[Geysers] GeyserReport 5/30/2011

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS POST IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE READERS OF THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE REPRODUCED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT.
 
There were  several geysers I follow with windows opening about 4 am this morning, which conflicted my need to get at least a few hours sleep last night.  Great Fountain went about when I expected, which was before I left West Yellowstone; till probably went about the time I expected to, which was about the time I got to Madison Junction; Fountain went about when I expected, but I hadn't quite gotten there yet; and Pink Cone was truly kind to me and started later than I expected, so I finally got to see a Pink Cone start.
 
I was estimating a start time between 3 and 4 am for Great Fountain based on the duration of yesterday's eruption.  As I drove across Fountain Flats, the steam and snow flakes were so thick that I could barely see whether Clepsydra was in eruption, so I swung through Firehole Lake Drive to check Great Fountain before going back to Fountain.  Great Fountain was an empty crater, but there was still steam on the platform and I could hear water trickling off the platform, confirming my predicted eruption time of sometime between 3 and 4 am.  So I didn't worry about getting out to Great Fountain until after 2 this afternoon.  After 91 mintues of overflow, Great Fountain erupted at 16:42, a double interval of 29h34m, probably one interval of ABOUT 16 - 16 1/2 hours and one interval of ABOUT 13 - 13 1/2 hours.  I was hoping for a long, strong eruption this afternoon so I would have a chance to catch the start of tomorrow morning's eruption, but don't think this afternoon's eruption expended enough energy to push tomorrow morning's prediction out past 5 am.
 
One gazer indicated he always parks his vehicle way back so it won't get doused with water from Great Fountain.  He told those of us who were waiting during the weak second burst that he was staying through the third burst because whenever he's left prior to the third burst, the pause gives him time to walk back to his vechicle, the as he drives it the third burst starts, is a strong burst, and douses his vehicle anyway.  So today he waited to leave until the pause between the third and fourth, telling us we would get a good fourth.  Sure enough, the fourth burst had two blue bubbles with very loud POPS and 70-80 foot bursts.  Those of us who stayed were quite grateful to him for being the sacrificial gazer.
 
Back to this morning--Pink Cone was not in eruption when I drove past.  I drove on over to Fountain Paint Pots.  As I was getting my pack and chair, I realized the sound of water I was hearing was Fountain, not just Clepsydra.   I left the pack and chair, scurried up to Fountain, but had already missed the eruptions of Morning's Thief.  Based on Fountain's end time of 05:11, I estimated the start time for Fountain based on recent durations of between 04:30 and 04:40.  I guessed Fountain between 2 and 5.  So this afternoon I went to Great Fountain to watch for overflow, knowing that Steven Eide was going to Fountain.  I sent several visitors and a couple gazers over Fountain with the reassurance that I would give a radio call with the half hour prediction for Great Fountain so they wouldn't miss Great Fountain.  
 
Fountain, at 16:15, started well before Great Fountain, but since that was only five minutes before my Great Fountain window opened, several of the visitors and gazers came back to Great Fountain, so missed Fountain.  
 
Steven reported a duration of 33 minutes for Fountain.  The double interval was 21h15m, an average of 10h37m.  However, the two individual intervals were about one hour less than that and one hour more than that.
 
Other items:  
After getting the end of Fountain and staying long enough to be certain that Clepsydra wasn't going to pause and Twig wasn't going to start, I went back to Pink Cone.  I got to "see" my first Pink Cone start of the year.  I had been there for nearly an hour without seeing any water splash out of Pink Cone.  The first surge just built to the eruption this time.  From yesterday's ie to today's start was an interval of >25h20m.  I didn't stay until the end to make an estimate of the start time, so can't make a better approximation of the interval.
 
A triple interval on Till of 27 hours, gave an average of exactly 9h00m.  Till's regularity allowed me to be just 1 minute off on my prediction for this afternoon's eruption.
 
I did go to the Upper Basin for Beehive today.  As I was making the turn off the entrance road to go to the Basin Store parking , I saw a coyote trotting down the road with an animal's leg bone sticking several inches out of both sides of the coyote's mouth.  I pulled over to watch it, but didn't get the camera out due to poor visibility through the blowing snow.  Between the start of the Indicator and the start of Beehive, I noted a mallard duck fly-by the overlook headed upstream along the Firehole River, and several mountain bluebirds variously perched on snags and buffalo turds around the path and boardwalk overlook.  Jim H. reported seeing the grizzly between Mallard Lake and Biscuit Basin.  Apparently some of the bears either didn't receive their eviction notices, or decided to ignore them.  I'm glad Jim told me that this afternoon; otherwise I might not have gone up to watch part of Fountain before dawn this morning, and definitely would not have stayed the extra 20 minutes after Fountain ended to see whether Clepsydra would stop.
 
I didn't see any buses or RV's on Firehole Lake Drive today.  Maybe the Park Service is getting the word out to the tour companies that buses aren't allowed on Firehole Lake Drive.
 
Lynn
 
 
  		 	   		  
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