[Geysers] Trip report 4-27 to 5-5-13 addtions to the Foutain Group.

[Stephen Eide]

Hello again to all,

For 5-4-13 I arrived in the Fountain area at 0712 to find Clepsydra and
Super Frying Pan ie.  I think at least Fountain erupted overnight but not
near dawn.  I admit this is subjective and I could be wrong but my guess
from the water and wet spots was between midnight and 0300.  It had snowed
that morning and the runoff channel from Morning has less snow than the
areas beside it but there was some snow in the runoff channel.  I am unsure
what to make of that.   There were no water pools around Morning except in
the area where Fountain runs into Morning.  I thought I saw water in
Morning when walking up at 0712 but due to the cold morning steam I can't
be sure.  No water was visible in Fountain but due to the steam and the
wind blowing to the boardwalk it is possible it was there and I just could
not see it.

Jet tried to start for the next hour plus with one weak eruption at 0813
followed by a normal eruption at 0823 and after that for the rest of the
day Jet erupted about every 7 to 8 minutes with one exception to be
discussed later.

At 0945 I again walked to the overlook to look at Morning and at that time
I could not tell if there was water in Morning or not.  The wind was
blowing the steam to the stairs and for several hours I was unsure of the
water level in Morning.  After 0900 I first thought I saw water in
Fountain.  It is very hard to see in the bottom of the pool on cold
mornings.   Some of you may know there is a hole or depression in the back
wall of Fountain and I can just see it when in the right place on the
boardwalk.  Well, the water appeared to be at the bottom edge of the hole.
Later at about 1100 the water appeared to be in the middle of the hole and
then at about 1300 it was at the top of the hole.

Spasm erupted normally this time, coming up boiling and gradually getting
stronger.  I was impossible for me to say just when the eruption started so
I recorded all the Spasm times as ie.  Spasm erupted at 0911 ie, 1033 ie,
1151 ie, and 1324 ie.  All of these eruptions had durations of about 20
minutes.  None had any overflow into Jelly.

Super Frying Pan erupted at 1141 with a duration of 11 minutes.  It was one
of the weaker SFP eruptions I saw this week.  The Jet prior to SFP was at
1135 and the next Jet was at 1216.  After that Jet went back to regular
eruptions every 7-8 minutes.

Twig was seen ie at 1209 (ie), it started while I was trying to open a
granola bar.  It shut off at 1238.

Fountain finally started at 1423.  I did not see the rise before the
eruption started.  The pool level about 20 minutes prior to the start was
still just a few inches up from the lowest point into the pool I could
see.  The duration was 38 minutes.  Morning's Thief could be seen during
the eruption, it had visible water twice but did not boil or erupt.  So for
the first part of this week the Fountain rise started with the water level
about half way up Fountain's back wall.  The dual eruption had low pool
levels an hour before the start and today the pool level was low about 30
minutes prior to the start.

Other things of note, Jelly was lightly cloudy today and it was clear
yesterday.  Since the cloudliness was so light I do not think it erupted, I
think this was due to dirt washed into it from Spasm some time during the
night.

All week Bearclaw has been active but only rarely does the water get above
ground level.  Maureen Edgerton told me that is what she saw for opening
week also.  The reactivated spring to the East of Twig was clear today.  It
did drop slightly below overflow prior to 1400 but was again in overflow by
1405.  The new spring on the flats beside the boardwalk between the
overlook and the mud pots has been about the same all week and for the last
three days the water level has appeared to be unchanged whenever I looked
at it.  The mud pots are in great shape, a bit more active.  There are a
few active mud pots to the north and west of the mud pot area in areas that
have usually not been active but the bulk of the mud pot activity is in the
same old area.  Silex and Celestine look the same as last year to me.

I have two pet peeves, WAY too many people have been walking off trail at
Red Spouter.  The area was cleared of foot prints just prior to the Morning
eruption and twenty-four hours later it was again a mass of foot prints.
The second peeve is facial tissue, all week I have been picking these up in
the various basins.   Frump.

Not much activity in the lower area today, only the frequent appearance of
Honey's Vent.

More later.

Stephen Eide
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