Category: Activity Report

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Observations for 2019 May 24

No one knew when the dawn Grand eruption happened, so extrapolated from the previous evening's time. Also, someone reported an empty crater, which at least gave a maximum time. Turns out I guessed about right, as when the electronic times finally appeared, it was only about ten minutes from my estimate.

The weather looked wet when we left to go out, but while cold and a bit windy, was never actually raining. Took a quick look at Economic and vicinity, where I noticed that Wave was down a bit, and Economic is actually hot not just around the vent, but has a well defined runoff area in the middle of the orange to the south.

Was one of those Turban starts where Grand waits well over a minute to join in. The burst ended at around 8-1/2 minutes, which should mean another burst, but I have seen a One Burst Grand that short. But the pause was quick, and we got our second. Just that while the total duration was less than ten minutes, Grand made no attempt to even try for a third.

Considered going out to see activity in the Lower Basin again, but timing (Great Fountain erupted as we were eating the meal of the day) and weather (heavy rain) pursuaded us to stay behind. We also missed Beehive, seeing it from our cabin after we heard the roar of the eruption.

Got to see Grand start from behind Castle, because we weren't out there in time for the 5h32m interval. But there was a nice second burst. The rains had also died down, and the breeze was blowing to the east for once, so it was again easy to see the water column.

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Observations for 2019 May 23

The day started out sunny, windy and cold. Spent some time on Geyser Hill since it was approaching 24 hours since the previous Beehive eruption, but it wasn't going to cooperate.

After that, went out for another wet eruption of Grand. One where there wasn't much to see after the start again, because of the wind direction. The wind and rain starting didn't help, either.

The the eruption of Morning the day before, and a report of Fountain in eruption in the morning, it seemed like a good idea to go out there and see what would happen next. Turns out, not much.

Didn't know it at the time, but got there only 3-1/2 hours after a second Fountain eruption. That Clepsydra was shutting down should have been a good clue that we'd missed an eruption, but the whole area was wet because of the rain and snow, and nothing was steaming. It was also confusing as the water level in both Fountain and Morning were high. Water was visible in Fountain from the overlook.

During the next couple hours, Clepsydra kept shutting down, and the geysers kept rising. But the weather turned acceptible, if a bit windy. Eventually, by 15:30, Fountain had water visible well into the neck. That's when things stalled out. Jet was acting like it was erupting, but there was only noise, no water. Clepsydra came on and stayed on. A few hours later, approaching what we thought was well over ten hours, the water level in Fountain began to drop. There was increased boiling in Morning's Thief, which is supposed to be a sure sign of Fountain erupting eventually. By the time we left, around 19:30, Fountain was almost out of sight, and back to about where it was when we arrived.

So we got to see what happens between Fountain eruptions, without actually seeing any Fountain eruptions.

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Observations for 2019 May 22

It took the webcam noticing Beehive's Indicator to roust us out of our nice warm cabin and go out into the cold air. Arrived at Beehive just in time to see the Bubblers erupting just before Beehive's explosive start. The bubblers came back 2m50s into Beehive's eruption, and lasted about 50 seconds, reaching a height of about 1/2 meter during much of that time.

Later it was finally out to Grand to see it erupt. Got out in time for a long, over six minute duration Turban eruption, which was followed by a just barely Delay. Of course that resulted in a long One Burst Grand eruption, white steam on a gray background with the wind casuing the spray to land around West Triplet and Rift.

A quick check down basin showed nothing much of interest, other than Solstice was again, or still, in eruption.

Later went out for the evening Grand. The cold and wind wasn't too unpleasant, but the wind shifted just before the Grand eruption, and kept shifting during the eruption, so that all the walkway got wet at some point, and the steam made it difficult to actually see the eruption.

The first burst lasted a bit over 9-1/2 minutes, so the expectation was for a one burst with Vent and Turban continuing. But about a minute later, those two became quite vigorous, and then the steam parted enough to see the start of a second burst. That burst lasted 2m15s, so what was a short eruption became a long one.

I see that "vista enhancement" is possible in some areas of the partk. Over a dozen large trees that were blocking the view of the Inn from Old Faithful have been replaced by fresh stumps.

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Observations for 2019 May 21

It was a day to finally get out into the Upper Basin and see what was different from last October. It was also gray and breezy and not warm.

