Fan and Mortar July 15, 2014

It was the 2nd River Vent Pause and I was riding at a even pace down to Fan and Mortar. It was day 5 since they last erupted and a considerable crowd had gathered. I parked my bike just as High and Gold came on and it quickly became apparent they were on for the long run. Angle Vent came on a few minutes later and the following events took place between three of my friends and I.

High Vent starts going steady trying to lock, droplets reaching halfway up the opposite bank from my perspective. Gold can't make up its mind.

Ryan's on the verge of psychological breakdown.

Demetri has his radio halfway to his mouth but has a face of "I have no idea doing".

A few minutes later I notice "chevrons"  becoming visible in High. Will starts flapping his arms like hes trying to take flight. "DEMETRI LOCKITLOCKITLOCKIT."

Demetri hesitates: "uuuhhhh, uuuhhh."

Ryan's excitement is about to hit critical.

Gold joins in and Fan is in full lock, I just about explode. "DANG IT DEMETRI! LOCK IT!"

Demetri calls lock, it lasts for 5 minutes, during which im running up and down the boardwalk screaming like a bafoon. Demetri's glued in place, Ryans shaking like a leaf. Will is wooping and staring from near Mortar.

Im standing next to Ryan, snap a picture of his idiot grin. 23 seconds later East Vent explodes without even a puff of steam to precede it. All hell breaks loose.

Fan's East Vent takes off! 

Will screams and dives off the boardwalk, racing to get in the splash zone, Demetri calls it like a nuclear strike just occured. Ryans just screaming, glued in place next to me. I snap another picture of his face (its his first F&M.)

Main Vent rockets upward, Will leaps into the deluge and embraces it like its the second coming of Christ. Ryan and i scatter towards the bridge. I don't know what Demetri's doing. We continue to cheer and watch F&M for the bext 30 minutes.

Unfortunately fan and mortar have not been as well behaved as we have hoped. They've erupted twice since the 15th eruption, and its been 5 days at the time of this writing. And just 30 seconds ago I got a message they're in an event cycle, will they go? We can hope!

Geysers by Moonlight 2014, Beehive shoots for the moon.

After the debacle that Beehive and it's Indicator decided to put us through last season, I was pleased to arrive in Yellowstone to find Beehive is now cooperating quite nicely, erupting anywhere between  13.5-19 hours. On June 10 Beehive erupted at 1018 in the morning, I was present for the eruption, and I elected that I would go out during the bright nearly full moon and see a moonlit Beehive while taking some pictures with my new Nikon DSLR Camera. I'm pretty sure the camera was the only thing that saved me from going insane.

Beehive Geyser's cone by Moonlight. Photo by Micah K. 

After hauling all of my gear up to Geyser Hill around Midnight, I was greeted by a nice tall eruption of Lion Geyser, which was finishing up a series it started earlier in the evening. Pleased, I walked past Beehive and set up my camera, and began to shoot some pictures. Eventually, I got everything the way I wanted, put the lens on, and walked away. I was fully expecting Beehive to erupt on a 13-14 hour interval and expected that I would be in my cozy dorm bunk at 3 am, I forgot the number one rule of Geyser Gazing. NEVER say always with a Geyser. 1 am and 2 am waltzed right on by with nothing but a distant Grand and a handful of Big Anemone's to show for it. I began to get chills while muttering made up curses at the 4-foot hunk of geyserite in front of me. Beehive looked dead, I was getting cold, and fog was. gathering on the hill. It was the gazing equivalent to watching paint dry, and I was not pleased with Bug.

Throughout the evening, blowing steam had given me momentary cardiac arrests by giving the illusion that water was in Indicator, but it always turned out to be false. However, at 0300 exactly, I suddenly heard a gurgle and burble. I trained my light on Indicator just as a rocking pool of water appeared, seconds later, Indicator erupted. I whooped and ran to my camera, wary of the ominously shifting wind, which kept on pushing Beehive's steam towards me. I knew that if I moved the wrong way, I could get very cold and wet indeed.

Beehive's Indicator erupting with the lights of the Old Faithful Lodge in the background. Photo by Micah K. 

Then....my camera died, I managed to get a couple photos of Beehive's indicator in eruption. And then kaput. But all the better, because what happened next will be engraved into my memory for the rest of my life. Beehive splashed, splashed, surged, and erupted.

Immediately my jaw dropped, Beehive's roar filled my ears as it rocketed into the sky, knifelike jets leapfrogged from the column and reached for the highest stars. I could help from screaming and jumping up and down as Beehive climbed to almost unbelievable heights. The boardwalk shuddered in tandem with the pulsing cacophony emanating from the cone. A curtain of water fell northeastward and doused a large portion of Geyser Hill before cascading back towards the Firehole.

