Month: May 2007

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Observations for 22 May (Evening)

In the Grand Group it was a cold, miserable day. By afternoon,m temperature was just above freezing, so the windswept snow melted where it landed. When I arrived, Rift had just started, and we were in a delay overflow. With a short Rift duration, I was hoping for a short delay. No such luck. The second Turban was a short but strong eruption, followed by a 16m11s interval. So no surprise the total delay was D9.

Following a short Grotto marathon overnight, there was a Giant hot period at 14:33, d≈5m. A second hot period occurred 16 17:14, slighly longer d≈6m, and then at 19:29, d=5m50s. Grotto still had not restarted as of the last hot period (at least I never heard a report of that.).

  • West Triplet 12:25
  • Rift 12:57 d≈34m
  • Grand 16:07 T1C
  • Daisy 12:31, 15:50
  • Oblong 14:40, 18:54
  • Riverside 16:17
  • Castle 18:51
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Observations for 22 May (Morning)

Having been gone a long time, some of the things I'm noticing are probably well known and obvious to those who' ve been here more recently. But I'm still going to comment on them.

Tilt Geyser is completely different. The original Tilt, which had functioned as a noisy steamvent in the 1980s and 1990s, has been completely filled in by algae and debris carried along by Crested's runoff channel. In the several minutes that I stood there, I noticed that the blowout vents were fluctuating between overflow and down about 1.5cm. The changes in level was also accompanied by ripples and palpitations. That, I assume, is the sum total of Tilt's present activity, which I guess would still qualify it as an intermittent spring.

The Sawmill Group appeared almost as I remembered it, with one minor and one major exception. Tardy has developed a new runoff channel which heads northeast and under the boardwalk, which would have been useful when I wanted to put electronic monitors around the group.

The big exception was the new hole (or holes) that have developed beside or even under the bend of the boardwalk at Scalloped Spring. Thanks to the snow showers, it was easy to see the long stretch of warm walkway. The between the walkway and the old collapse feature actually had water sloshing around about a half meter down. I'm surprised the NPS hasn't panicked and closed the trail. If the do, let them wait until July.

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Arrived Part 2

So when I arrived yesterday, I checked in moments before Old Faithful erupted. No one at the desk, so I breezed right through to my cabin. By the time I'd unpacked and run most of my errands, I decided I could spend a little time in the Lower Ham's parking lot. As I turned the corner from the main road to the parking lot, there was another Faithful eruption just starting. I just find the timing interesting. (Not that I'm superstitious.)

Because I spoke too soon in the last posting. It seems at that point, or on the drive between there and my cabin, the power steering fluid reservoir on my truck developed a leak, with fluid dropping onto the alternator and spraying all over the engine compartment. So for the next few hours, all I could really do is sop up the leak as the fluid drained, and wait for the repair shop at the Upper Gas station to open on Friday.

And it's also somehow appropriate that the first eruption that I see from the start would be Grand as I'm tying up my bicycle at the Castle bikerack. A one burst in a snow shower.

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Arrived

So I completed my migration back to the Park.

Migration involves travel, but is not the same as "traveling". Mere travel is just going from one place to another. Migration is repeated traveling over the same path to the same destination and back to the starting point. Unlike ordinary travel, a migration also includes the expectation of the same events with the same outcome. You aren't inclined to take a side trip on a whim while migrating, because that's will only delay your arrival at your destination. If you need a road atlas, it's not a migration.

A migration is also infrequent. Do it often enough, and it qualifies as a "commute".

So how did my migration go?

Except for the frequent rain showers (which turned to snow at the Old Faithful area) and the strong headwinds in the upper Madison Valley, it was the most uneventful trip that I can remember. The time flew by, and absolutely nothing went wrong. Even after all these years, very little seems to have changed along the route, other than Missoula has continued to bloat out to the northwest.

Now it's time unpack and get everything set up and to rest up for a full day of geyser activity tomorrow.

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Welcome


Waiting for the Splendid

Welcome to the new and improved GeyserNotes! I tried something like this a few years ago, but there's not much point in doing a weblog on geyser activity when it can't contain much in the way of news. In the next few days I will be back into a position where I can actually report on geysers, so until then, this is a good time to take care of introductions.

My stay won't be for a full summer season, but during the time that I am there, I intend to post here comments and observations on a regular basis, as well as keep up to date a list of eruption times for a number of geysers whose activity interests me. (If you want to see more info on other features, I'm always open to suggestions or help...)

When things seem a bit slow, I'll probably resurrect some postings from that earlier attempt at a weblog in which the subject was the Good Ol' Days. And maybe add some new details now that the statute of limitation for those involved has expired.

The geyser eruption log and display are an experiment. I'll be violating several major Info Tech (IT) rules of thumb by going live with a new, relatively untested system without having access to the entire system to make changes. That's because my webserver and database will be located at home, hundreds of miles to the west. So if it doesn't work, or behaves strangely, it can't be fixed until I'm back home. And unless others are willing to help out, I won't be able to continue it when I return home.

I've also got another weblog that may be of interest, and even obliquely related to the future of this one. When Mt.St.Helens reactivated in the fall of 2004, I quickly generated list of local news-sites which I checked on a regular and frequent basis for news about the eruption. I thought to myself that it would be nice if someone were providing a central location for a summary and links, so I wouldn't have to wade through the same articles, and looked around for such a site. Not finding any, it occurred to me that I was in a position to provide that site, so that's what I did.

I've kept that weblog running now for two and a half years. During that time the eruption
has turned into an extrusion, with very little exciting happening. These days, that weblog usually contains little more than a reposting of the daily USGS report and links to the latest USGS photos. But, I keep telling myself, should it ever become exciting again, there will at least be available the news aggregation site I wanted back then.

If you like the information you see here, or you would like to see it continue even after
I've returned back to more mundane activities, the best way to show that support is to hit
the contribute buttons to the left, or buy from the ads. Keeping a webserver up and running
properly doesn't just happen, and definitely does not happen for free.