[Geysers] Geyser Report 6/15/15 (Stephens)

[Lynn Stephens]

I don't mind driving north to Norris in the early morning, except for the bison herd walking down the road headed north, which delayed my arrival by half an hour or so.  Ledge was in full steam phase when I arrived at 0620, no water mixed in with the steam columns from red and white vents.  (The last time I drove up to Norris in the early morning and arrived at 0600, I also discovered Ledge in full steam phase--10 1/2 hours after the eruption had started.)  I tried to use the Carol Beverly series of maneuvers to get reception at the Norris parking lot so I could post the information and possibly save some people a trip, but I didn't write down the steps, so couldn't get reception.  As I was leaving, I thought about trying to find Steve Robinson's sweet spot for cell phone reception about 4 1/2 miles up the road toward Canyon.  But as I got to the intersection, I could see that the bison herd had just made a right hand turn and was headed up toward Canyon.  I had no interest in getting stuck behind that herd again, so I drove to Old Faithful to post the information.  I passed Barbara on her way north, and she decided to turn around.  Unfortunately, I missed Bill Warnock, but his observation extended the steam phase by at least another hour.
 
This afternoon I traded the start of a Gemini series for a closed interval on A-0 and an eruption of Logbridge, which was followed by a second, smaller eruption of Logbridge about 4 minutes after the first eruption I saw, which was full height, ended.
 
I had left Great Fountain about 55 mintues into the eruption so I could find some shade.  Rocco and then Jeff Cross stopped where I was parked across from Surprise Pool.  MA Bellingham, Maureen, Ralph and Donna Friz and Kathy Davis stayed to watch Great Fountain because it was having lots and lots and lots of blue bursts and was still going strong 55 minutes into the eruption.  Luckily, MA spotted  Gemini's twin columns--2h33m after the start of the preceding series!  Prior to this the shortest initial to initial had been about 3 1/2 hours.  We're not 100% certain that eruption was an initial, but action in Pebble when Rocco, Jeff, and I arrived at Gemini was consistent with it being an initial.  
 
The other news from today was the duration of Great Fountain's eruption--2h18m!!!  I think MA, Maureen, Ralph, Donna, and Kathy stayed to the end.  Jeff, Rocco, and I watched the last 4 or 5 bursts  from Gemini.  
 
It's been years since I observed an eruption that long.  The longest I ever saw was one I saw with Thad and Pat Nelson.  I also watched much of that eruption from Gemini.  We all gave up after 18 bursts--3 1/2 hours into the eruption.  I think the succeeding interval was over 24 hours.  As the interval stretched out longer and longer, people kept asking if perhpas we had missed an eruption, but someone had been there since the 12-hour mark, so we knew we hadn't missed an eruption.
 
When I was watching Great Fountain extensively, I don't think I ever had an eruption with 11 bursts.  I'm 99% certain Great Fountain won't erupt again before 6 am.  And I'm fairly certain the interval is going to go out at least 18 hours, and probably longer.
 
I saw spotted elk calves, several deer, and the bison herd in the road today.  One of the deer had tiny antlers sprouting.
 
Maureen and I had been talking about some new vehicles that have appeared that look sort of like a hearse.  Today at White Dome I had an actual hearse, with the name of the funeral chapel and other details on the side of the hearse.  The man driving the hearse parked it, got out, went around to the passenger side, knelt down, and then took a photo of the hearse with White Dome in the background.  
 
Lynn Stephens
 		 	   		  
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