[Geysers] Closing week 2012, Upper Basin

[Stephen Eide]

Hello,

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but here is a trip report for October
30 to November 4, 2012.  I had to cut a few days off my trip for car
repairs, but I did get around to most of the geyser basins you can visit
via a car.  I will start with the upper basin..

Old Faithful is it's usual self, doing mostly longs.  I think the Visitor's
Center is still using 88 minutes to predict after a long eruption and 60
minutes for a short.  I saw Split Cone active from a distance on one day
but I forgot to write it down.

On the main hill I think Bronze Spring is just acting as an intermittent
spring but I admit I could be wrong.  Sometimes over this summer when I
walked by it was in steady overflow and bubbling, other times it was an
inch or two below overflow.  But at no time this summer did I see it
erupting.  Sulfide Spring is unchanged.  Little Squirt did show up in the
log book but I didn't get to see it.  The interval appears to be several
days but I don't have any more exact data.   Big and Little Anemone were
active all summer and I did watch both on closing week.  Improbable still
boils intermittently with a steady overflow.

Plume was interesting, the intervals appeared to be between 1 hour 45
minutes to over 3 hours.  There weren't a lot of watchers in the basin so I
am sure many eruptions were missed.  After an eruption Plume is only quiet
for 3-4 minutes and then you can hear it boil in the hole.   The boiling
gets quieter about 15 minutes after the last eruption for a few minutes,
then picks back up again.  It continues to boil until the eruption.  I also
noticed this behavior the first week in October just before it went dormant
when it was having intervals of 1.5 to 2.5 hours.  At that time the boiling
was slightly louder and stronger just before the next eruption.  On closing
week I just was never in front of Plume when an eruption started to check
to see if the stronger boiling preceded an eruption.

Beehive continued at about the same intervals as over the summer, I think
in the 12-18 hour range with an average of about 14 hours.  Again, with
short days, cold nights, and few people in the basin there were days when
no Beehive was recorded.  The bubblers were barely on for closing week but
just as weak steam vents starting hours before the eruption.

I never did see the Copper Kettle in overflow for closing week.  It is
clear of coins however (thank you Rita and the other Rangers for coin
collection on geyser hill).  Scissor Spring continues unchanged with the
East vent boiling and the West vent having intermittent overflow.  The hole
that was active on the other side of the boardwalk from Scissor Spring was
quiet for closing week with only weak bubbling.  Depression was active,
some eruptions were weak, some were stronger but for closing week after the
eruption the pool level never dropped down low enought to start the
Northwest "washing machine" vent.  Closed intervals were few but were about
4 hours.

There were two active vents in the GHG-3 area (three if you count The Mouth
on the other side of the boardwalk).  There is one vent that appears to be
a perpetual spouter.  The Mouth has enlarged it's vent, the old "mouth"
vent is still visable on the Southeast side of the vent but the Northwest
end of the vent has more than doubled in size.  The only eruptions of The
Mouth for closing week were mostly below ground with only a few drops of
water above the surface.  Arrowhead Spring was sometimes in overflow and
sometimes as much as an inch below overflow for closing week.  Heart Spring
was unchanged and clear.

Little Cub when I caught it was having intervals of about 40 minutes.  Lion
was having about one series a day.  I think most of the series had 3 to 6
eruptions but when I looked in my book I found I didn't copy the times out
of the log book in the Visitor's Center.   Nothing was seen from North
Goggles, not even heavy boiling.  Ear Spring and Beach Spring looked
normal.   I did not catch an eruption from Beach Geyser, only some
intermittent boiling.  Aurum was active but I don't know if a closed
interval was caught any time for closing week.   On the Aurum side of the
Boardwalk about 20 feet to the Southeast of Aurum one of the cool little
holes i that area has heated up and is active as a watery mud pot.  Doublet
pool continues to have intermittent rocking and thumping.  Sponge Geyser is
normal, I did not see any of the 3 foot "Sponge Majors" that I saw this
spring.  Pump continues to be fun to watch, erupting about every minute
with some eruptions to about 20 feet.  I did not pass in front of Giantess
for closing week but for the first week of October Vault Geyser was high,
almost in overflow, only missing overflow by a few millimeters.   Giantess,
alas, did not erupt.  The first week of October Infant Geyser was about an
inch below overflow.  Dome had one day of eruptive activity for closing
week.  Nothing was seen from Peanut Pool or Butterfly Spring.

