<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY id=role_body style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: Arial" bottomMargin=7 leftMargin=7 topMargin=7 rightMargin=7><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=2> <DIV>On Friday while on tour we noticed that the Gibbon River at Elk Park was clear in the morning but quite muddy in the mid-afternoon. There had been no rain. So thinking that "something had happened" at Norris, I went up there early this morning, Saturday, August 12.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There has been no disturbance. Indeed, a great many of the features in Back Basin either have clear water at a low level, or no water at all. Yellow Funnel Spring, as one example, is active as a steam vent. The largest eruption seen in that area was from one of the new vents across the boardwalk from Pearl, which was (probably) perpetual with splashes 6 to 8 feet high and very heavy overflow... Steamboat was mostly north function. Echinus was overflowing at 0710, and overflowing still (or again) at 0905... A view from below the Museum gave me no reason to go down into Porcelain Basin. Because...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At 0744, from near Porkchop, I saw a very large steam cloud rising from the area of The Gap. I saw it again at 0758, and that's when I decided to make the trek out there. What I found is that one of the larger features near the far southwest end of The Gap is erupting quite powerfully. In sum, either directly or via i.e. steam clouds, I saw eruptions from it at 0744, 0758, 0810 (on site, d = 2m 20s), 0826 (on site, d = 2m 05s), 0843 (in view at a distance), and 0858. The eruptions I had in sight included bursts at least 25 and likely over 30 feet high. The water was clear. (Is this what was called "Elk Geyser" a few years ago? I don't think so.)</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Another small spring in The Gap also proved to be a geyser, with 2-3 foot eruptions repeating every 2 minutes or so and lasting 15 or 20 seconds. Of course, there were many perpetual spouters out there along with a few thousand bubblers.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Cinder Pool was about 1/3 covered with cinders.</DIV> <DIV>--------</DIV> <DIV>Yesterday on the tour (I was a passenger, Northern Loop) I saw a spring a short distance upstream and across the river from Beryl Spring splashing probably 2 feet high. Today it was barely bubbling.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Scott Bryan</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>