[Geysers] Trip report end of 2012 Norris

[Stephen Eide]

Salutations,

Here is a short report on Norris Basin on 11-1-12  Unfortunately I did not
have much time in the basin, but here goes.  The little steam vent below
the Visitor's center on the way to Ledge that caused the boardwalk to be
moved is now just barely warm.  On the way to Congress pool just by the
sign on Solfaterra hillsides the sinkhole that appeared a year or two ago
is getting bigger  It is about a foot and a half to two feet across now.
Congress Pool is 5-6 feet below overflow and it appears to be lukewarm.
The upper (eastern) part of the porcelain basin appears very hot with lots
of steaming vents and water.  From the end of the boardwalk where the trail
to the campground starts as you look up the hill there is a cave or grotto
that sometimes has a spouter or geyser in it.  Well now it is full of
opalescent water which overflows down into the basin.  There is one geyser
at the bottom of the hill just near where the Boardwalk ends on the flat
just before it hits the incline.  It erupts out of a pool to a few feet
high.  On the slightly higher table to the northeast there are many
steaming vents and some small perpetual spouters.  This area is as active
as I have ever seen in the last decade.  Unfortunately besides Blue and
maybe Feisty I don't know the names of any of these features for sure, and
Feisty and Blue did not erupt for me.

Ledge geyser has changed greatly over the last decade.  You'll need a
report from someone who gets to Norris more often to describe all the
changes.  There are two strongly steaming vents uphill to she south of
Ledge that are very active.  Also the little perpetual steamer/splatterer
below Ledge closer to the trail (to the East) is quiet active.  On the
other side of Ledge is a roaring steamer (Dark Cavern?). Nothing else was
active in this area for the short time I was around.

I know Whirligig has been active this year but it was not for me during
this visit.  In fact not much on the flat was active for me.  Constant rose
once and dropped but did not erupt.  Something erupted as I was almost out
of eyesight of the basin, perhaps Africa but i am not sure.  Again, I am
not the best person to identify the vents in this area.  Bear Den and Ebony
has some light steam on this cold afternoon.  The area around Glacial Melt
and (?Cat's Eye?, I hate it when I can't find my book to check names) was
as quiet as I have seen in years.  Most of the little vents in this area
were below overflow and there was almost no bubbling in the entire area.

Forgotten Fumarole was not active as I passed.  The perpetual vent of
Minute Geyser continues to be active.  There are a couple of perpetual
spouters on the flat from Minute to Monarch that get six inches to over a
foot high.  One has changed to a creamsicle color.  Monarch Geyser is quiet
with a slight steady overflow.  I know sometimes in the past it would
occasionally have periodic overflow but from the edges of the pool it did
not look like that had happened recently.

Fearless is boiling and Palpitator Spring is Palpitating.  Rubble Geyser
showed no signs of recent activity.  Corporal Geyser did nothing while I
was there but the runoff channel was wet. Dog's Leg had some light periodic
bubbling.  The pool of Veteran Geyser has over half full of opalescent
water but the eruptions were all minors.

I did not see or hear any activity from Vixen.  The Boardwalk by Vixen is
complete, you no longer walk on the ground in this area.  In fact the
Boardwalk is closer to Vixen and you have a much better view of the vent.
My only fear is that it will be much easier to throw things in the vent.
You see, I believe in the overall goodness of humanity, but I also know we
spawn way too many fools.  I did hear MA Bellingham did catch some activity
from Vixen on closing day.  The vent that appeared about a year or two ago
between Vixen and Pearl to the east of the boardwalk about 30 feet from the
boardwalk continues to be active but with less strength.  It barely
splashes above ground level.  Pearl Geyser was quiet with almost no
overflow and the darker coloring of the pool continues.  On the other side
of the Boardwalk from Pearl the springs that popped up about a decade ago
are weaker with only one of the springs splashing strongly.  Also the
colors have been changing, only one of these features still has the
creamsicle color, the others are getting darker brown.  I saw no changes in
Porkchop or the springs around Porkchop.

I did not see Orbicular erupt, however there are three other geyser vents
between Orbicular and the raised boardwalk to the South and all of them did
erupt for me.  Son of Green Dragon was quiet this trip as was Daughter of
Green Dragon.  Yellow Funnel Spring was muddy brown and constantly
bubbling.  The blue mud hole to the west of the boardwalk was nicely
active.

Green Dragon Spring was very quiet with little steam on this cold day.
There is a little pool that the runoff from Green Dragon runs into that is
acting as a drain, both the runoff from Green Dragon and a bigger pool to
the West flow into this pool from both sides so it must be a drain.  The
bigger pool to the West of Green Dragon appears from the steam to be very
hot with its own water supply.  The walk to Echinus from here was
uneventful.  The area above Arch Steam Vent where the thermal area extended
up the hill continues to be hot.  Collapse Crater Spring was quiet and
below overflow with what looks like some sulfur crystals in the pool.
Echinus wasn't even boiling strongly, it just has quiet, steady overflow.
It also did not steam that strongly either.

Cistern Spring appeared normal with no changes.  At Steamboat I did not
stay long, I saw some North starts and some South starts with no good
height.  There was a little mud volcano feature below the lower platform
and it has lost its side, now you can see intermittent bubbling with small
overflow a couple of times a minute out of the break in the cone.  But that
was the most exciting thing at Steamboat.  Emerald Spring was not erupting.

I hope to send off a Fountain Area report tomorrow.  Alas, Morning eluded
me again.

Stephen Eide
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: </geyser-list/attachments/20121120/07d5e716/attachment.html>