The bike rack placement is interesting. There's one as you approach Castle, down in the primary spray zone from the geyser and in prime selfie territory. It's also butted up against the curbing, so that one side is useless. It's about as far from the boardwalk as possible and still be "at Castle." There's a small one across from the southern Daisy trail. I guess it's purpose is to encourage people to not ride directly up to the benches at Daisy. There's a small one at Grotto, which will be inadequate should Giant reactivate. The final bikerack was dumped next to Backwater Spring, on the trail to the now closed Pit Of Eternal Stench.

The replacement Pit is interesting too. Gonna appear in more than a few Riverside eruption photos and videos, I would guess. (Which is somehow appropriate for Riverside.) Next to it is a big spoil pile of sinter dug out to make room for the vault below. That tends to offend me, as there is no reason for the NPS to be digging in thermal areas. Especially when that digging is done with active, flowing springs uphill from the hole. The overflow from Victory hasn't reached that far yet, but you can see the swath of dead trees from its previous activity pointed right at this new building.

Grotto was having a marathon eruption, but down by Oblong we saw Solstice in eruption. It's a feature I've never seen before, so I could be wrong, It's east of Oblong on the other side of the river, and the eruption looked a lot like Old Tardy or Terra Cotta A (the big one).

With nothing much else going on, and Fountain having long durations, we went out there for the early afternoon eruption. The weather forecast said that there could be showers in the early afternoon, and that's what we got. We waited an hour or so, and the rain finally came just when Morning's Thief had its first eruption. Previously I've seen that feature erupt to maybe 3 or 4 meters, but this was between 10 and 15, and quite impressive. There was a second one, just as large, before Fountain finally started.

We got one more Thief eruption, and that seemed even more massive and taller than the previous activity. Then it was wating out the Fountain eruption to get the duration. The wind and rain both picked up during this time, and unfortunately that was coming in the same direction as the view we needed. Fountain's steam made it impossible to see the eruption, and the boardwalk.

What got our attention, and the reason we were there was that Fountain durations were well over the magic 38m mark that said Morning might do something. This eruption lasted about 39m12, which made it shorter than the previous know durations for the week. With the weather the way it was, it was a relief to go back to a dry vehicle and head in.

One thing I noticed today, something which may have been there for years. It's that under the first 45mph sign as you head out of the Old Faithful area has a smaller sign posted below it. In tiny print, it says "Slower Traffic Use Turnouts". Over the next few weeks, will report any other, similar sightings.

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Observations for 2019 May 20

It was back to Norris. We left Old Faithful with it snowing, and it continued all through the drive. We arrived on the platform at 07:15, where the wait began.

For the next eight hours, it was pretty quiet. There were occasions where the strength of a surge was worthy of noting. There were a couple at 08:03 and 09:35, but no followups. That was it until couple more at 13:42 and 14:21. Again, it briefly looked good to a number of us, but nothing else happened.

The conditions were for the wait were poor. The snow continued off and on for the first few hours. Finally the clouds broke and there was even some warmth from the sun which dried things out. But sleet started around 13:00, and that turned into rain, which persisted for about an hour. The little wind we had was blowing toward the platforms, which made observations difficult, especially for the south vent.

So by 15:13, it was pretty damp, and cloudy, but no precipitation. There were a couple of quick surges that got my atttention, so much so that after a third one, I dug out the camera to start recording.

I got two minutes leading up to the start of the eruption. The surges were coming several a minute by then, and there were two huge ones in the seconds before the start. As the water climbed, rocks could be seen falling next to the column. The column itself was lost against the gray sky backdrop. But the upper platform was pelted by what seemed at first to be hail. It turned out it was gravel ejected by the eruption.

Because of the wind direction, none of the water fell upslope from the north vent. That's probably why the water columns never turned brown, and also probably why the water phase lasted at most three minutes. I noticed the vents in loud, strong steam at the 3m45s mark, although the north vent would could occasionally be seen throwing water later on.

Also because of the wind direction, there are new runoff channels being developed all down the slope between the main runoff and Cistern. I got down to the bridge before any footprints appeared in the mud washed over the walkway, and there was rocks all over the bridge, and some fairly big ones (cherry tomato sized) too.

The wind kept shifting, but the rain was localized, so at times one or the other platform, or part of the walkway, was being drenched, while the rest of the area was not. At one point, as I was moving stuff back to the parking lot, I even got rained on near Emerald. Even so, everything got drenched, and the blankets we were using to keep warm can hold a lot of water in them. The parking lot, however, never seems to have been a target, so this eruption was a lot like the first one seen last May.

Later that evening, Suzanne noted that Grand had been having a long series of sub-five hour intervals, and we were approaching the five hour mark. So we went out at sunset to see a couple of Turban intervals. The second one didn't officially qualify as a Delay, but was close enough. And since it was after sunset, we didn't stick around in the windy cold. Turns out it was a Two Turban Delay, and we made the right decision.