Castle had the usual mix of majors and minors.  When I passed Tilt's Baby
sometimes it was full and sometimes it had no water so I think it was
erupting but I cannot prove it.  Crested Pool had a few 4 foot boils for me
for closing week.  Gizmo Geyser was active but I did not record any times.
The little geyser in the runoff channel by the bridge was quiet some times
and spitting at other times.  It does have a several inch high gravel rim
almost all the way around it.  I saw at least one of the Terra Cotta
Geysers erupt but I am not good at identifying which vent was erupting.
Deleted Teakettle was seen ie for closing week several times.  No eruptions
were seen from Snake Eyes or Rattler.  Sprinkler was frequently active.

In the Sawmill group Sawmill was in firm control, I did not see a Tardy
cycle all week.  I did not see any deep drains but when I was downbasin
once there was an Uncertain Geyser Call.  I did see one short Penta Steam
Phase eruption.  Spasmodic was normal  The only activity noted from Old
Tardy was some gurgling deep in the hole.  I did catch a few one foot
eruptions from the Southwest vent of Oval pool (the vent farthest from the
boardwalk).  Nothing was seen of Slurp, Crystal Spring, or Nifty Geysers.
Bulger was having frequent minors but I did not catch any major eruptions.
No eruptions or even water was seen out of Bulger's Hole.  The new hole
that is acting as a drain for Old Tardy (well, a few years old) continues
to intermittently steam and the steaming periods appear to have nothing to
do with Old Tardy's active periods.  However, that is all it has done so
far.

West Triplet and Rift were active during the week as was Percolator
Geyser.  Nothing was seen from the Sputniks.  After that nice period of
short 5.5 hour Grand intervals it has again lengthen out but it still
somewhat stable.  The intervals all were in a relatively tight (for Grand)
range of 7 to 8.5 hours.  The durations appear to be unchanged, at least
what I saw were in the 9.5 to 12 minute range.   I saw mostly single bursts
with one double, all Turban starts.

Topsoil Spring continues to have periods of intermittent overflow.  Shoe
Spring, Economic, East Economic, Wave Spring, and the little spring beside
Wave Spring are all lukewarm at best.  Economic looks like it has not had
any overflow recently.  Chromatic Pool has the energy and overflow and
Beauty pool is cooler and below overflow.  That said, Chromatic just has a
Blue-green color in the throat, not the beautiful light blue color it had
last year.

Oblong was active but I have no closed intervals.  Bijou Geyser was only
off at the end of a Grotto Marathon.  No Giant hot periods were noted.
Grotto did have at least one marathon for closing week.  Grotto Fountain
was caught a few times during the week.  The most that was seen of Spa is a
few boils to a couple of feet high during the Grotto marathon.  Riverside
spent most of the week erupting about every six hours.  For most of the
week there was an eruption within 30 minutes of 1100, then on Sunday the
4th it shortened up and erupted at 0935.  For this year a long interval
from Riverside is about 6 hours, the short intervals are about 5.5 hours.
The time of overflow does not appear to have changed.

Alas, Fan and Mortar did not erupt, it appears it may be taking another
sabbatical.  Water from the Firehole river is still running into East
Sentinel. it is boiling but only to about a foot and I think not enough to
erupt in the near future.  I did not make a trip past Fan and Mortar so I
have little to report from the farther down basin.  Artimesia was seen ie a
couple of times for the week.

Daisy was erupting with an interval of about two hours 45 minutes most of
the time.  Bank Geyser was active, Radiator was not.  No Splendid Geyser
eruptions either.   I did not catch Pyramid Geyser but I only waited at
Daisy a few times.   I did not make it out to Black Sand Pool but the folks
who did said it was still thumping and boiling, sometimes stongly,
sometimes weakly, it depended on when you walked out.

I did see White Geyser a few times for the week and no one walked out to
look at the Three Sisters.  Little Brother was not active.  Neither was the
perpetural spouter on the other side of Basin Spring.

More reports to follow,

Stephen Eide
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