Greetings and Salutations, I thought I was spending closing week in the park but I was wrong.  The Snowlodge closed yesterday but the park is open for another week.. It was so warm last week (like the first week in May) that much of the snow on the road in the Upper to Lower geyser basins has melted off the road, they are only letting in rubber tracked vans; no Bombadiers or snowmobiles are allowed past Madison.  Anyway, as usual my report will be coming in chunks with the two Fan and Mortar eruptions reported first.   The log book showed the marker was replaced on 2-27 so F & M likely erupted overnight but it could have  been in the daytime on 2-26.  I arrived in the F & M area at about 0900 and watched two weak event cycles that had almost no bottom vent activity and were just river vent, then gold and high, then angle, then over.  I walked up to catch Daisy and when I returned at 1108 Bottom Vent was doing a set of minors and Main vent was steaming.  The first splash in Main vent was at 1111 followed  by splashes at 1113, 1113, 1114, 1114, 1115, 1115, 1116, 1117, 1117, 1118, 1118, 1119, 1119, 1120, 1120, 1120, 1121, 1121, and 1122.  After this Main vent had steaming periods until River vent started.  At 1121 Bottom vent went into full eruption.  Bottom vent had a pause at 1137 but when back into eruption.  River vent started at 1144, followed by Gold and High vents at 1146.   Bottom vemt started to weaken at 1150.  Angle came on at 1153.  The water levels in High, Gold, and Angle were week  but stable at about one to two feet.  Bottom vent continued to weaken.  At about 1200 Frying pan, Tile, and the steaming vents in the wall off of Lower Mortar began to steam.  In the past I saw this when the event cycyle was over but High, Gold, and Angle continued at 1-2 feet.  At about 1202 or 1203 (I forgot to look at my watch) High jumped to 6-8 feet but Gold was unchanged.  High then rose to 10 feet, then 12 feet, then even higher.  Gold came up to 3-6 feet, but mostly only 3 feet high.  Just when I started to call a lock East vent took off at 1205 followed by Main and Upper Mortar.  It crossed the boardwalk to the road but not over the road.  Upper Mortar stayed at 5-20 feet for about two minutes then went to full height.   Lower Mortar did not start until 1210.  During the eruption Spiteful quit and Norris pool raised up about two inches, maybe more.  O, Bottom vent was essentially off at about 1200.  I saw one good event cycle with 15 minutes of splashing in Main Vent on 3-5-10 but when Gold and High came on they were weak and it just faded away.  I really expected Fan and Mortar to go overnight but when I arrived at 806 the marker was in place.   Bottom vent was in eruption and Main vent was steaming.  The first splash I saw in Main vent was at 809 followed  by splashing at 810, 813, 814, 815, 815, 816, 819, 821, a nd 821.  After this Main Vent continued to steam until River vent started.  Bottom vent had short pauses at 808, 811, 812, and 823.   During the Bottom vent paust at 0823 Upper Mortar gave a weak roar.  Occasionally during this time Lower Mortar would join in with 2-3 foot minors along with Bottom Vent.  River vent started at 834.  Bottom vent stated to weaken at 836.  High splashed weakly at 838 and Gold started at 840 with Angle at 841.  They were weak and intermittant.  going from flat to 2 feet.  At 849 Frying Pan, Tile, and the vents along Lower Mortar started  steaming.  At 850 High vent jumped to 8 feet with Gold steady at 3 feet.  High kept getting higher until Fan and Mortar started at 853 with East vent first,  then Main and Upper Mortar following.  Lower Mortar did not start until 856.  Again Spiteful quit during the eruption and Norris pool raised up 2-3 inches.  I've got to go into work, more posted later when I get off. Stephen Eide <hr>Msg sent via CableONE.net MyMail - http://www.cableone.net