[Geysers] Closing week report, Biscuit, Black Sand, and Midway

[Stephen Eide]

Greetings again,

I hope this is better late than never.  This is a trip report from October
30 to November 4, 2012.

In the Black Sand Basin there were a few changes but not much.  I was not
in the area for long but during that time Cliff Geyser was quite active as
usual.  Ragged and Jagged geysers were only having small eruptions of a
foot or two.  The perpetual spouter on the same side of the Boardwalk from
Ragged and Jagged but a bit farther out was active to six inches to a
foot.  Green Spring appeared to be hotter to me with some bubbling over the
vent.  However there was buffalo scat in the splash zone that did not
appear disturbed so I don't suspect any recent eruptions.  The little
unnamed geyser uphill and farther back from Green Spring (I think this is
BSB-2) had water in it and was doing some weak bubbling.  This is the first
time in a few years I have seen water in this feature.  Cinnamon Spouter
continues as a perpetual spouter apparently however the new vent it opened
up this Spring was also still bubbling lightly and this side vent still has
a clear splash zone cleared of sinter gravel around the pool.  I cannot
rule out occasional eruptions by the side vent.  I don't seem to be able to
keep the location of Handkerchief Pool, Handkerchief Geyser, and the
unnamed geyser in a line out there straight, but the feature closest to the
boardwalk was erupting to about a foot or so, the other two features
farther out were just bubbling.  The vents under the raised boardwalk by
Rainbow Pool continue to weaken some of the support posts but others in the
same area are now quieter and not continually soaking the support beams.
Rainbow pool and Sunset lake were not erupting.

The little spring to the east of the boardwalk half way to Emerald pool is
still active, bubbling, and has steady overflow.  It looks unchanged over
the last two years.  Emerald Pool continues to be cool and dark
green-brown.

Spouter Geyser was not active during my short stop but I did see it IE from
the road several times over the week.  Sunlight Geyser continues to have
short eruptions splashing water about two feet high, the durations were
only a few seconds and I am not sure I caught a closed interval but I think
the interval was in the half to two minute range.

I did not make it out to Black Sand Pool but I talked to several others who
did.  It continues to occasionally thump and boil and one 4-5 foot boil was
reported to me.  It appears that sometimes the thumping and boiling are
less frequent and weaker, but a few hours later they are stronger and more
frequent.

In Biscuit Basin Rusty Geyser continues to be a frequent performer.  Dusty
continues to just steam lightly.  At Salt and Pepper most of the erupting
comes from the Salt eent, the Pepper vent gets all the runoff from Black
Diamond and is very weak.  Just at the river level where the runoff from
Salt and Pepper meets the river there are some bubbling vents that are an
inch or two high.  It appears for most of the year the river level is high
enough to cover them so I suspect they can only be seen in the late
fall/winter.

Some of the summer/fall eruptions of Black Diamond appear to have caused
further erosion in the runoff channel into Salt and Pepper.  It looks like
there is no longer any overflow out of Black Opal Pool, all the overflow
out of Black Diamond now runs into Salt and Pepper.  The water in Black
Diamond was not the deep muddy texture seen after an eruption but it is
still lightly muddy.

Sapphire Pool appears to be unchanged with the exception of extensive
graffiti in the runoff channels.  Landon from the Visitor's Center came out
on closing day to clean up the graffiti at both Biscuit Basin and in the
Fountain area.  Thank you very much.

Jewel Geyser was active with intervals in the 6-7 minute range.  I did not
see Shell Spring on 11-1-12 when I was checking out Biscuit Basin but I did
see it ie from the parking lot the day before.  The only geyser I have seen
erupt all year in the Silver Globe area is Avoca Spring.  It has been
active each time I have visited this year, erupting about once a minute
with a height of two to eight feet.  It can be quite fun to watch.  West
Mustard is still quiet with rare bubbles however the water level appears to
be a few inches higher than it was this spring.  East Mustard was active
but for some reason I kept forgetting to look over to catch the start of
the eruption.  I think the interval was about 7 minutes but I could be off
by a couple of minutes.   I did see one geyser erupt to the north of the
Boardwalk but I can't find Scott's book to be sure of the name.  Sorry
about that.  You can hear Black Pearl and Coral Geysers bubbling in their
holes but nothing is making it to the surface.

My Midway Geyser basin is miserably weak, I did not find time to stop and
look around.  I did catch Flood Geyser several times from the road.  I
appeared to always miss Till, although sometimes the runoff channels were
wet so I think it was active, I just can't testify it was.  I can say there
were no reports of Excelsior Geyser erupting even though I suggested to
Bill Warnock he maybe should go watch it.  I mean, after catching Black
Diamond closing week last year and that wonderful Morning/Fountain dual on
10-29-12, I thought it was worth the try.  Maybe next year...

Stephen Eide
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