<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/>  <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Even though I missed Giant (the day after I arrived) and then it erupted the day after I left (grrrrr) I was fortunate to see both F&M eruptions during my trip.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> F&M were either in “Angle mode” with Angle on all the time regardless of whether River was on or not, or they were in “Bottom vent mode” with Angle off, Main vent splashing and Bottom vent erupting or splashing strongly. For much of the time, event cycles appeared to be happening every 5-7 hours. I was bouncing between Giant and F&M on several days and the event cycles were quite easy to notice because of the water in Bottom vents runoff channel so I know on several days that there were no event cycles before the 5 hour mark.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> For the 10/3 eruption, I saw the activity starting with Bottom vent in eruption so I don’t know if there was a pause or not before that. I chatted with some visitors and new gazers and they stayed while river turned on. 15 minutes after River turned on the water levels still looked good so I moved my pack and came back to the benches carrying my waterproof leggings just in case. As I expected, hiding my pack made F&M loose their water and I thought this would be another bust cycle. Then all of a sudden the water came back and the vents started to come on and off with a lot of water (looking like Feather satellite when they were on). So I went to the next level of preparation – putting on my waterproof leggings and warning the people around me that they would get wet if they stayed at the benches (the wind was blowing all around in the direction of the benches and the bridge). They moved away, stopping at the Spiteful sign..oops bad move on their part. My evil thoughts wondered what would happen if they stayed there and F&M erupted…hehe. By then High and Gold looked like Feather and were not stopping – it’s a lock! My good side prevailed and I told the victims, sorry I mean visitors, to keep going to the trees by the bench which they did. At one point it looked like the vents were dying down but <st1:place w:st="on">Main</st1:place> vent splashed a couple of times and East vent took off at 1329. Fan was very strong and there was water in the Norris pools area all the way to ž of the way across the bridge. East vent was great to watch as it kept erupting, stopping and starting. I got very wet too and persuaded the visitors to run through and see what was going on at the other side too since its so different watching Mortar erupt. That was a great eruption for me and the first one I have called on the radio that did not wimp out.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 10/8 was a whole different deal. There had been two earlier event cycles and I went out to Fountain. I forgot to take my coat with me and as the sun started down and Fountain had not erupted I decided to leave before I got cold – the wind was blowing hard at Fountain too. I came back to the UGB and decided to stroll down basin for a walk, to see if Grotto was still going (which it was going, and going, and going the next morning too). I continued down to F&M because it was 6 hours after the previous seen event cycle. As I passed Grotto and walked on to Link I could hear that something was going on at F&M. I expected to see Bottom vent going when I got down there. As I got next to Links pool I saw Fan take off. Wow that was a great thing to see from next to Link, I could see the whole fan of water shoot up everywhere. So then I speeded up pulled out my radio and looked at my watch – 1900 start time. Since there was a slight breeze blowing towards the river I was able to stand on the boardwalk right between Fan and Mortar through the whole eruption and was there to see Upper Mortar start up about 90 seconds after Fan. It was great being able to stand and watch it up so close without getting wet, that’s the first time that has happened to me at F&M. Of course it just didn’t seem right not getting wet though J Fan was not very strong there was just a small area of boardwalk by the Spiteful sign that got wet and a few feet of gravel. There were a couple of very surprised visitors who got a shock as F&M took off, but they enjoyed it whole lot too!<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The details are listed below.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Tuesday 9/28<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1505 River turned off and Angle stopped too<o:p></o:p> 1506 Angle came back on and stayed on splashy until 1515 when it turned off<o:p></o:p> 1516 River came on for just over a minute and then turned off – a valid River vent pause?