[Geysers] Fw: Fan & Mortar, 1421 10/21/09 from Kitt Barger

[barger]

     Congratulations on seeing a Fan and Mortar!  Also I would like to thank the visitor center staff for their help last weekend.  Radios were rather sparse in the Upper Geyser Basin.  Unfortunately, I left the area one minute before Beehive's Indicator finally started on Sunday (10/18), but I still got to see many geysers and I think some visitors have also caught the geyser gazing bug.  A group of visitors followed us from Grand to Fountain where they enjoyed a wonderful show.  :o)  Here's hoping that closing weekend offers us good weather so that you will have more gazers to share geyser times with.  
     As for my drive home, I saw many bison near the Lake/Fishing Bridge area.  The swans were hanging out in a protected cove on the lake and a bison sporting "coyote like" antics caused me to pause during my trek home.  (The bison would rear up then pounce in one spot like a coyote trying to get a mouse.  After he did this several times, the bison dropped to the ground and rolled raising quite a dust storm.)  Take care and hope to see you in a week.
                                                              Sincerely,  Kitt Barger   
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Catherine_Bell at nps.gov 
  To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 3:58 PM
  Subject: [Geysers] Fw: Fan & Mortar, 1421 10/21/09


  I was very lucky to have my own private Fan & Mortar eruption this afternoon!  
   
  I biked downbasin from the visitor center around two o'clock, thinking that F&M had likely already erupted and that I'd just be replacing the marker.  I arrived at 1407 and saw the marker still in place, and better yet, High, Gold, and Angle putting out a fair amount of water.  Gold and Angle were splashing maybe two feet high, and High was pretty steady at four feet or so.  By 1414 water levels looked great, with High at eight feet or more, and I called a lock on the radio.  Nobody was around to hear, alas. 
   
  At 1417 everything died, stopping almost completely.  High continued to sputter weakly but Gold and Angle pretty much quit.  At 1419, everything surged back on, and a sudden huge surge in Main Vent at 1421 initiated the eruption!  I noticed no splashing at all in Mortar prior to the eruption. 
   
  I had things completely to myself for seven minutes, when four visitors arrived.  The shifting wind direction and the cool weather (temps in the high thirties) made this a rather difficult eruption to see, with lots of steam blowing straight towards wherever I stood, but I did get an amazing double rainbow at one point. 
   
  Riverside erupted at 1452, and the wind direction--which had been so difficult for F&M--was perfect for viewing.  
   
  Besides that, we don't have a lot of other geyser news from today.  Supervisory Ranger Rita Garcia did see Grand on geyser predict this morning; it was a two-burster at 0828. 
   
  Two other things of interest: Castle appeared to have three consecutive minors on 10/16/2009, per electronic data.  0539E, 0935E, and 2056E.  I haven't seen any more eruptions out of Victory Geyser, though its water level is still high and boiling.
   
  Hope to see some of you in the park for closing weekend!  It's coming up fast.... 

    
  Cathy Bell 
  Park Ranger (Interpretation) 
  Old Faithful Visitor Center 
  Yellowstone National Park 



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