[Geysers] September 23 Yellowstone Report

[Lynn Stephens]

Items from the OFVC logbook:

 

Castle 1318ns major

Daisy 0347, 0609, 0840ie, 1059

Fountain 0918ie end 0932; 1453ie end 1518

Grand 0542, 1429 (1Q)

Great Fountain 0855vr, 0918ie; 1957, p = 0, superburst

Riverside 1224

Beehive 0104ns, 1455 (Ind = 1446)

Lone Star 0942 major vr (923 min)

Plume 0658, 0923, 1023ie, 1335, 1438, 1851

Aurum 2021ie

Grotto 1235iens (no Grotto Fountain)

Lion 1337

Little Cub 1504ns

Sawmill not ie 1435-1505

Oblong 1302

Victory 1338 d = 44 min

Atomizer 1157 minor, 1210 major

Little Brother 1509 active

Till 0913 major, 1834 major

Twig 1531ie

Clepsydra pause 1531ie-1533, 1534-1536

Honey's Vent 1534

Jet 1536, 1543

Box Spring 1607, 1627, 1650, 1721, 1745

Bead 1608, 1634, 1659, 1724, 1748

White Dome 1943

 

Additional information on Victory:

   Barbara Lassiter added an observation of 1352ie on 9/22.

   Today's eruption at 1338:  There was one period of heavy boiling on the cycle just prior to the cycle on which Victory erupted.  On the eruption cycle, the boiling started at 1335, at the "up" or "rise" portion of the cycle, with one or two small "bursts".  The boiling turned to sustained splashing at 1338, on the down portion of the cycle.  Today's duration was 44 minutes.     Barbara noticed the runoff from Victory was crossing the asphalt path that loops around to Riverside.  I had been timing how long it took Victory's runoff from the eruption to reach certain points, noting that it forms at least a couple pools in the live trees.  After Victory ended, I biked back to the asphalt path and the runoff hadn't reached there yet.  Thankfully Dave Goldberg biked around a couple minutes later and he noted that the runoff had just reached the path when he was there.

     I suspect more intervals and durations will be obtained on Thursday afternoon (and Friday) during this next Fan & Mortar watch.

 

Other items:

    And today there were two summer gazer radios left in the basin--Barbara's and mine.  It certainly was quiet around here.  Someone referred to the Labor Day group of gazers as an "infestation of gazers."  Well, the gazer population has crashed and is now decimated.

    Wildlife--I saw another snake, a small garter snake near Spa.  Most summers I see no snakes at all.  This year I've seen half a dozen or so.

     This morning as I drove down to get Till, the bald eagle was on the ground near the bank of the Firehole River near the Steel Bridge and had attracted only one or two long lens.  When I came back from Great Fountain, the bald eagle was perched in a tree and had attracted over two dozen long lens.  The population of photographers stayed constant through most of the day.  This evening when I drove down for Great Fountain, the crowd had dwindled to about a dozen tripods, and when I came back there were none because darkness had descended.

     Deer--On the way to Great Fountain this evening I saw one doe as I rounded the corner at Midway headed toward Whiskey Flats.  She was beside the road instead of on it.  Coming back from Great Fountain, I saw a young deer (this year's fawn) on the side of the road and thought that was why the car in the oncoming lane was parked with its bright lights on.  Thankfully the larger deer that had been in the oncoming lane moved quickly as it passed through my lane about 10 feet in front of my pickup.  Another close call, reminding me why I dislike driving in this park after dark.

     Bison--Plenty of them at Fountain.  The other day Maureen couldn't get to Fountain and some people couldn't get back to the parking lot as the herd moved across the area from Silex toward Celestine.  Today Maureen and I couldn't get out of Fountain because there were bison on the boardwalk at the Paintpots.  So, we decided to go the other way.  As we passed Jelly, Maureen noticed another segment of the herd moving steadily toward the boardwalk.  She hurried us along, tried to warn some visitors they might want to hustle also, and we managed to get out before the bison reached the boardwalk.  As I walked through the parking lot to the pickup, I noticed at least one visitor was trapped on the boardwalk as bison tried to cross it on both sides of him.

     Visitor comments: 

     (1) "No fair having a bike.  It looks like a bear got to it."  (No, just the ravens.)

     (2)  Female bicyclist:  Spa looks tempting enough to jump into.

           Male bicyclist:  That would be a good exfoliation.

     (3)  As I am about halfway up the hill to Artemisia/Atomizer:  "Can you tell me how much farther it is to Blue Lake?"  Now, how would you answer that one?  I just said, "Well, Morning Glory is the next pool and it's about a hundred yards or so down the path."

     Vivid memories but no photos:  Sunset at Great Fountain this evening.  Although there were no clouds in the sky to provide a surfeit of color, the pink, then orange on the horizon and the deep blue of the sky made for beautiful reflections in the terraces.  Great Fountain erupted while there was still a little bit of orange on the horizon.  With no pause, about 30 seconds after the 1-meter boil, it sent a massive column of water once, then twice, then the third portion straight up into the sky--a superburst against the fading sunset.  But the backlighting made the chevrons of rising, then falling water stand out.  With very little steam obscuring the droplets, the contrails of water brought oohs and aahs from the dozen or so photographers and other people who had gathered to watch the eruption.  A quarter moon and Venus on the southern horizon completed the scene.

 

Lynn Stephens

     

 
 		 	   		  
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