[Geysers] Geyser report 14-15 Jul 12

[Karen Low]

There was a drowning at Firehole Canyon swimming area the summer before last.  She was 22.  This is what prompted NPS to set the new lower flow limit for opening the swimming area.

Karen Low


----- Original Message -----
From: Gordon Bower <taigabridge at hotmail.com>
To: geysers at lists.wallawalla.edu
Cc: 
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 3:08 PM
Subject: [Geysers] Geyser report 14-15 Jul 12



I wound up spending most my time on the Firehole Lake Loop and at Black Sand. Apparently all the gazers were having fun at Norris rather than in their usual haunts (though I did hear two voices on the radio in the Upper Basin.)

Those of you who worked with the interval vs. duration formula for Great Fountain, how long of an eruption does it take to cause a 16+ hour interval?

I saw the Saturday afternoon eruption with Lynn. Two not-very-blue-but-loud-when-they-popped bubbles a few seconds apart in the first series, otherwise quite an anemic eruption, so I was not surprised to see an electronic time of 0320 posted Sunday morning. The prediction on the sign was for 1520.

I came back around 1300 Sunday, and didn't see water. Still no water at 1430. Just below overflow at 1600. Back again expecting to see an eruption shortly at 1700 - and no water in the pool. It rose and fell AGAIN, nearly out of sight. It finally got its act together and overflowed at 1810, rising very briskly to pour out water in all directions within just a few minutes. Big boil at 1927 followed by an 8-minute pause.

A dozen or so people actually got there at the beginning of the window and waited the full six hours. Many more came and went and came back, as I did. A ranger stopped by after 4, but, inexplicably, left without changing the "1:20 to 5:20" on the sign even though it was not overflowing so she could easily have changed it to 5:30-7:30 (or whatever) at 4. At first I was speculating about the possibility that the electronic number has been misinterpreted. But I think it really WAS a 16-hour interval: it was breezy and mostly sunny but not terribly hot (mid-70s), but a fairly large area on the west side of the outer terraces dried out. Post-wild-phase it takes close to 24 hours for the front side to also dry out, and I can't remember any other time when I have seen the back side dry.

The people sitting there from 1 to 4 reported seeing at least six White Domes and I saw three myself after that even though most my attention was directed at Botryoidal and A-0. Botryoidal was in a variable mood, 3m50s to 5m50s, and A-0 also ranged from 26 to 30 minutes. I saw 3 eruptions of Logbridge in 7 hours observation time (1706 and 2234 Saturday, 1409 Sunday) but don't know if that was a closed interval or not Saturday; I never had a stretch of more than an hour and a half without some interruption.

A highlight Sunday evening was a coyote coming down from the hills behind White Creek and getting caught within 50 feet or so of Botryoidal when an eruption happened. The startled animal took off running straight toward the road to the delight of tourists packing up after Great Fountain, then slowed to a lope, crossed the road near the culvert, and followed the road toward Firehole Pool. 

"Spire" eluded me all weekend. I never saw anything out of Gemini either, but the water level in Pebble varied by almost a foot from one trip around the loop to the next. Pink Cone was chuffing steam Sunday morning which I presume means it erupted before sunrise and finished some time before I got in to the park.
Lemon Spring was full Sunday morning, down a foot at 1300, and continued to slowly fill through the afternoon.

On the people-watching front, it is amazing where people find to park their cars. At Black Sand I saw three or four cars angle-parked on the north side of the lot -- the first car parallel to and almost touching the boardwalk to Opalescent Pool -- on two occasions. At a time when the official spots were full, but the more obvious parallel parking along the perimeter of the lot by Whistle and on the exit road were not full.

Admittedly this is "old news" now, but despite it having been a hot and dry summer until this past week, the Firehole Canyon swimming area was closed for all of 2011, and is still closed at present. The signage indicates it is closed anytime the flow is above 300 cfs. Last August I was checking the numbers online and watching them come down, 315, 312, 310, 307... and then suddenly leap up 10 or 15 cfs at 7:00 in the morning one day in early September, as if someone had 'kicked the gaging station.' The data for last fall have since been revised upward by 10 or 15 cfs to take out the hiccup so there is no discontinuity in the graph. I would like to think it was a routine recalibration. My suspicious side wondered if an adjustment was deemed necessary to avoid reopening the swimming area... supposedly the median discharge is low enough that if this policy remains in place, the swimming area should be open about 3 years out of 4 in July and August. But I
 have to worry that the po
wers that be are hoping to keep it closed long enough that they are able to close it permanently.

I don't remember seeing the streamflow policy posted before 2011. If the policy was the same, the swimming area should have opened about July 1st in 2010 and July 15th in 2009. Does anyone happen to know if it did? 

Personally I think it is a misguided decision to close Firehole Canyon at 300 cfs instead of 350 or 400 or some other high number such that it is closed only during the spring runoff peak. One advantage of having that public swimming area is that in years past I very rarely saw anybody swimming anywhere ELSE. People are now going swimming in at least a half dozen different places. Some of these are harmless and logical -- the 'beach' on the Gibbon River in walking distance of Madison Junction is obvious enough -- but Saturday there were cars in the first pullout north of Firehole Canyon Drive and a dozen people were in the water. The bend right above Firehole Cascade, where the road used to flood in high-water years before it was rebuilt in the 90s. I suppose the water gets shallow enough that any non-toddler could regain his footing before being swept over the top... but really, swimming within sight of the top of a waterfall?? How is closing the
 largest and safest place to 
swim, and pushing people into the marginal locations, a good safety policy?

GRB























                          
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