<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Another post from Tara.<div>Pat Snyder <div> </div><div><div style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma; ">I have returned from a 10-day trip to Yellowstone; I've already reported on Fan & Mortar, so this report will cover other geysers from June 24-July 3. Upper Geyser Basin Beehive was fairly well-behaved during my trip, with one notable exception, that being on the 26th when my backpack saw Beehive but I didn't because it erupted with no Indicator at the exact time that I needed to leave the Hill for a few minutes.  Grrr.  Eruptions while I was in the park were as follows: June 24 @ 1444 (Ind 1428) June 25 @ 0934 (Ind 0916) June 26 @ 0325 electronic June 26 @ 1637 (no Indicator) June 27 @ 1126 (Ind 1110) June 28 @ 1032 (Ind 1018) June 29 @ 0858 (Ind 0841) June 30 @ 0458 webcam July 1 @ 0121 electronic July 1 @ 1622 (Ind 1608) July 2 @ 1106 (Ind 1050) July 3 @ 0932 (Ind 0924) On the days Beehive had its shortest intervals--13h12m on June 26 and 15h01m on July 1--Beehive was having strong, consistent splashing for several hours before it erupted.  When intervals were longer, there could be a lull in splashing.  Water usually came up in the Indicator quite fast, though on the 3rd it rose and fell twice before finally filling for good.  That fill was followed by an Indicator lasting only 8 minutes before Beehive; all other Indicators lasted 14-18 minutes prior to Beehive.  And then there was the no Indicator eruption.  No, I'm not bitter. Depression wasn't faring any better when I was there than it had been since early June; there were only 3 daylight eruptions during my entire stay, so I felt fortunate to see one of them while I was waiting for Beehive on the morning of the 27th.  According to the electronic monitor, intervals ranged from 19-37 hours. I had very good luck with Aurum, in spite of an interval range of 3 1/2 to 11 1/2 hours; I saw it 4 times up close, including 3 walk-ups, which might equal my total for 2006-07 combined.  Aurum responded to a rain storm on the 30th by dropping under 4 hours immediately after--or maybe it was just happy that Donnie Grisso had arrived in the park. In the Sawmill Group, Penta was seen on June 27, and on July 2 there were a series of Tardy cycles in the afternoon but Penta didn't erupt in daylight.  Uncertain was being seen fairly often, and I even caught an Uncertain-Sawmill dual after not seeing Uncertain at all for over 2 years (one of the many casualties of spending too much time at Giant). Grand appeared to have entered a mode in which it was being severely affected by eruptions of Rift.  I lost count of the times Rift had started near the beginning of Grand's window, and Grand would not erupt until some time had passed after the end of Rift.  At least twice while I was there, Grand came very close to having its longest interval of the season.  If this continues, the prediction window may need to be extended from 3 hours to 4.  I saw seven 1-burst eruptions and three 2-burst eruptions for an average of 1.3 (1.27 on the year so far, on pace for my lowest ever). Eruptions from the group of vents between Grand and Rift were seen several times during my stay.  At least 3 vents in the area of the Sputniks would erupt muddy water for 1-2 minutes, then drop to a boil, and then drain again.  The best height I saw was maybe 1-2 feet.  The first report I know about of this activity was on the 25th; I saw them on the 1st, and they erupted on the 3rd also.  They seemed to erupt in conjunction with the start of West Triplet, sometimes around the time of Grand, sometimes not. Daisy continued to have regular intervals around 2 hours.  The little cones would start sputtering 10-15 minutes before Daisy erupted. Most of Oblong's intervals fell between 6 and 8 hours, but on July 2 it erupted at 1126ie and then had not erupted again as of 2100.  It was still having very nice eruptions; I saw several from Grand and one from up close. I spent zero time watching Giant.  Bijou was still on constantly except during Grotto marathons, and Mastiff was still having large depth charging.  Giant had occasional large surges that spilled water out onto the platform. I also spent almost no time at Grotto, though I did try to cash in on a Rocket major once, only to leave 15 minutes too soon.  Dean Lohrenz saw a Rocket major start just 1 minute after Grotto on June 30; I don't know if that had been seen yet this year, but it did happen a few times in 2006-07.  As reported earlier, there were quite a few Grotto starts without Grotto Fountain, and I think there were only 3 marathons while I was in the park.  The marathon that was in progress on July 2 resulted in some large eruptions of Spa--David Schwarz and I could see water over the trees as we watched from Grand that afternoon. I've already reported on Fan & Mortar, but I neglected to mention that Heinrich Koenig observed some recovery behavior on the morning of July 3.  He said that if he hadn't known F&M had already erupted, he would have stuck around because Bottom Vent was erupting vigorously and Main Vent was having large splashes, though it was obvious that the water level was low. I did spend some time watching Avoca and the Silver Globes, but not enough to get a real sense of what is happening there.  David Schwarz reported that Avoca seemed to have its best eruptions during eruptions of Slit, which is intriguing.  I hope to spend more time there later this summer.  