[Geysers] Yellowstone June 14 (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 went in early yesterday evening and slept in this (6/14) morning.  The sky was dripping so I parked along the main highway to keep an eye on Atomizer.  After waiting about 2-1/4 hours I saw a minor that erupted for about 60 seconds.  Since there was no splashing afterward, I assumed this was probably going to be the final minor in the series.  I decided that despite the drizzle coming from the sky I would like to see the major, so I moved the pickup to Biscuit Basin.  Almost as soon as I arrived at Biscuit Basin, the drizzle turned to a pounding rain.  Scott Bryan pulled in next to me, saying "I recognized your truck."  (One day recently at Great Fountain a group of us were joking about how our vehicles were recognizable and I said I could still hide at Biscuit Basin.)  I told him I thought there might be an Atomizer major in about 45 minutes.

 

When the downpour lessened and returned to light drizzle, I put on my rain jacket and poncho and started up the trail to Artemisia/Atomizer.  I had my poncho hood pulled up over my head and down over my forehead and was watching the trail so I could determine where to place my feet such that they would accumulate the least red mud.  Suddenly I heard an angry snort, looked up and found myself less than 10 feet away from one LARGE bull bison.  He was not happy.  His back was humped, his tail was arched, and I could see the whites of the eye that was facing me.  His glare appeared to be quite malevolent and his snorts indicated extreme displeasure. Worst of all, there were no trees, let alone something metal between him and me.   I hastily backed away, looking for some method of getting at least some little pine trees between the two of us.  I finally headed off the trail slightly to the east into some marshy grass so I could get two large downed logs as well as some little lodge pole pines between us.  After I had worked my way around him, I noticed that I had come within 20 feet of a bull that was peacefully grazing on the hillside on the east side of the trail.  Thankfully the second bull paid me no attention whatsoever.

 

While I was waiting for Atomizer I noticed a father and son "exploring" (the father's words) the pools and springs in the Cascade Group.  (Earlier they had been exploring in the West Side Group but were too far away for me to get their attention to ask them to return to the trail.)  This time I politely said, "Excuse me sir, but would you please return to the trail."  After they had done so, I said, "Thank you."  They came on up to Artemisia/Atomizer and I explained about restrictions on access to thermal areas, mentioning things like potential damage to the thermal features as well as potential damage to themselves.  Apparently there had been a misunderstanding because the father said he had asked a ranger about whether it was permissible to walk on the banks of the river, and the father had been told that it was OK, so they had walked up and down both sides of the Firehole River upstream from the Biscuit Basin Bridge looking at thermal features away from the bank as well as those at the edge of River along the way.  He agreed that perhaps he hadn't been clear about his intentions or perhaps he had misunderstood the ranger's response when I explained that there are trails on both sides of the Firehole from Biscuit Basin to Daisy and from Biscuit Basin to Morning Glory.   Since he expressed interest in the thermal features, I explained the interesting aspects of Artemisia, which had was almost full although it had not yet returned to overflow, and pointed out Atomizer's two cones.

 

They decided to wait with me and were rewarded with an Atomizer major (1003, 63 minutes after the preceding minor).  The father agreed that the eruption looked and sounded like an old-fashioned steam engine with the chugging steam and columns of steam emitted by both cones.  

 

While waiting for Great Fountain to go into overflow, Scott pointed out Narcissus' steam cloud (1318ie).  While I was waiting for Great Fountain to finish the fourth burst, which was weak although the third burst had been fairly strong and the second burst had an explosive beginning that startled me into jumping up off the bench, I saw Narcissus again at 1541ie.

 

Somehow this afternoon the hypotheses White Dome connection with Blue/Great Fountain acquired a corollary such that the timing of White Dome's eruption in relation to Blue/Great Fountain eruptions impacts not only when Great Fountain will start but also whether or not Great Fountain will have a superburst.  Someone suggested it's going to require one long article just to explain what all the theories are about connections between White Dome, Gemini, A-0, Botryoidal, and Great Fountain, let alone collect and crunch the data to prove or disprove them.  (I don't think anyone has thrown Logbridge into the mix yet, but I could be wrong.)

