[Geysers] Lower geyser basin days

[Maureen Edgerton]

Hello everyone.  

It was me, Maureen, that decided to name the geyser in question (at Fountain complex)  near New Bellafontaine "Elusive" because it is ELUSIVE as far as getting a good photo of it goes.  I have seen bursts that are 6 feet high, often, and have seen it more and more these past few weeks.  I have not been able to get a good photo of it, and so my frustration made me call it Elusive.  This name has no rights to the geyser, I just called it that for lack of anything else and because it amused me.  I spend a lot of time out there and am easily amused!

It can be called whatever anyone wants. it matters not to me.  I know Steve Robinson and some other folks were getting photos of it while they were here, so maybe they could capture one with a speedy lens that I could not catch with my iPhone.  Any and all photos are welcome, send them to me please!!

So Fountain is still in its pattern of 2012, 10- 13 hour intervals depending on the duration of the eruption beforehand and also the wind conditions.  If there is a 45 minute duration and there is a lot of wind, expect a 12 1/2 to 13 hour interval.  If the duration is 35, and it is still, it could be 10 hours.  The issue now is we are only seeing one eruption a day, as the second one is in the dark, and cold, and no one has been out there.  The past week, if you check the intervals on Geyser Times (www.geysertimes.org) it had been moving back about 45 minutes a day, until today, when it was almost the same time as yesterday, though I did not input any time as I missed the whole eruption.

There was fog today like I rarely see, not clearing in the lower basin until 1100, very late.  I was keeping watch over Great Fountain as well, so I missed the Fountain eruption today.  Sad day, yet Great Fountain has been doing some very interesting things, so my gazer ways lead me there instead.

On September 15th, the 1728 eruption of Great Fountain turned into quite a spectacle.  First off, we have not had many "super bursts" this season observed, and this one, while it was not that, was very tall, and very wide, and then both tall and wide, and then just tall, very nice SUPERB first series.  Graham Meech was in the area for his last day trying to get Morning, and I radioed him to come to Great Fountain for a 3rd series blue bubble (wishful thinking, yet there had been a lot of them of late during the 3rd series.)  Graham arrives at the end of the 3rd series, yet there had been no blue bubble.  The 2nd and 3rd series were weak and short.

The 4th series continued in this manner and Graham was whining (just kidding, but kind of…) that the blue bubble I had promised him had not occurred.  Well, the 5th started with a nice blue bubble, so that put an end to that whining, and then continued to be a very strong and very tall series with lots of nice bursts.  Then in the 6th series, there were 2 bubbles and one tall blue "shoot" and more large bursts.  By now, we had to stay to see what transpired, so we waited for the 7th series, and another blue bubble to start the series.  So now Graham (and others) had seen 4 blue bubbles…what could come next?

What came next was an 8th and 9th series, not as strong or tall, yet definitely 20 foot bursts, maybe higher, and we switched position to over by the willows to get the nice view of the sunset.  The sunset was thwarted by cloud cover, yet then the horizon glowed pink and so did the terraces at GF.  AWESOME.  We stayed to see if a 10th series would occur, yet it finally seemed finished, almost 2 hours since the beginning….very amazing, and it had me more than curious about what the next interval would be.

It was almost 17 hours after that, at 1026 the next day, (9/16) that GF erupted again.  This time the 1st series was smaller, and the 2nd to 4th were OK, yet not anything special.  Then in the 5th, a massive BLUE bubble, the deep blue that you almost cannot believe is real, that could be seen as blue from the road side as well as the benches side…extraordinary.  FUN.  The 6th happened, and it succeeded in a small 7th, so again, we figured a long interval ahead.  It was over 15 hours until the next eruption, yet it was at 0134 so I was not there to see/hear it in the dark.  

That is why I was so curious about it today, I wanted to see what interval was next.  Today (9/17) it erupted at 1251 for an interval of 11 hr. 17 minutes.  And it did not succeed in having a 5th series, so I am thinking it will resume more 12 hour type intervals, at least for the next one…

The moral of this missive is, if you get to Great Fountain, stick around, as even when the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are putzy, the 5th and 6th could be very nice still!

I was also lucky enough to see Fan and Mortar last week.  So fun, such a wonderful geyser, I can see why folks spend so much time waiting for it.  I basically rode up on it, which was wonderful fun, and got to see it, Fountain, and Grand that day within a 3 1/2 hour period.  Geyser paradise!

The smoke from nearby fires seems unending, it would most likely take a snowfall to get these fires to end, yet no snow is forecast for the weeks ahead.  Rain clears out the smoke for a bit, yet also brings lightning with it, which could be tomorrow's new fire start…I am tired of the haze, yet when the sky is clear, September in Yellowstone is hard to beat!  

The majority of folk on the West Entrance road are elk watching, so the jams can be many, and the inconsiderate tourists are out in numbers, stopping in the road itself to take their photos.  Traffic never moves faster than 40 mph, and I have been in lines going 30, so rubberneckers are making the commute to Fountain a bit slower these days.  

Grand is still doing  5 to  5 hr. 40 minute intervals, which makes it very easy to "plan" on seeing Grand and then only having to wait 45 minutes at most (if you are there by the 5 hour mark) to see Grand.  I witnessed a stellar 2 burst eruption the other day, and only had to wait one Turban to see it.  The VC collect the electronic times for future posting now that Graham has left the area and is not on site to post those early morning or late night eruptions.

I imagine Graham will be posting about all his fun adventures when time allows, so I will leave further upper basin news to him.  

That is it for now.  Happy fall soon!

Maureen