have read, "Assuming 7 intervals since the last observed start, the average was 25 hours; assuming 8 intervals, the average was about 21-1/2 hours, which makes more sense given previously recorded intervals."  Jere B. told me the reason that visitors get see Pink Cone erupting 70-80 feet high but I don't is because the visitors are using Rocco feet.  (Rocco--If you're reading this, I thought you said we'd see more of you here at Old Faithful this summer than last year.)

 

Last night I gave up on Atomizer.  I had a 45 second minor at 1743, then missed a minor while I was at the office.  When I returned at 18:55 to view Atomizer, it was having after minor heavy splashing, which did not result in a major.  I knew it was going to be after dark before Atomizer had the major, so I left.  This afternoon as I was returning from Great Fountain, there was an Atomizer major in progress at 12:49ie.

 

I spent the afternoon in the office.  MaryBeth (Schwarz) stopped by to let me know she had dropped some stuff off at the trailer.  She's spending the night in West Yellowstone tonight, but will start staying here at Old Faithful tomorrow.  People have been saying they were waiting for MaryBeth to arrive so she could whip Grand into shape.  I'll let her tell you her response to those comments/requests.  (Hint--It wasn't a positive one for those of you who are hoping.)

 

Lynn Stephens

 

 


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