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Observations for 2019 May 19

We arrived at the Lower Ham's Store at 14:05, a little over 9.5 hours after leaving home. All during the drive we expected to see a notice that someone had noticed a New Crater/Steamboat eruption on the seismograph trace. The last two intervals had been less than six days, and we were well over five days when we left. But nothing. So we were there long enough to drop off the bikes from the back of the truck and then head to Norris.

An hour later we were on the platform, joining the small group who reported seeing nothing much that was encouraging. We spent four hours there, and except for a twenty minute period midway through our wait, we saw nothing encouraging too. Most of the play was either by one or the other vent, but not together. The exception was several sustained, concerted surges aroun 17:10 . We weren't really prepared for an extended wait in temperatures in the upper 30s, either.

It didn't erupt on our drive back to check in to our Old Faithful Lodge cabin, so the plan is to get up at dawn and head north again. This time properly prepared for a day long wait.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 27

We had another chance today to stop at Tokaanu and try and see Taumatapuhipuhi. The geyser itself has been heavily altered, with a channel around 40cm deep cut through the side of the vent, through a sinter platform and leading to a couple of hot-pot bathtubs about 20 meters away. It is on private property, and is posted, so we kept discreet while waiting.

When we arrived, the water was slowly flowing down the channel, and there was near continuous bubbling from one side of the vent. About ten minutes after we arrived, suddenly the water rose up, and started splashing well above the rim. Some splashes were about 1.5 meters high, and the eruption lasted maybe 30 seconds.

After that, the water level dropped well below overflow, but after about twenty minutes, was back to about where we found it. So not surprised to see another eruption, almost identical to the first, with an interval of 28 minutes.

That was our last opportunity to see New Zealand geysers, at least for this trip. I think we saw about 15 total in five different thermal areas. All of them were different and unlike geysers we've seen before, the same way the thermal areas were unique.

Posting of videos will have to wait until we get back, when I can finally edit and then upload them. I took a lot, along with GPX recordings of our walks and hikes. Those will help locate the features and maybe make corrections as to what we actually saw in the case of Orakeikorako.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 26

Sort of encountered some thermal features today.

On the Mt.Tangariro Alpine Crossing, one comes across the Ketehani Hot Springs off to the side. This area, which is a privately owned inholding in the national park, has been closed for the last decade or so. It was getting too much abuse by hot potters and other Nature Lovers that the owning Maori tribe said "no more." Now there are barriers on the former trails to the site.

Over the years there have been reports of at least one geyser there, if not several. Now all you can see is thick steam coming up from behind the ridge hiding the hot springs gully.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 25

The day started with a little side trip to the mudpots at Te Kopia. Just a small turnout along a side road (which eventually is not paved) featuring some large mudpots.

We arrived at Orakeikorako at opening. Took the ferry across to the thermal area with little knowledge of what to expect. What we found was a series of terraces connected by boardwalks. The formations have been heavily altered, especially for the walkways, with deep gutters keeping the water from flooding them. There's also a loop, beyond the terraces, to the "thermal cave" and to some mudpots. These are worth a visit, but I doubt I'd go there again unless I had plenty of time there.

The first geyser we saw was Cascade. This feature erupts from a cavern in the Rainbow Fault, the wall the ends the first terrace. There's new, pink sinter being deposed by a geyser, that on the day we were there, erupted out of the crater to a couple of meters high every 6 minutes or so, lasting about 30 seconds. We saw lots of eruptions, because we spent a fair amount of time trying to see nearby Sapphire Geyser.

This appears to be a small gray vent on the flat at the base of the wall of the fault. Right after our first Cascade eruption, we saw steam come out of the area, and got in position to see the end of the water splashing. Reports we had said "hours" between eruptions, so we were a bit disappointed. We watched a few more Cascade eruptions, then move on up to the next terrace.

There wasn't much going on there. At the far end is the Golden Fleece fault, which was damp from water flowing over the edge, and on the extreme southern end, what appeared to be a runoff waterfall that suddenly picked up while we were looking at the area. Up there we found the Artists Palette. There's a great overlook at the eastern end, when most of the features can be seen, except for those directly below the overlook and hidden by the plant life.

During an hour or so there, we saw several erupting features. Based on Lloyd's map of the area from 1960, we saw activity in #742, #761, #764, and #760. There was also a perpetual spouter at the base of the Pyramid of Geysers throwing water from a pool to a height of about 3 meters. We also saw increased variations in activity from Psyche's Bath (#704) and #782. #764 erupted once, early in our visit. It's a large pool whose splashes reached two or thee meters, and it lasted about 3m30s minutes.

