[Geysers] Trip Report April 29 to May 6, Upper Geyser Basin

[Stephen Eide]

Hello,

First the short animal report.  There were Sand Hill Cranes in the upper
basin for a few of the days I was in.  There is an occasional Osprey and I
think I saw a Turkey Vulture one day.  A Grizzly left foot prints now and
then in the basin and was seen in the government area on Saturday the 5th.
A big fellow I was told.  Some Bison were out but most of the elk are still
on the Madison.  I did not see the eagle on its nest by seven mile bridge
and was told that it is nesting in a different tree on the other side of
the river not visible from the road.  That may be a good thing.  I did see
Swans once coming in on the Madison by seven mile bridge.  I personally saw
no wolves or bears this trip but I did see a number of 'Yotes.  I also saw
a number of Snowshoe Rabbits.

Old Faithful was just like its name with no noticeable change.  Bronze
Spring was sometimes down a few inches and occasionally surging lightly
when it was down.  Other times I went by it was near overflow but I did not
see it in overflow this visit.  Big and Little Anemone were active and
looked unchanged.  Plume was erupting about every hour plus or minus a few
minutes.  Beehive as you know off the web cam is erupting every 11-20 hours
and the times between the start of the Indicator and Beehive were about 15
minutes.  I did not catch a closed interval on Depression.  Arrowhead
Spring was sometimes in light overflow, sometimes about a centimeter below
overflow.  Lion was active.  The number of eruptions in the Lion series
were hard to say because they either started before light or went on after
dark but they did appear to be longer series.  North Goggles and sometimes
Goggles would appear sometimes, I think it was on the longer series but I
cannot say for sure.   Sometime on every rise of North Goggles it would
boil to a foot or so for a few seconds.  About once between each Lion a
North Goggles minor would occur, sometimes with splashing out of Goggles.
The only North Goggles Major that happened the week I was there happened
when I went to check on Fountain (of course).  Well, you can't see
everything.  It could be nothing, but the two times that North Goggles was
active I also noticed Ear Spring was boiling stronger.  While I think Aurum
was on winter mode because of how it looked 3 hours after an eruption I
must admit I have no closed intervals in my records so I cannot say for
sure.  Beach Spring appeared to be normal.  Pump continues on its usually
pattern.   Sponge Geyser was very active, at least for Sponge.  I saw
several eruptions of Sponge that were two and even three feet high with
both the vents away from the boardwalk high and the center pool boiling to
a foot.   They were the biggest Sponge eruptions I have ever seen.  One
eruption of Plate was recorded in the log book for the week but I did not
see it.  No Dome for the week either.

I did not make it up to Solitary Geyser.

In the Sawmill group there were days of mostly Tardy cycles and days where
Sawmill was in control.  For the week there was at least one Penta and
several Churn eruptions seen, usually when I was out at Fountain.  I did
not see them.  No Uncertains were seen that I know of.  Slurp did not show
for the week.  Bulger had frequent minors but nothing from Bulger's Hole.
When you look in Bulger's Hole it is wet at the bottom but I think that
it is just ground water seeping in.  Crystal Spring was quiet.  Old Tardy
was active.

The intervals on Grand appear to be averaging just under eight hours, maybe
7.5 hours (to confirm what Lynn wrote in the Sput).  Along with the shorter
interval it appears the overall window is smaller too.  I saw mostly one
burst eruptions with just one two-burst to break it up

Oblong was active but I have only isolated single eruptions recorded with
no closed intervals.  Nothing from Giant, however it still goes quiet with
a Grotto marathon.   Grotto appears normal however I only made it down to
Grotto twice for the week.

Daisy had intervals of 2 hours 20 minutes to 2 hours 50 minutes for the
week.

At Riverside it appears the short intervals are just under six hours and
the long intervals are just over six hours.  For most of the week the
eruptions moved back a bit each day, from just before 1300 on Sunday to
1117 ie on Thursday and 1017 and 1627 on Friday.

Fan and Mortar still has not erupted.  I did not sit on it for long, the
weather went bad on both my two visits.

Artemesia was active but few eruptions were recorded.

By Three Sisters, Basin Spring is again full and overflowing.  Also the
feature beyond Basin Spring in the grass is active again as a perpetual
spouter to 1-2 feet with a steady run off.   Little Brother was quiet.

Now to look forward to Memorial weekend.

Stephen Eide
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