<o:p></o:p> 1522 Main vent splash and Bottom vent tried to start<o:p></o:p> 1524 Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 1534 River on<o:p></o:p> 1534 Bottom vent erupted for 2 minutes<o:p></o:p> 1535 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1545 Angle on, the vents were not strong<o:p></o:p> 1601 River off, Angle stayed on<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Wednesday 9/29<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> ~0600 River vent was off and Angle was on<o:p></o:p> 0607 Upper Mortar huffed and Angle shut off<o:p></o:p> 0622 River on<o:p></o:p> 0626 River off for a River vent pause<o:p></o:p> 0628 Main vent splash followed by many more splashes<o:p></o:p> 0635 Bottom Vent d=29m with several pauses, ending at 0704<o:p></o:p> 0701 River on quickly followed by Gold<o:p></o:p> 0705 Angle on<o:p></o:p> 0721 Gold and Angle go to steam and everything died down<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Thursday 9/30<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 0559ie Bottom Vent, off @ 0605<o:p></o:p> 0604 River and Gold on<o:p></o:p> 0607 Angle on<o:p></o:p> 0622 vents are still on strong but not in a lock<o:p></o:p> 0624 vents all go to steam<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Friday 10/1<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 0604ie Bottom vent finishing an eruption<o:p></o:p> 0605 main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 0605 Bottom vent on d=8m<o:p></o:p> 0613 River, Gold and Angle all turn on and water levels never looked good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1758ie Bottom vent d=10m<o:p></o:p> 1806 Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 18011 Bottom vent d=3m<o:p></o:p> 1812 River on<o:p></o:p> 1813 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1814 Angle on but the water levels died down<o:p></o:p> 1833 water levels improved for a little while then shut off<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Saturday 10/2<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 0512ir Bottom vent, ended 0514<o:p></o:p> 0513 River and Gold on, Angle shortly after but the water levels never looked good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1029 Bottom vent d=14m and <st1:place w:st="on">Main</st1:place> vent splashing<o:p></o:p> 1044 Bottom vent, d=20m<o:p></o:p> 1103 River on<o:p></o:p> 1104 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1106 Angle on<o:p></o:p> 1125 River off, water never looked good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Sunday 10/3<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 0542 Main vent splashing<o:p></o:p> 0548 Bottom vent d=11m<o:p></o:p> 0603 Bottom vent d=11m<o:p></o:p> 0615 Bottom vent d=4n<o:p></o:p> 0616 last big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 0621 Bottom vent d=2m<o:p></o:p> 0622 River and Gold on<o:p></o:p> 0628 Angle on but water levels did not look good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> ERUPTION CYCLE<o:p></o:p> 1238ie Bottom vent on and Main vent splashing<o:p></o:p> 1258 Bottom vent off and last big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 1259 Bottom vent on again, d=10m<o:p></o:p> 1307 River on<o:p></o:p> 1308 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1311 Angle on<o:p></o:p> 1319 water levels dropped but did not go to steam<o:p></o:p> 1322 water levels rebound<o:p></o:p> 1325 Gold and High go into lock<o:p></o:p> 1327 looked like Gold and High were dying down but they rebounded fast<o:p></o:p> 1328 two Main vent splashes (much bigger than the usual main vent splashing but nowhere near the early eruption splashes, angled towards the benches)<o:p></o:p> 1329 Fan &Mortar, East vent start, d=33m, initial burst d=13m<o:p></o:p> 1342 pause<o:p></o:p> 1344 restart<o:p></o:p> 1349 pause<o:p></o:p> 1351 restart<o:p></o:p> 1353 pause<o:p></o:p> 1355 restart<o:p></o:p> 1356 pause<o:p></o:p> 1358 restart as steam but turned to water at 1400<o:p></o:p> 1402 paused, last water.<o:p></o:p> 1404 restarted with just steam<o:p></o:p> 1406 paused again<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Tuesday 10/5<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1505 Main vent splashing<o:p></o:p> 1511 Bottom vent d=11m<o:p></o:p> 1524 Bottom vent d=9m<o:p></o:p> 1526 last big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 1533 Bottom vent d=3m<o:p></o:p> 1538 River on<o:p></o:p> 1542 Gold and Angle on but the water levels were not good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Thursday 10/7<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1102 Bottom vent d=12m<o:p></o:p> 1113 big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 1117 Bottom vent d=10m<o:p></o:p> 1130 Bottom vent d=14m<o:p></o:p> 1137 last big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 1152 River and Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1157 Angle on but water levels never got very high<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1842 Bottom vent runoff channel was wet and River and Gold were on<o:p></o:p> 1845 Angle on but water levels never got very good<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Friday 10/8<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 0547 River and Angle turn off and Main vent is huffing noisily<o:p></o:p> 0549 Main vent splashing starts<o:p></o:p> 0559 Bottom vent d=9m<o:p></o:p> 0601 last big Main vent splash<o:p></o:p> 0607 River on<o:p></o:p> 0608 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 0612 Angle on but water levels died out too soon<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1255 Main vent splashing starts<o:p></o:p> 1301 Bottom vent d=21 m<o:p></o:p> 1322 Bottom vent d=22m<o:p></o:p> 1342 River on<o:p></o:p> 1343 Gold on<o:p></o:p> 1345 Angle on<o:p></o:p> 1357 water levels looked good but crashed at 1358<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1900 Fan d=32m, initial burst d=12m<o:p></o:p> 1901 Mortar<o:p></o:p> 1912 pause<o:p></o:p> 1914 restart<o:p></o:p> 1917 pause<o:p></o:p> 1919 restart<o:p></o:p> 1921 pause<o:p></o:p> 1922 restart<o:p></o:p> 1926 pause<o:p></o:p> 1929 restart<o:p></o:p> 1932 pause<o:p></o:p> There was one brief steam burst in the next 7 minutes but no real restart<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>