There were a lot of large, empty holes out there, Palette Pool and #742 being the most notable. We don't know if that is normal, or a variation in the activity. #742 erupted to about a meter high farily often from the empty crater, throwing water from one side across the crater.

Turns out that it was probably #764 that was putting out the water cascading over the fault scarp. It appears to be an intermittent spring that would frequently rise up a few centimeters and send out pulses of water. On the whole though, the Artist's Palette was a bit of a disappointment, as it didn't change much.

We decided to complete the loop, and then see if we could catch another Sapphire eruption. When we got back to the second terrace, we noticed some holes between the walkway and the rock wall behind it. This location is west of Wairiri Geyser. It was obvious that these three holes had broken out under the walkway, as the gutter cut into the sinter was clearly visible. They are large, each several meters across, and the one on the left had two vent craters. There was also a sheet of plywood nailed the the railing facing the holes.

Right after we arrived, suddenly the middle hole welled up and splashed for several second to about a meter. At the same time, the back right vent showed water. Afther this activity, the water dropped. There was some bubbling in the main vent, but no other changes. It didn't appear that any water had been discharged recently, as there were no damp catch pools.

We continued on, and saw the Soda Fountain. It appears to be perpetual, or at least has a long duration. It has a broad, several meter in diameter pool with considerable discharge.

Back at Sapphire and Cascade, we noticed that Sapphire would have a brief splash every 5 or 6 minutes. These splashes were coming closer together, so that after about 45 minutes, they were about two minutes apart. We then caught a real eruption. It build up from the splashes into spray of water to about three meters, and lasted about a minute.

After that, it was back to Artist's Palette, where there really wasn't much change. We decided that we wanted to try again for Sapphire, and so came back about an hour later and within ten minutes got another eruption. Again, the splashes were closely spaced.

It was time for some guru geyser gazing. The interval between the first and the second eruptions we observed was almost exactly three times the length of this interval. So we knew we wanted to be back in about an hour.

We'd heard report from some gazers who'd been to Orakekorako the week before of new activity, "at the end of Golden Fleece Terrace and next to the trees". We were able to determine that this indeed was the features that caused the walkway to be relocated. So it was back to Sapphire, where we got an eruption with about a 65 minute interval. For guru geyser gazing, not too bad.

We wanted to catch one last Sapphire before leaving (there's no facilities in the thermal area, and they said there's no return once you leave.) And still curious about the new features. This time we were rewarded. This time, without much warning, the left vents started splashing several meters high for nearly three minutes. There was no discharge. Then, about a minute after that, the middle vent filled and blipped water. It did this several times over the next five minutes, with the longest and biggest being the last one. But none of these matched what we had seen earlier in the day. It does appear that this feature had been undermining the walkway for quite a while, sort of like what Bulger's Hole had been doing.

Our final Sapphire interval was 60 minutes. On the whole, our guru geyser gazing worked out. The decreasing interval lengths might mean something, but we'll never know.And with that, it was time to leave.

Did visit one other thermal area. Next to the Tokaanu Spa is a thermal area with a free walkway. Along it were some soupy mudpots and hot pools, all surrounded by thick plant life. At the end of the walk loop was a fence with a sign saying "Private property" Beyond it is what is supposed to be a geyser. This feature has been heavily modified, with a deep trench cut into the formations to lead away the water. Reports I had were that it was erupting every few minutes for about 30 second. While the formations were wet with puddles, we saw nothing happen, not even steam, during the ten minutes or so that we were there. (Would have stayed longer, but needed to get to that night's lodging.)

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Observations for 2019 Jan 24

Today we had to take a boat ride to see the geyser activity.

Arrived at Waimangu as they were opening. The area takes its name from the ex-geyser. It's a several mile long hike down a series of volcanic explosion craters from the 1886 Tarawera eruptions to the shore of Lake Rotomahana. It was raining off an on for the first few hours, and we had two hours to get to the lakeshore for our boat ride. Fortunately, there is an infrequent shuttle bus, and we were able to take advantge of it several times.

At first we encountered several deep craters with weak thermal activity whose bottoms had pools mostly filled by rainwater.

The site of Waimangu Geyser is now a relatively flat area at the bottom of a crater with a stream around one side and lots of fumaroles and sputs along the stream banks. The first time we were there we didn't realize what it was.

