[Geysers] Geyser Report September 26

[Lynn Stephens]

Items from the OFVC logbook
 
Castle 1052 (minor) 1534ns (major)
Daisy 0715, 0934, 1151, 1843
Fountain 1332
Grand 0634ie (1B) 1428 (T1C)
Great Fountain 0650iene, 1525, p = 0
Riverside 1114ie, 1741
Beehive 1258 (1246 = Inc)
Fan & Mortar -- erupted overnight 9/25-9/26
Lone Star 1230vr major
Plume 0738, 0843, 1036, 1235, 1337, 1435ie, 1528, 1816
Aurum 1229ie
Grotto 0545ie, 0848 restart
Grotto Fountain 0844
Lion 1554
Little Cub 1145ns
Oblong 1111ie
Plate 0727ns
Sawmill 1140ie
Sputnik 1433
Victory 0545ie
 
Little Brother 1139 active
 
Bead 1343, 1414
Box Spring 1337, 1401
Pink 1910ie
Pink Cone 1837ie
 
White Dome 1430, 1515, 1603; 1838
UNNG in Tangled Creek 1620
 
Friday (9/25) evening I left my radio on and heard Kitt call Beehive at 2335.  I was slightly surprised because I had gotten an email from her saying she wasn't coming in this weekend.  I considered calling her to find out if she was headed to F&M.  If so, I would have joined her.  Instead the warmth of my bed won out over a dark (the nearly half moon had already gone down below the horizon), cold sit with a possible eruption of F&M.  If I had called her, we probably both would have gone out and gotten the eruption.  

 

Bottom Vent was still gurgling when I arrived at 0545 (9/26) but none of the other vents were making any sounds and there was no steam coming from any of the vents.  Possible eruption time--between 1 am and 4 am.  The boardwalk and path opposite the benches were soaked; the bridge was dry.  Wind direction would have been horrible for viewing the eruption.  


Once the sun rose this morning, the smoke plume from the Arnica Creek fire was visible until basin fog obscured it.  The basins were also hazy all day from smoke and I could smell it this morning.  I heard the road from West Thumb to Bridge Bay was closed for part of the day again.

 

One of the tour guides from West Yellowstone told me about his experience on Friday.  He had a bus load of photographers from the Photographic Society of America conference.  They left West at about 6 am, went to Old Faithful, West Thumb, Bridge Bay, Canyon, then to Mammoth.  Then they reversed the trip, going from Mammoth to Bridge Bay, only to discover the road was closed.  So, back to Mammoth, up to Livingston, over to Bozeman, then down to West Yellowstone, arriving back at West at 11 pm.  (When they got to Gardiner, they learned the road from Bridge Bay to West had reopened, but by then it was just as fast to go to Livingston, etc. as it would have been to turn around.)

 

This afternoon's eruption of Beehive spread a curtain of water across Geyser Hill toward Plume.  Unfortunately, the sun angle wasn't right to get a rainbow painting the curtain.  Overheard while waiting through the Indicator--That one is called "Signal Geyser" because it signals people that Beehive is going to erupt.

 

Overheard while waiting for the Indicator--"I heard a kitten meowing" as the woman walked down the asphalt path from Old Faithful toward the Inn parking lot, turning her head back and forth searching all around for a kitten.  I suspect it was a raven rather than a missing kitten.

 

Response from a couple that I called back from the edge of Three Sisters Spring:  "So, where's Old Faithful?"  I wanted to tell them they certainly wouldn't find it there, but instead just gave them directions.  

 

This afternoon after Great Fountain I did not post a prediction on the board because we never know when someone will get back to update the prediction.  I did, however, erase the half hour prediction I had put up, which may have been a mistake.  I drove out to the Lower Basin hoping to photograph White Dome at sunset, also hoping the smoke in the air would give us a colorful sunset.  As I arrived at the Great Fountain parking lot, it was full.  I thought perhaps the crowd was there to photograph the sunset reflection in Great Fountain's terraces, but only three or four tripods were set up.  I stopped, and loudly announced that while this was a great place to watch a sunset, if they were hoping for an eruption, it had already happened at 3:30 pm and I didn't expect the next one until 2 am.  Most of the people were greatful for the information, but one person tried to challenge my announcement by asking in a rather rude tone, "How would you know?  Were you here?"  Thankfully, I could say "Yes, I was" instead of trying to explain that I could tell it had erupted by looking at the type of activity.  I drove on to White Dome and watched the cars pass by as people decided they weren't going to wait for the next eruption.

 

I didn't get the sunset picture of White Dome I had been hoping for, but I noticed Pink Cone was in eruption, so went over there instead to try to get some photographs.  Julie Thomson would have been overjoyed if she had been there because when I looped back around Pink Cone a second time, it was still in eruption and Pink was also in eruption.

 

Lynn Stephens 

 


 
 		 	   		  
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