Greetings and Salutations.  It was a great closing week, with Great Fountain in Wild Phase, Depression changing to short intervals, perhaps Lion doing a series that lasted over 24 hours, and I got to see Fan and Mortar twice.  I also have a few odds and ends from West Thumb and the River Group.  That said, it is late so I will start with Great Fountain's Wild Phase and add the info on Depression, Fan and Mortar, and the rest tomorrow.  Prior to my arrival Maureen (sorry, I developed a mind block on your last name) said that Great Fountain was having 11 to 11.5 hour intervals for the last few days.  She said the eruptions were normal.    She did write me that "the unusual overflow day I saw...that was maybe 2 or 3 days before you arrived.  It (Great Fountain) rose and crashed three times and then it came up, almost overflowed, yet never really achieved overflow, for a good two hours."   She then left to see Fountain and Great Fountain erupted later after Fountain. On 10-25 Great Fountain went into overflow at 1415 per Maureen and I arrived a few minutes later.  However Maureen had to go  back to West Yellowstone and I went to the upper basin (and got to see Fan and Mortar) so we do not have the start time for Great Fountain.  I suspect about 1535 or so.  On 10-26 Great Fountain was at 1305 P=0.  On 10-27 Maureen saw Great Fountain about 1015, She thought it was a series late in the eruption.  After a pause of 8-9 minutes she watched a weak eruption for 4-5 minutes.  I saw an eruption from the main road about 1025 and was about to drive the loop when I met Maureen in the Fountain parking lot and she told me Great Fountain was late in its eruption, so I went out to wait for Fountain (1218 D-32) and after that when leaving Fountain I saw from the road it looked like Great Fountain was ie.  I am sorry, but here I took very poor notes with no times.  However what  I remember is that it was erupting for about 6-8 minutes then was off for about 4-5 minutes with heights of up to 30 feet.  I watched three cycles then went to the Visitor's Center to report the likely wild phase.  I had planned a trip to West Thumb which I took.  I drove by again about 1725 on my way to catch the evening Fountain and Great Fountain was still erupting, still with bursts to 30 feet.  On 10-28-09 I drove by at 0734 and Great Fountain was still erupting but I did not stay long, I wanted to get to the upper  basin.  It was still having eruptions at about 1230, still with bursts up to 30 feet.  I was going to stay longer but made what was to be a quick loop to see if Pink Cone was ie, It was not but I ended up watching it until it erupted at 1505 then went back to the upper basin.  I returned later and finally started writing down times.  Anyway, on the evening of 10-28 Great Fountain started erupting at 1707, off at 1711, erupted  at 1723, off 1727, erupted at 1738, off 1744 erupted  at 1754, off at 1800.  During this all of the eruptions still were up to 30 feet.  After that I left. On 10-29-09 I was concerned it was time for Fan and Mortar and I was late so I did not swing by Great Fountain in the morning.  A little before noon I stopped at Great Fountain and it was no longer erupting however the steam from the vent still appeared to be  cyclic with more steam output about every 8 minutes.  I must admit I did not stay around very long however so I do not know if the 8 minute time was average or not.  On 10-30 I was  distracted by the short intervals on Depression and only drove by Great Fountain in the morning to find the water level out of sight in the vent.  On 10-31 in the evening I drove  by and Bill Warnock was there, he told me Great Fountain went into overflow at 1644.  We watched for a while and the pool level dropped below overflow by a few inches at 1704.  A few minutes after that we both left.  On 11-1-09 I drove by about 1430 when leaving the park, Great Fountain was in overflow and boiling lightly around the edges.  However I needed to leave to get home so I did not stay around.  I again apologize for not keeping better notes or recording more times.  In general it appeared that as the wild phase continued the pauses became longer and the eruptive periods shorted but the heights did not vary.  All eruptive periods observed had bursts up to 30 feet.  I suspect the wild phase started with the nightime eruption between 10-26 and 10-27 and lasted until late on 10-28 or early on10-29.  I will write on the rest of the trip tomorrow morning (well, this moring I guess) Stephen Eide <hr>Msg sent via CableONE.net MyMail - http://www.cableone.net