From there the trail follows the stream, which has cut a deep gully in places, and the banks were lined with more activity. Some of the springs have already built up nice rims around them, and there could have been a geyser or two among all the sputs we saw there.

Just downstream from a bridge, there's a perpetual spouter putting up a thin, continuous stream of water to a height of two to three meters. Just before it was a mostly dry, large runoff channel. We climbed the steps the were beside it to the overlook for Inferno Crater.

Inferno Crater is a "crypto-geyser". It doesn't throw water into the air, but shows all the other behaviors associated with geysers-- primarily periodic discharge of water. In this case, the interval runs from days to weeks. The water level varies from heavy overflow to down several meters, We were there when it was low, but this was good, because that seems to be when it has the best color. In the morning, it looked a bit gray, thanks to the clouds and rain. But when we visited it a second time, in the sunny afternoon, it was a deep, bright blue.

We also visited Warbrick Terrace where there's a large apron of runoff punctuated by numerous small sputs.

The boatride was well worth it. The activity of the geyser we saw, "Pink Terrace Geyser", is dependent on the lake level. When we were there, the level was high. So high that some of the walkway by the shore was closed due to flooding. The higher the lake, the more vigorous the activity. What we saw lasted about 90 seconds or so and reached a height of around eight to ten meters. The boat operator said that the intervals were around seven minutes. Also along the shore were a number of other spouters, and some features drowned by the high lake levels.

Turns out we missed the Iodine Spring, which sometimes acts as a geyser. It's along the bus road, while we went by on the trail on the other side of the stream. From our vantage point, we did see what looked like another perpetual spouter over there.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 23

The day started with a visit to the huge mudpots at the north end of the Waiotapu area. These are free to the public, and are impressive.

The area is a small pond with mud islands scattered through much of it. Mud bursts out of the center, or from below the surface, to keep the island from disappearing. Not sure if this is a wet season, but everything looked like the groundwater level was high. There weren't any fumaroles surrounded by old, cracked mud.

After that, we went to the Waiotapu area proper to get our passes. With a little time to kill, we went through one of the loops. That part of the area consists of multiple, huge collapse pits. There's nothing in Yellowstone like them. Calthos and Pucher, north of Morning Glory, are tiny in comparison. They are formed by acid water creating voids in the ground, which at some point are complete undermined and then drop down. At the bottom of most of there there was a small acidic pool.

There was also the Devil's Bath, which is a huge pool filled with runoff from nearby springs. The color was a bright green normally only seen on safety vests. It was florescently bright, especially in the clear, hot sunlight.

Normally, I'd have wanted to investigate the area before the crowds showed up, but this day we needed to join the crowds. So we headed down the road to the site of Lady Knox Geyser.

Lady Knox Geyser is a heavily altered pool, with a man-made cone, which is induced to erupt at a daily spectacle. We arrived well beforehand, and picked out some seats upwind right at the railing. The benches were full when the show began at 10:15. After a short speech, a small quantity of soap was dumped into the vent. It took only a couple of minutes for suds to appear in the vent, and for that to quickly turn into a full eruption.

Within about a minute, people in the crowd started heading for the exit. Over the next few minutes the water column became less soapy and reach heights of around 10 meters. It looked a lot like White Dome in both style of play and the formation. Then the activity began to cycle. It would drop down to about two or three meters for a minute or so, then climb back up to full height. The full height was still around five or six meters when we left about 40 minutes later.

Back at Waiotapu, we were in the thick of the crowd. All those people who had left before us, and that most everyone, was in and around the area. We quickly got through the crowds to pickup from where we left off.

From Champagne Terrace, the next stop was an overlook over the Artist's Palette. This was a large flat with a number of multicolored pools. From there, the trail drops down to to follow a stream coming from Lake Whangerarangi. Further on, there's the Frying Pan Lake, Oyster Pool and lots of acid sulphate features.

We passed by Waiotapu Geyser when we went through the area where its located. It was so busy I was concentrating on making videos and avoiding the people. When we returned to the Champagne Pool, looked at one of the geothermal maps I had and figured out where we went wrong. Part of the problem is that they've renumbered the guideposts, and the old info I had was wrong. Another problem is that they've upgraded the walkways near the geyser, so the descriptions we got from other gazers was no longer valid.

In any case, it worked out, because when we found the geyser, over in the Alum Cliffs area, it was sitting there quietly full of water. Every minute or so, it would release a bubble from depth.

Intervals are reported to be several hours, so the fact that the formations around the vent were completely dry were a good sign. At least we didn't just miss an eruption, or have it erupt between the time we blindly walked by and the time we found it.

