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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
href="mailto:barger@tritel.net" title=barger@tritel.net>Katherine Barger</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A href="mailto:geysers@wwc.edu"
title=geysers@wwc.edu>geysers@wwc.edu</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 31, 2004 4:33 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Oct. 30th geyser report (Katherine Barger)</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> It was a successful
trip! My mission was to drive to Yellowstone immediately after the 3rd
preschool class' party to pick up our three bikes. The weather kept me
guessing, but after receiving several reports that Big Sky had received
approximately 15 inches and Bozeman was not good Thursday night, coupled with
the fact that Craig Pass was open, I decided to gamble on coming thru the South
Entrance which is only a 5 hour trip for me(in good weather). The boys
stayed home with their dad, so this was a solo trip. The roads were good,
although Towgotee Pass was snow packed and slick (but still good as far as
winter driving goes) and there was a small amount of snow at the South
Entrance. The rest of the roads were dry. I made it to Old Faithful
area in 6 hours with my cautious driving. I was unaware that
earlier in the evening there had been a 16 minute hot period at
Giant. (I found that out the next morning. I was also told that Fan
and Mortar had erupted over night between Wed. and Thurs.) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Saturday, Oct. 30th, I
made it out into the basin by 0800. (I had checked the Log Book at the
Visitor Center the previous night noting the 1527 Beehive, 1706ie Castle, 0927
Grand, 0951 & 1556ns Oblongs, and that Plume was active again with two
eruptions noted at 1448 & 1634. Sticking to my mission, the first
thing I did was load the three bikes, while keeping an eye on Beehive (which was
splashing). Two other gazers, Kendal and Curtis, visited with me and then
headed out to check on Giant. We had a beautiful eruption of Old Faithful
at 0836 and Kendal called Oblong in eruption at 0842 (just as I attached the
last bike). I had bungeed the bikes down and was locking them on the
carrier as Kendal called a Giant Hot Period (which we found out later was
already in progress) at 0853. Mastiff spiked above Gaint's Cone at
one point and was sounding very good, but in the end there was no
eruption. (We figure this hot period was about 8 or 9 minutes in duration
and India was entirely covered. It also had a nice restart according to
Kendal.) I had stopped trudging with all of my layers part way between
Castle and Daisy. I headed back to keep an eye on Beehive, but saw steam
over the trees and thought it was already erupting. I headed out on the
boardwalk at Castle and called Beehive Indicator i.e. at 0915. I decided
to hike on the paved path as far as I could before Beehive erupted.
Beehive (0919), I sat down and viewed Beehive from the bench across from
the Lower Store. Beehive rose trim, and tall with the sound of its
eruption echoing around the basin. The gray, overcast sky didn't permit a
nice picture, but it was still a joy to watch. Grand hadn't reached
overflow yet (according to the VC Interp., Beth), so the gazers left the
boardwalks briefly for breakfast, warm clothes,etc. I was in the
Government area when I heard the Visitor Center staff say that with the
Electronic times for Grand, the next prediction was for 10:45 AM (it was 1015 at
the time), so I quickly headed back to Grand. I waited two minutes, called
waves on Grand, then Grand. It erupted at 1038. A steamy, but still
appreciated G2*Q with a duration of approximately 12 minutes. Artemisia's
steam cloud had been seen at 0930 i.e. and Grotto and Grotto Fountain were
called i.e. at 1015. I watched a brief Rocket Major at 1116.
Riverside started at 1119, and Grotto quit by 1125. Daisy erupted at 1212
(the previous one was called i.e. at 0939). A Plume was announced at 1217
as I waited for another Oblong. At 1358, we had an 8 1/2 minute Giant hot
period with Feather, Feather's Sat., S.W.Vents, & Rust which pulled me away
from Oblong. Most of India was covered. Oblong was called at
1410 and I hurried to enjoy a thumpy, but not particularly high eruption.
I headed in for a hot lunch at the Geyser Grill, enjoying a Lion initial at 1439
as I slowly plodded along the slightly snowy paved path. Old Faithful
joined in at 1440 with another nice eruption. The sky continued to be gray
and over cast with the wind occasionally being very chilly. Snow flurries
came and went as the sky occasionally gave way to blue sky and sun only to close
in again. I enjoyed my hot lunch, but even though the snow flurries looked
more frantic, the geyser basin called to me and out I went
again. Tara and I noted Grotto was i.e. at 1538 and headed for the area
hoping for a Rocket Major. Rocket 1603 with a duration of 8 minutes.
We were just passing Link when another Giant hot period was radioed at
~1619.50. It was a 2 minute 20 second Feather. By this time I was
starting to notice the amount of walking I was doing in my snow boots (and I
have two blisters under my big toes to show for it) and realized how much energy
was being expended to stay warm and get from place to place. Another Plume
was radioed at 1619 followed by a Lion at 1621. The next Riverside
erupted at 1714 while Tara and I were watching Uncertain (which chose
not to erupt). I watched two Turbans and then Oblong chose to erupt at
1737ns (causing me great annoyance as I watched the eruption grow into a large
pale blue ball the went to the top of the dead tree, which means it was a huge
eruption, unlike the previous one). Tara and I enjoyed a group of 15 Swans
that flew over us twice making an eerie call. Grand 1742! It was a
G1C that lasted approximately 10 minutes. It may have only been a single
burst, but we had great visibility (given the weather) and it had nice
height and formation. I headed down to hopefully get another hot period
at Giant, while Tara went in to do homework, but the dark, wind, cold,
and snow finally caused me to head in. There had been a small hot period
just before I arrived after the Grand eruption. I was pretty sure that
Grotto was going into a Marathon and we still hadn't had a good hot
period. Castle was in eruption as I passed at 1927 and went to steam by
1934. By the time I got to my car, I had decided that the snow was getting
heavier and it was time to depart from the park. (I had planned
on leaving Sunday.) I </FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2>loaded my
vehicle, said my good-byes and headed out toward the West Entrance at
2030. The South Entrance had closed around noon that day and Craig was
closed by the evening. Snow completely covered the road (but it wasn't
slippery) and the snow pelted my front window. Visibility was poor, but
the road from Madison to West was much better. I don't know how much snow
Yellowstone finally received, but I was starting to second guess my decision to
depart as I drove on damp roads through Bozeman. The interstate was
basically dry, although I passed one accident where a SUV had rolled and was
laying on the highway with a large group of firefighters, and other emergency
personnel on hand. By the time I reached Bridger flurries were just
starting again and I realized that the weather was still coming. I decided
to drive all the way home and arrived at 6 AM (5 AM since we had lost an
hour). I made hast crawling into my warm, cozy bed with the knowledge that
I had made it home safely, with the bikes in tow, and had fit a whole day of
geyser gazing in and still would get a day of sleep. What a great
weekend. I'm hoping that next weekend the weather is better. I get a
three day weekend then, and then the Park is closed until
December. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>*Note - Thank you Tara, Mike Keller, and the
Visitor Center for keeping me posted on the weather and road conditions which
helped me have a safe trip.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>