While I watched Avoca on July 2, I got consistent intervals of 7 minutes for Jewel. Lower Geyser Basin Great Fountain was having intervals in its usual range, but Lynn had changed her 30-minute prediction window once overflow started because overflows were often over 100 minutes; I think she said overflow could be up to 115 minutes.  She said she has not seen any superbursts since she arrived. Logbridge is still active; Brian from Texas got a closed interval of 45 minutes on the 28th. Labial was having intervals of roughly 6 hours, but I always seemed to drive up right after it was done.  I don't know much about Pink Cone, partly because it kept erupting at unexpected times. Fountain had recovered from its erratic intervals in May and was having extremely regular intervals, with most falling in the 6-7 hour range (Ralph's electronic data shows a range of 5h20m to 7h32m from June 24-29).  Fountain's eruptions were starting from a low pool--the water level was essentially invisible, though if you stood on the lower boardwalk you could see the rise of water just before the first splashes.  All 6 Fountain eruptions I saw included series of bursts from Morning's Thief starting 30-90 seconds after the beginning of Fountain.  It would have 2 to 4 sets of bursts, with 1 to 6 bursts in each set.  I would estimate the size of the bursts at 20-40 feet, and they were pretty wide too.  Jet was usually active before Fountain, having 5-11 minute intervals, but not always.  In two cases, I saw the first Jet eruption about 45 minutes before Fountain.  Spasm was also usually active before Fountain, but it would usually erupt for a few minutes and then drain again, and once it started after Fountain.  Super Frying Pan was interesting; I saw it within 25 minutes before each Fountain eruption, sometimes as little as 4 minutes prior.  Steve Eide waited out the better part of a Fountain interval on July 2 and reported that Super Frying Pan was having intervals of roughly 1h40m-2h40m, so it was having about 3 eruptions per Fountain interval. I never spent prolonged time waiting at Fountain (it was so cooperative that my longest wait was about an hour), but I was still surprised at the lack of activity in the Kaleidoscope Group.  The only geysers I saw erupting were Honey's Vent, Firehose, and New Thing Far Left--and the latter was having long, erratic intervals with weak eruptions.  Steve Eide thought he might have seen Kaleidoscope once, or possibly Drain. In the River Group, Brain Geyser was dormant, but Dark Pool was active.  I did not get any closed intervals on it, but Steve Eide reported intervals of under 20 minutes--I'll let him fill in the details.  The small feature next to Dark Pool that was thumping every 10 minutes or so over the past few years did not perform for us in the 20 minutes we were there.  I don't know if it was dormant or if perhaps it is only active when Dark Pool is not. West Thumb Geyser Basin I stopped to look at Lone Pine on the afternoon of the 25th and observed good bubbles for about 45 minutes before I had to move on.  The eruption finally took place at 1646 electronic, so Lone Pine was bubbling for at least 4 hours prior to that eruption.  Based on the latest information from Ralph's download on Lone Pine, I decided to give Lone Pine another shot on the 27th and got lucky; Lone Pine bubbled for the 3 hours I was there, then had a beautiful evening eruption complete with a rainbow.  While I waited, I got intervals of 31, 18, 31, 24, and 30 minutes for Occasional, which was only reaching 3-4 feet high with its eruptions.  (We also got to see a couple from Utah try to cook a hot dog in the pool just south of Occasional.) Non-Geyser Stuff I had exceptionally good luck with wildlife on this trip.  On my drive up the east side of the park on the 25th, I saw a wolf in Hayden Valley and 2 black bears in Lamar Valley.  An otter came swimming by in Yellowstone Lake just before Lone Pine erupted on the 27th, and then we saw a mother grizzly with her 1-year-old cub at West Thumb Junction as we were driving back.  I saw two pairs of sandhill cranes in the Lower Basin, one in the meadow past Frolic Geyser and another that was frequently seen over several days at Hot Lake.  I saw a bald eagle along the Madison on the 28th, and then on the 2nd a trumpeter swan flew into the geyser basin while we waited for Beehive.  It hung out in the Firehole below Lion for a while, then flew across the meadow, past the Visitor Center, over the Lodge, and out of sight.  I had seen swans flying through the Upper Geyser Basin in the early and late season, but never in July. The weather was overall some of the best I've ever experienced in late June.  It only rained on 3 out of 10 days, and only one of those storms lasted any length of time.  The rivers were still very high while I was there, but the meadows were starting to dry up, and by the 1st of July the bugs--mosquitoes, deer flies, buffalo gnats, and no-see-ums--were out in force.  Mosquitoes were worst in the evening at places like Oblong, Grotto, Fountain, and Great Fountain, and I heard that they were bad at Narcissus as well. I had a great time seeing so many friends in the park; I hope everyone had an enjoyable 4th of July weekend. --Tara Cross <a href="mailto:fanandmortar@hotmail.com">fanandmortar@hotmail.com</a> <hr>Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. <a href="http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_messenger_video_072008" target="_new">Get started.</a></div></div></div></body></html>