Over the next hour, the bubbling became more frequent, with more bubbles at once, and the bubbling lasting longer. By then it was almost continuous, and it appeared that the runoff was getting stronger. About twenty minutes later it looked like an eruption was about to start, as water flooded over the rim.

This lasted for maybe a minute, then the water level in the vent dropped lower than we'd seen it any time in our wait. It was really disappointing, thinking that that was the entire eruption. But the level quickly rose, and about ten minutes later, it again surged and overflowed.

This time there was actual bursting from vent, maybe 0.5 meter high. It lasted just over two minutes, then again the pool dropped. Based on the descriptions I've read, hoped that this was some sort of minor and not the actual eruption.

And we were right. Ten minutes later, there was another surge, and this developed into a full scale eruption just like ones in videos that are on-line.

The eruption lasted exactly 13 minutes, and at times reached four meters in height. Some of the later splashes were intermixed with steam, and hit the boardwalk and us, too. As the eruption progressed, the water level dropped, so that the last few minutes were huffing and the occasional wet steam from down deep. Finally there were no splashes, and the activity died down. A very nice, small geyser.

That evening, after a snack and restocking of groceries, we went for a walk into the forest south of Te Puia in search of an overlook. We found it, and it's quite nice. The entire area is easily visible, and while we were there Pohutu was erupting. The only drawback is that Kereru really isn't visible, although an observer from there could see the huge steam cloud of an eruption.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 22

Wasn't sure what to expect today. The amount of information about New Zealand thermal activity is minuscule compared to Yellowstone, and usually out of date or of historic interest only.

Our accommodations in the Holiday Park are within walking distance of Te Puia at Whakarewarewa, so we headed over about 30 minutes before opening. It was easy crossing, since the new traffic circle features some pedestrian underpasses.

But first we investigated the steam coming from the other side of the fence, within the golf course. There we found a pair of large, wet, but noisy mudpots. That was a nice start.

Over at Te Puia we could see areas of steam as we walked up to the entrance station. We waited a bit, but were the first on the grounds as the gates opened at 07:58. We quickly made our way past the "cultural exhibits" to our real target-- the thermal activity.

When the Geyser Flat became visible, we could see Te Tohu (Prince of Wales Feathers) erupting, and what looked like Pohutu slopping. Down the ramp and moments later we came across Pohutu in full eruption.

Here's where our ignorance came into play. We didn't really know what to expect next. The signs said that there were one to two eruptions per hour, but this one kept on going. After reaching full height, it seemed to die down after about 15 minutes, only to pick back up and rise back up to a full 17-20 meters. After twenty minutes of video recording, I gave up.

This eruption lasted about 53 minutes. About five minutes before the end, it became obvious that things were dying down as the activity of both geysers slowed. They finally stopped together, or within seconds of each other.

Since we didn't know what the intervals might be, we explored the area in the vicinity where we could come back quickly if things started happening there. The immediate vicinity reminds me of Geyser Creek. Lots of hot ground with steaming cracks and openings. A number of what look like decrepit features that might once have been springs and geysers, but are now just another fumarole. There are lots of areas of sulphur being deposited, bright yellow covering the formations of what used to be geysers.

One feature we knew about was Kereru. Unlike the other nearby features, which are depositing standard gray sinter, it is surrounded by black sinter. The vent is in an alcove below the platform of Pohutu and company. We finally figured out where it was located, and that it wasn't doing anything but steaming gently. Our information from last week said that it seemed to start overflowing giving a few minutes warning.

When we returned to Pohutu, Te Tohu was again in eruption, so we waited for Pohutu. About seven minutes later, Pohutu started splashing, and the eruption began about six minutes after that. This eruption also seemed to have periods of alternating between full height and something about half. It lasted about ten minutes less than the previous one. During this eruption Kereru did nothing, as before.

So again we took advantage of the gap to investigate the area further away. There we found lots of steam vents and mudpots surrounded and obscured by lush green plant-life. We walked up to Te Waikite, which used to be the largest geyser in the area, located at the top of a huge mound of old sinter. We returned at about noon to wait for Te Tehu's start.

During that wait, Kereru still did nothing that we could see, and once Te Tohu started, we decided to find a different place to see the start. From this vantage point, Kereru was not visible.

About ten minutes after we left, Suzanne saw the sudden appearance of a huge steam cloud from down there. We both ran down in time to see the tail end of the eruption. These eruptions last only about 30 seconds, but can easily reach 20 meters. Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed, as from what we knew, that was our one and only chance to see a geyser that reports said erupted a few times a week to maybe a few times a day.

