[Geysers] Geyser Report 6/4 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

THIS REPORT IS FOR THE PERSONAL USE OF THE READERS OF THIS LISTSERV AND IS NOT TO BE USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE, INCLUDING PUBLICATION IN THE SPUT OR IN THE TRANSACTIOS. Since Fountain was almost the first geyser I saw this morning (Great Fountain had passed the point of having large bursts by the time I got there at 0515; and Pink Cone was completely quiet, although the platform was still wet at 0530; Artemisia was below overflow when I got there at 0600 and had not yet come to overflow when I left; and Atomizer had light steam when I arrived but did nothing during the two hours I was there), I was going to do some analysis of the double intervals following a Fountain eruption with a duration in the low 30 minutes.  However, I got home later than I expected tonight, so will save the Fountain analysis for later. The first geyser I was trying to see that I did see was Till this morning.  I also saw it again this evening, for a closed interval of just under 10 hours. I made two attempts at Atomizer today.  After Fountain this morning I headed south to park at Biscuit Basin to walk up to Atomizer.  About two miles north of Biscuit Basin there was a traffic jam with several rangers there trying to keep moving instead of stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures of the grizzly bear that was down near the east bank of the Firehole River.  When I arrived at Artemisia about 1130, it had come to overflow, with just a light trickle off the waterfalls.  For the next two hours I watched Atomizer rise and fall, but never bubble.  I had planned to spend the rest of the day there until two young women came walking quickly up the trail toward me and said they had just come upon a grizzly bear about five minutes down the trail toward Biscuit Basin.  I really didn't want to have another bear encounter at Artemisia, so I quickly put my chair in its bag, and my pack on my back, and headed south toward Morning Glory with them.  They kept warning each group of people coming toward us.  One family was going to continue north along the trail until the 9-year old daughter convinced her mother they should turn around and the mother convinced the father. I took the trail from Splendid back to Biscuit Basin, When I got down to where I could see across the river to Artemisia, I thought I could see the bear just south of Artemisia.  I could see a couple of people at Artemisia.  When I got to the parking lot the couple from Artemisia confirmed that the bear was just south of Artemisia, so they had turned around instead of following it down the trail.  So, I never did get to see an eruption of Atomizer.  I did confirm that I can see Slide Geyser from the trail from Splendid to Biscuit Basin, so may try to get a few Slide intervals tomorrow. The other geyser news is that Pink Cone made a jump shift.  Intervals had been 22 1/2 to 25 hours, with start times of 0634 on 5/29, 0701 on 5/30, 0753 on 5/31, and 0624 on 6/1.  I  didn't drive past Pink Cone until about 9 am on 6/2.  On 6/3 I noted it was finished by 0515 and it was finished by 0530 this morning.  This afternoon during Great Fountain's overflow, Steve (from South Dakota, who is here with his father Ron) asked when I expected Pink Cone.  I said sometime in the middle of the night.  He replied he had seen it at 1735ie.  Since that had been only about 12 minutes before he told me and we couldn't see a steam cloud, I thought maybe it was mid-cycle splashing because the interval just didn't fit anything.  But during Great Fountain's pause, I could see the steam cloud.  When I checked Pink Cone a short time later, the frying pan road bubbler was going, so it was a regular eruption. I saw a snowshoe bunny rabbit at Artemisia early this morning and another one this evening just west of Madison Campground on my way back to West Yellowstone. The weather was uncomfortably warm today, with a few thunderstorms late this afternoon. Lynn Stephens 		 	   		  
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