[Geysers] Yellowstone Report 6/27 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

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After a slippery start to the 6/27 morning due to ice on the trailer's porch steps, I biked to the north end of the basin to check the marker on Fan & Mortar (which is still in place 0525 6/28).  Jim S. had stopped at Grand due to the treacherous nature of the board/jugwalk and the fact that Grand's pool indicated it had not erupted for awhile.

 

On my trip north, I saw a Lion initial at 0551, Daisy at 0559 (Jim said he couldn't see the steam cloud from Grand, but from my view in front of the prediction board I could see the water and could see the sunlight turning the top of the steam column a delicate pink), Riverside at 0601ie (which the basin fog also prevented Jim from seeing.

 

On my bike trip back I saw Old Faithful at 0609 and Aurum at 0615.  Scott Bryan said there was geyser fog all along his trip on his way in.  Great Fountain was not in overflow when he drove through.

 

I drove out to Great Fountain where Barbara Lasseter said Great Fountain was in overflow at 0615.  We watched a very steamy eruption that started at 0725 (p=0).  We all agreed the third burst sounded blue at least twice.  Bill Warnock was watching from the boardwalk and said he could even see a little blue.  By the time the fifth burst ended, the basin fog had cleared.

 

Barbara pointed out that the disappearing garbage can phenomena had spirited away the garbage can at Great Fountain.  As I returned to the Upper Basin, everywhere I remembered to look, the garbage can had disappeared--Firehole Lake, Flood, Biscuit Basin, Black Sand Basin.  Apparently all the independent garbage cans have been eliminated.  Boxy, square, user-unfriendly bright reddish-brown dumpsters will replace the independent cans, but I've been told these will be placed only where there are bathrooms.  I've also been told this is a park-wide manifestation of someone's idea that the old garbage cans were an unsightly eyesore and that the new dumpsters will be a labor-saving device and therefore are environmental-friendly.  I predict that roadside garbage, parking lot garbage, etc. will increase significantly.  I also think the new dumpsters are much more visually intrusive than the old round, faded brown garbage cans.  Those garbage cans blended in with the naturally round shapes of nature.  Also, most of the dumpsters are very user-unfriendly.  Some of them require two hands just to open the lid, and I don't have a third hand to then throw the garbage bag into the bin.  Most of them have lettering saying "Bagged garbage only" and I'll just bet many visitors don't have a spare bag with them.  Besides, using a bag for a single piece of trash such as a drink cup doesn't seem very environmentally friendly to me.  At 5 foot 2 inches in height, I find many of the bins difficult to use.  Some of them require that I step up onto a step on the front and then stretch out my arm as far as possible to reach the "lid" to pull it down with my fingertips.  My grandchildren certainly aren't going to be able to dispose of the garbage for me in most picnic areas.  End of my rant.

 

After Great Fountain ended, I returned to the Upper Geyser Basin.  Since Brian R. was babysitting Fan & Mortar, while most of the other gazers were at Grand, I went up to the Splendid side of Daisy.  When Grand erupted I had a wonderful view of the first burst.  The water column lifted ahead of the steam cloud and for the first 15 seconds or so the chevrons made by the rising and falling water looked like Old Faithful's feathered column, only with a much wider base.  When the steam cloud rose above the water droplets, it formed a mushroom shape.  The second burst of Grand wasn't nearly as impressive from my location because the steam from Vent was drifting across the column blocking my view of the water droplets, so all I could see was steam.

 

Shortly after Grand erupted, I saw an Atomizer minor (0941, d ~ 40 seconds).  I didn't watch it long enough to realize that there was post-minor splashing that failed to build to a major.  So I arrived at Artemisia/Atomizer well in advance of when I needed to be there for the next Atomizer event.

 

While I was watching the Artemisia/Atomizer area from Daisy, I noted a greenish-blue patch that seemed to be in some trees that separated one meadow on the hillside from another meadow.  I didn't remember ever seeing that before, but thought maybe I had just missed it or maybe Montana Power had put something up there.  After I arrived at Artemisia/Atomizer, I walked back up the trail looking for the greenish-blue patch, but didn't find it.