 

Sometimes I get very lucky with my Great Fountain predictions.  Today (6/14) the big boil happened two minutes past the mid-point of my prediction.  But Great Fountain decided to have a long pause.  About 7 minutes into the pause a visitor asked when it was going to erupt.  Since the longest pause I've ever had was 14 minutes, I promised her it would erupt within 7 mintues.  She asked if I was serious, and, going out on a limb, I replied that I guaranteed it would erupt within 7 minutes.  What she hadn't heard was that we had already declared the official start of the eruption, so I knew I was fairly safe with my 7 minute prediction.

 

Yesterday (6/13), well after I had placed the half hour prediction on the prediction board, a visitor came over to ask when Great Fountain would erupt because she was certain that it had to start overflowing heavily off the back for at least 45 minutes before the eruption.  (I had also heard her say that a day or so before, but hadn't said anything to her.)  I told her it would erupt within the stated time period, but she didn't seem to be reassured by my answer.  I explained I was a volunteer and my prediction was based on overflow and was probably accurate, although the eruption might be a few minutes after the end of the window (we were already inside the opening of the 30 minute window.)  Other gazers tried to explain about overflow off various places around the rim, indicating that it wouldn't be until the eruption itself started that there would be overflow off the back side (west and northwest) where she had indicated she was expecting to see overflow if the geyser was going to erupt soon.

 

She still didn't seem confident in the responses, and asked whether any of the "authenticators" was around, "you know, the people who watch geysers and report and confirm the times."  I replied, "Yes, I'm one of those people.  That's my prediction on the board and I called it into the Visitor Center."  (Maybe instead I should have turned to one of the other gazers/volunteers, such as Scott, who was sitting behind me, pointed at him and said, "Maybe that's who you want.")

 

She still seemed to want some one else to be the expert, so she persisted, "You know, the authenticators, some of them are college professors, come here for the whole summer, and have personalized license plates."  Well, let's see--which of those tests do I fail? Maybe the college professor one since I am retired.  But I just responded once again "That's me."  She still seemed a little confused as if I didn't quite fit the picture in her mind of one of the "authenticators" that she remembered from years ago.

 

While we waited for the eruption, I asked her some questions about herself.  She stayed for the eruption.  Unfortunately, she explained since much of it was white on white and her failing eyesight, while still sufficient enough such that she could drive, was not sufficient for her to really distinguish most of the eruption from the clouds, she couldn't enjoy it as much as she would have liked to.  

 

Overhead yesterday (6/13) at Great Fountain:  Grandparents had a grandson accompanying them from Arizona to Montana on a trip.  The grandmother was going to a quilt show in Montana.  The grandfather arranged the trip so they could drive through Grand Tetons on the way and have two days to spend in Yellowstone, although grandmother indicated she really just wanted to get to the quilt show as quickly as possible.  Apparently grandson, who appeared to be about 11-12 years old, was missing school to go on the trip and had to document things he had learned to justify the absence from school.  As he was videoing grandson, grandfather asked, "What did you learn about weather and geysers yesterday."  Grandson's reply, "I learned that weather doesn't affect them at all because the plumbing system is all underground where weather doesn't reach."  Hmm, wonder what grandson's definition of weather is.  I guess it doesn't include wind (documented effect on Morning) and rain (documented effect on Aurum), and...

 

The only thing I have to add to the items that are probably in Scott's report--6/14 I returned to the office about 1645.  While I was typing this I heard Grand called at 1657, Daisy at 1704, Riverside at 1706, and Grotto at 1715.  (I missed Beehive at 1551 while I was waiting to confirm that the fourth burst at Great Fountain was so weak we weren't going to get a fifth burst.)

 

Lynn Stephens

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