[Geysers] Trip Report closing week 2012 Lower Geyser Basin

[Stephen Eide]

Greetings and Salutations,

Here is the trip report for closing week for the lower geyser basin.
Unfortunately I did not catch Morning Geyser, I arrived a day late.  And I
must admit much of this data came from Maureen Edgerton who knows more
about the lower basin than I do and has been nice enough to share her data
with everyone.  First the Firehole Drive.

Lemon Spring was doing something but the only thing anyone saw was it
either in quiet overflow or inches to over a foot below overflow.  It
appears to take hours to refill once it is down a foot or so.  There were
no wet areas around the pool so I don't suspect any erupting, just perhaps
a bit heavier boiling like was seen a few years back.  Firehole Spring
looked like it always does to me without change.

Botryoidal Spring was active however I did not catch any close intervals.
I did not catch A-0, A-1, A-2, or Logbridge.  Maybe Maureen has more data
on these.  Great Fountain was normal, I think the average interval for the
week was 11-12 hours.

White Dome was the only thing active in the White Dome group that I caught.
The evil twin of Gemini was always in control and Pebble Geyser did not
come close to overflow. I saw nothing from Tangled Creek but I only watched
for a few minutes here and there.

Pink Cone was seen several times for the week. The average interval for
Pink Cone was like Lynn Stephens reported on data earlier this year, about
20-23 hours. Also seen in this area were Bead, Box, Labial, and Narcissus.
I did not catch Pink Geyser during the week.

Steady Geyser was active to about a foot high.  Gray Bulger (I think, the
vent to the east of these holes) was acting as a perpetual spouter to about
three feet high.  Artesia continues to be nicely active; erupting about
once a minute with a height of 10-20 feet.  One of the hot springs to the
north of the road appears to have more overflow, with water running down to
the road and along it for a while.

In the Fountain group Celestine Pool continues to boil nicely now and then
with some boils about 3 feet high and occasionally higher.  Silex Spring
has stayed clear and beautiful all summer.  The light bubbling in the pool
is somewhat stronger and the steam bubbles still flash into the bottom of
the pool.  The mud pots were a bit subdued for closing week which is usual
for this time of year.  The Fumarole at the top of the slope closest to the
mud pots was quite active as a steamer in September and early October but
after the mid-October rain and snow it became wetter and was a nice brick
red perpetual spouter.  No activy was seen out at Old Cone.  Bearclaw is
quite active, I did not catch a close interval for this trip but earier in
the summer it was in the 15-18 minute range.  Lynn Stephens, Maureen
Edgerton, and Tara Cross have all talked about Twig and its relationship to
Fountain and Morning, their data is better than mine.

Jet is like normal for the most part, sometimes off for hours and the rest
of the time the intervals are in the 6-11 minute range.  Eruptions of Super
Frying Pan may have no effect on Jet or they can make it skip one eruption
but the effect is not dependable.  For the few eruptions I say Super Frying
Pan did not shut Jet off.

Super Frying Pan has continued to change its eruption however.  It rises
and drops at the start of the eruption three or four times before
committing fully to the eruption but now it is pausing during the
eruption.  About every two minutes the eruption pauses and then restarts
and it keeps this up until it goes into steam phase about 8-10 minutes
after the eruption's start.   Usually this means about three pauses during
the eruption.

Spasm has changed also.  It is not doing boiling rises every four minutes
for 20-30 minutes before the eruption starts.  What was doing was slowly
rising in the vent while boiling; then it pauses just where the water is
visible from the boardwalk.  It will stay at this level for some time (I
forgot to get an exact time for this phase of the activity), I think about
a half an hour before the boiling increases and the eruption starts.  Then
it gradually weakens and finally quits boiling, then starts to drop.
Although the eruptions did appear to last about a half an hour I did not
see it ever reach overflow.  It was hard to catch the duration pf Spasm
because the starts occur while the water level is down in the vent and the
end of the eruption just slowly dies out so the half hour is just an
estimate.  Once it starts, it appear to have eruptions about every two
hours until Fountain starts.  I do not know if the activity is any
different with Morning eruptions.

Jelly was quiet with widely varying water levels, at its highest it was
still a few inched below overflow.  It appeared to be warm, not hot.  The
sinkhole under the boardwalk near Spasm Geyser (and about six feet to the
east) continues to grow.  It has dropped the ground out from under one of
the boardwalk supports but there are several more support bases under the
same beam and the structural integrity of the boardwalk does not appear to
be effected.  Clepsydra appeared to be normal, I must admit I did not pay
much attention to it.

Out in the Kaleidoscope area I think I caught Kaleidoscope, Honey's Vent,
some reincarnation of Angle, and perhaps Impatient Miser Geyser.  I used to
be surer of the vents in that area but after talking to Mike Keller last
year I learned I was calling some of them wrong, so now I wonder if I
really know what that vent out there erupting really is.

Stephen Eide
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