 

Awhile later Ralph Taylor and Jaimie Roper (a resource management person who is stationed at Old Faithful this summer, sharing the geology office with myself and MaryBeth sorry if I misspell your name Jaimie) arrived at Artemisia carrying cleaning equipment.  We talked for awhile and then Ralph said they had come up looking for a blue tent that a 15-year employee who was out for a morning walk had noticed.  The greenish-blue spot wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

 

As we walked up the trail toward Morning Glory, I spotted two young males on the hillside to the east of us performing activities that indicated they were putting away a camp.  Thankfully, I didn't have my park radio with me so I didn't have to call it in.  However, when Ralph asked, "Do you think I should call it in?"  I gave him a definite "Yes" based on my experience last year.  If we don't call, law enforcement doesn't have the option of making a decision on whether they can investigate the incident or whether they have more pressing activities at the moment.

 

Law enforcement responded that an officer was on his way.  Ralph and Jaimie were in uniform, so I let them detain the two young males while I walked back to keep an eye on Atomizer.  Turns out the two are (were?) Xanterra employees working here at Old Faithful.  Maybe the dorm got too noisy for them so they decided to camp out above Old Faithful?

 

A short time after the LE had escorted them back to his vehicle at Biscuit Basin, and Ralph and Jaimie had also left, I heard the sound of a bicycle behind me.  As I turned to investigate the noise, I could see the male half of the couple quickly jump off this bike (she had been riding hers).  When I started to explain that no bikes were allowed, I received the response, "I didn't know that."  When I said it was rather difficult to miss the wide bluish colored bike rack with the "No bike" sign that blocked the entrance to the trail, she responded, "We thought that meant no riding."  When I indicated that "No bikes" means "no bikes" she started to question why such a rule.  At that point I was beginning to wish I had brought my NPS radio.  When I indicated I could contact a LE officer if she wanted so he could verify the information I was giving them, they quickly decided maybe they should walk the bikes out and became slightly apologetic.  I trusted them just about as far as I could see them.

 

Atomizer continued its series of eruptions with a 70 second minor at 1216 so I gave a prediction for the major of "between 1315 and 1345" on the FRS radio.  Fan & Mortar decided to have an event cycle starting with main vent splashing at 1243.  I thought, "I should have at least 45 minutes before F&M might erupt, so should be able to catch the Atomizer major first."  River Vent came on at 1254.  When Gold followed at 1303, I thought, "I'll feel pretty stupid if I'm the only person who misses F&M and I miss it because I want to see an Atomizer major."  So, I abandoned Atomizer and hustled toward F&M.  Tara announced Angle at 1308. The remainder of the transmission was garbled, so I sped up.  At 1311, opposite East Sentinel, I saw T. Scott headed south, so slowed down.  He said water levels weren't looking good.  So, I turned around and scurried back up the hill I had just descended, arriving back at Artemisia/Atomizer with about two minutes to spare before Atomizer started its major eruption at 1318.

 

After Atomizer I decided to stay at Artemisia since I had plenty of reading material and no special place I wanted to be.  A family with a girl about 4-5 years old and a boy about 10-12 years old arrived.  The father had a heat gun and was measuring the heat of the steam clouds.  As each cloud would arrive, the children would open their mouths, loudly saying "AAAAH" pretending to catch the steam.  When the mother asked if they were bothering me, I indicated I enjoyed seeing someone enjoying themselves.  I returned to my reading, the game continued, until suddenly the boy said, "I think it might be trying to erupt."  Sure enough, the flood of water had increased (Artemisia 1432, d=24).  I hurried over, plopped myself down on the embankment, and told them to sit also so they could feel the eruption.  The children were ecstatic.  After the thumping stopped, the two children and the father made a game of getting their clothes and hair wet in the steam cloud.  Steam generally obscured our view although we were able to see a few bursts that reached the top of the rock wall and one that even went about 8-10 feet above it.

 

My final geyser activity of the day was a wait for Beehive.  At 1805 Udo Freund announced, "The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived.  There's water in Beehive's Indicator."  His call of "Beehive's Indicator 1805" followed within a few seconds, and Beehive erupted at 1818.  I watched from the benches on the opposite side of the river.  The wind chopped off the top of the column, blowing the steam toward the Old Faithful Lodge.  There was an intense rainbow over the river and a fainter one up higher on the bank of Geyser Hill.  Nope--no camera with me.

 

Back at the trailer, I kept the radio on long enough to hear Ben Hoppe announce Grotto Fountain at 1941 and Grotto at 1945.  I also heard Daisy at 2020ie.  Grand at 2023 was the last call I heard before turning off the radio.

 

This morning (6/28) there was a little bit of pink in the sunrise.  Jim S. called Grand 0513ie and also announced that the Fan & Mortar marker is still in place.  Guess where I think most of the gazers will be spending the day, especially since it looks like it's going to be another sunny day.

 

Lynn Stephens

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