The reports we had said that after an eruption, there was a series of minors, some which could be fairly strong, and as high as the platform above it where Pohutu is located. We saw some minor splashes, but they were at best only a few meters high, and were anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes apart during the next half hour.

Pohutu started during this time, so we watched it while keeping an eye out on Kereru. Then we noticed that the splashes seemed to be getting bigger and more frequent. Not only that, but it seemed like the water was pooling in the vent. In anticipation of the next minor, I started the video recording. Almost immediately I was rewarded with a minor that kept building while water started to flood out the vent. The interval between two major eruptions, and this was no minor, was 49 minutes.

The water floods out over the sinter shield between the vent and the river in one big, sustained wave while the height was comparable to that of the still erupting Pohutu, even though the vent is about five or six meters lower.

Following this eruption, we started getting minor play every two or three minutes. These were much stronger than the splashes we'd seen earlier. Pohutu ended about ten minutes later, with a duration almost identical to the previous eruption. There was no way we were going to be leaving this area this time.

This splashing continued for about the next 90 minutes. Pohutu started another eruption about an hour into this wait. Then Kereru was mostly quiet for about twenty minutes. Unlike previously, the splashes were strong from the beginning, and coming so frequently that I stopped recording individual spurts.

Twenty minutes later, the splashes had turned into full minors less than a minute apart, and Pohutu was still erupting, about 70 minutes after it had started. That's when Kereru started looking so good that I had to start recording. Within a minute, it erupted for the third time that day, with this interval about 2h12m. The length and height were no different from the second eruption.

And, as after the previous eruption, minor play every two to three minutes started again. Pohutu's eruption continued with it finally ending with a duration of 1h34m.

We took the opportunity to explore the last of the areas we hadn't visited, over by Papakera Geyser. We observed the wash zone around it, and that it was gently overflowing. By the time we returned, Te Tohu was again in eruption. Kereru was still having minors. We decided to get the start of Pohutu, and then leave. We figured that the area would close by the time Pohutu's next eruption ended, and Kereru wouldn't have had enought time for a fourth eruption, so no point in sticking around further. It had been a long, eventful and wonderful day.

But it turns out we got one last surprise. Looking back on the area, we discovered Pohutu off, a mere twenty minutes after the start. This short eruption followed a long duration and interval. It would have been interesting to know what that meant, but maybe for the best that we were about to be forced to leave.

A few other observations. The crowds would come and go. Unlike at Old Faithful, where the time of the next eruption governed the size, here it seemed to be based on how many bus tours there were. At times we had the area around Pohutu to ourselves. There were three other people besides us who witnessed the last eruption we saw of Kereru.

The Asian Invasion is not unique to Yellowstone. If anything, we are pretty lucky in that most gazers don't have to interact with these people except when they tromp down to Morning Glory or elbow their way to the railing during a New Crater/Steamboat eruption. On too many occasions these people would block my view to get their perfect picture, when I was already trying to stay to the side and out of the way. I had one woman, oblivious to her surroundings shove her umbrella in my face as she fumbled with her camera.

It was also disappointing how little information there was about the geysers. There are not guidebooks in the souvenier store. The closest I could find was a "thermal history" of the Maori. I heard several of the guides mention things that weren't true. They were still telling people Pohutu was erupting once or twice an hour, for example.There is nothing like geyser gazing, at least at Te Puia (we'll learn if that it also true at Orakeikorako in a few days.) A few gazers spending all day here over the period of a week would probably do more to pin down what sort of activity is going on than has been done in the last few years. (For example, is there really no connection between Kereru and Pohutu? I wonder, based on some things I saw about the minors.)

Tomorrow will be less intense, as it's mostly driving between several places that probably don't have natural geysers. But I should get to see my first induced eruption since 1986.

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Observations for 2019 Jan 21

After four days in New Zealand, finally got to see something erupt.

It is located at Te Aroha. Mokena Geyser is a bicarbonate drilled well which erupts periodically from a small hole, maybe 1cm across, at the top of a cylinder in a large concrete basin.

When we arrived, it was quiet. Off on the side was a locked metal cover. As I was standing there, I heard rumbiling start from beneath it. In a minute or so, steam was starting to quietly come out of the vent. The noise increased and small spits started from the vent. Over the next few minutes, the spitting increased in duration and size as the sound increased. At some point the activity would last for several seconds before having sort pauses, and the water was thrown about about a meter high.

This lasted for about ten minutes, and at times the water was thrown about four meters high. There never was much volume to the play. Eventually, the activity began to subside. It slowly reversed just the way it started. Every time I thought it was about to end, it would give a quick spit. Overall, the duration of activity was about 20 minutes.

After that, we headed for Rotorua. After checking in and buying some groceries, we went to Kuirau Park.

This is a bizarre place for someone used to Yellowstone. It's a city park. It's bounded by busy city streets, and where there's no thermal activity, there's a lawn, including several athletic fields.

There's no geyser activity there. Mostly it's scummy holes or watery mud pots. But there were a couple of clear, boils sputterers next to a large pile of cemented boulders that steamed near the top. These sputs were surrounded by a large flat area that appeared to have been wet at one time, but was drained. Most of the features there had the same look as if they had been higher not to long ago.

In addition, there was Kuirau Lake. This a a large boiling pool at the north end of the park. At one point, there's considerable overlow under the walkway and down a well-defined, wide shallow runoff channel. After about 40 meters or so, this flows into a hot pool which seems to act as a sink, as there was no other discharge anywhere in the area.

The lake as a nice overlook directly over the pool, and a boardwalk that cuts over one end of it. It reminded me a lot of Hot Lake in the Lower Geyser Basin.

Tomorrow the real fun begins, as we have reservations to visit some real, large geysers.

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Observations for 2018 October 16

After checkiing out, stopped in the store parking lot. Realized that Grand hadn't erupted, just as we saw the steamcloud rising from its location. Went out anyhow since it was a cold, dead calm morning. Got to Sawmill Group in time to see the end of the long second burst, and to see Vent and Turban quit.

Also saw that there were frozen puddles in some of Sawmill's runoff channel. Not sure what to make of it. Perhaps the water nearer the vent was too warm to pool and freeze, or maybe something else is going on there.

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Observations for 2018 October 15

Today started like yesterday. Temperature was in single digits when we arrived at Norris, and there were a couple of tour buses in the parking lot. Unlike yesterday, the tours were visiting the Back Basin instead of Porcelain Basin.

Set up on the upper platform again in anticipation of it eventually getting sunny, although that turned out to be several hours away. New Crater/Steamboat was more active than yesterday, but during those cloudy hours, it never had a good minor. (A good minor is one where it's time to use the camera.) Eventually clouds and fog broke and it started to warm up. Around noontime, moved down to the lower platform, as I can't tell what the South Vent is doing from the upper.

The activity did pick up a little, but it wasn't until 13:27 that it had a minor that showed that there was eruptive potential. That was followed four minutes later by another one, and then they started coming about ten to twelve minutes apart. All during this time the activity of the minors was concentrated in the North Vent, with the South not quite as strong as before other eruption.
But at 14:11, a minor started and built, and at 14:12, we got the eruption.

Both vents climbed slowly to full height, and were clean for the first minute or so. Then the fun began. North turned reddish-brown, and began spewing out rocks. Large rocks thrown to great heights. More rocks than I've seen in all of the five previous eruptions. After a few minutes, the water there seemed so thick that the North Vent was only erupting 10 or 20 feet high.

When I was down at the runoff, I saw (and recorded) a large chunk of reddish mud plopping onto walkway. Surprised me, because I didn't think rocks would be flying that far, so it was probably thrown there by the torrent of water coming down the channel.

There was very little wind, and what little there was had the steam column drifting away from us. Because of this, later in the eruption the condensing steam made for nice rainbows which seemed to appear on either side depending on where the wind was drifting.

Ended the day by going out at sunset for one last One Burst Grand. Got there in time to see a Turban delay, so it was a Two-Turban Delayed One Burst Grand eruption that we eventually saw. The temperature was about 26°F, which was about the same temperature at which we saw New Crater/Steamboat last week.

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Observations for 2018 October 14

Left the Old Faithful area where the temperature was 8°F and arrived at Norris at sunrise. Was probably even colder there. Turns out it is possible to sit and wait for a geyser at such temperatures, if you have a couple of blankets and are wearing lots of layers. The day never really got above freezing, although some places in sunlight did dry out a bit.

New Crater had some good surges early in our wait, then nothing much happened until a hour before we planned to leave. Even this activity wasn't encouraging, as I only got the phone out just in case, but never started recording. So it was mostly 9 hours of killing time.


Pencil Frost near Echinus

Frost near Echinus

Years ago I came across an interesting phenomena of hot ground, and encountered it again today. When warm, damp ground encounters frigid air, frost develops underneath pebbles and particles lying on that ground. That ice in turn causes the frost to grow, from the bottom, slowly pushing the top of the frost column up. I found large patches of this frost over by Echinus, on both sides of the boardwalk.