My smile stayed glued onto my face as Beehive gasped out its last steam huffs into the night sky. It's good to be back.  

Artemisia Geyser

Over the summer there were several areas in the Upper or Lower Geyser Basin that I only visited once, or visitations were few and far between. But sometimes these areas rewarded these spontaneous visits with a special gift. One of these locations was Artemisia Geyser. Artemisia Geyser is located about a ten minute walk up the trail past Morning Glory Pool where most visitors turn around. Artemisia erupts from a massive superheated pool decorated by fantastic geyserite deposits. Eruptions are anywhere from 8-32 hours apart but are usually between 15-24.

Artemisia's massive pool and gorgeous sinter formations. Photo by Micah K.

Despite the extreme erratic intervals, there is a rugged group of Geyser Gazers that will go and plant themselves overlooking the pool for an entire day and into the night if they have to. They are Artemisia's greatest fans and I have an extreme amount of respect for the effort and dedication they put into watching this Geyser, for that reason this post is dedicated to them.

I will admit, I didn't pay much interest in Artemisia over the course of the summer as most of the significant geyser activity in the Upper Geyser Basin was much farther south. However, as the end of my employment began to draw near, I decided I needed to try to catch Artemisia. With the help from the group of Artemisia fans, I finally saw it.

Artemisia erupts! Photo By Micah K

Artemisia erupted just as I careened around the bend in a trail after being hailed over the radio. The entire massive pool lifted and flooded the surrounding sinter flat in a massive wave. Massive collapsing steam bubbles caused the ground to shake. The surface of the pool began to boil, seethe, and churn, and suddenly massive jets of water exploded into the sky up to 30-40 feet. A massive steam column climbed into the early evening sky. I celebrated with the sole Artimesia watcher who was with me, and we both enjoyed the eruption of about 30 minutes. It was one of the most incredible geyser eruptions I have ever witnessed. It was fantastic, and Artemisia instantly climbed into the list of my favorite geysers. I hope that I get the chance to see it again next summer. And the lesson I brought back from Artemisia was to never underestimate a geyser of Yellowstone ever again.

Uncertain Geyser.

Once again we're back to the temperamental and spellbinding Sawmill Group in the Upper Geyser Basin. The last time we were here we discussed Penta Geyser. Now we are going to discuss Uncertain Geyser, a favorite among several Geyser Gazers, and a geyser that proves somewhat elusive to catch.

Sawmill Geyser is the dominant geyser in the Sawmill Group, photo by: Micah K.

Everything in the Sawmill Group is affected by, of course; Sawmill Geyser. Uncertain is no exception. After every eruption of Sawmill the water levels in the group will drain several feet and then refill. This happens several times over until Sawmill has a much longer duration eruption, usually this is several hours long instead of the typical 90 minutes. After this eruption finally ends, the Sawmill Group undergoes a "Deep Drain" where the water levels in all the features plummet for several hours, in most of the springs it is even impossible to see water. After a few hours goes by the water levels begin to recover, and this is where the fun begins.

Twilight Spring in the Sawmill Group recovers from a drain following an eruption of Sawmill. Photo by:Micah K.

 Several features in the Sawmill Group only erupt, or usually erupt when the water level is coming up from a deep drain. Uncertain Geyser is one of those. Uncertain's crater is nothing more than a small nearly circular hole tucked against the thick geyserite shoulder of Sawmill Geyser. It is a race between Uncertain and the rest of the group. If nearby Twilight Spring reaches overflow before Uncertain erupts, the game is over, if Tardy Geyser nearby erupts first, usually that spells doom for the chances of Uncertain. If Sawmill Geyser erupts first, it usually isn't a good sign, but sometimes Uncertain will erupt in concert with Sawmill for a fantastic show. See how complicated the relationships are? Fantastic right? It's patterns and puzzles like these that make geyser gazing so much fun!

Despite it's unfortunate knack for keeping Uncertain from erupting. Tardy Geyser just down the boardwalk still puts on quite the show of its own. Photo by Micah K. 

As the water level comes up in the Sawmill Group, usually Uncertain will splash within it's vent or pulse up and down. If an eruption will occur, the water level will rise to the top of the rim and the splashing will grow vigorous, finally the splashing will turn into jetting, and neat little fountain of water will spray 10-15 feet into the sky for about five minutes. The eruption ends with a small steam phase.

Uncertain Geyser erupts! Photo by Micah K

For me the reason that I enjoy Uncertain so much is simply the buildup. The tension that occurs once you see all the criteria are in place and that the race is on between Uncertain and the other features is very fun. I'm sure I got many weird looks from visitors as I scampered from feature to feature jotting things quickly in my logbook before running to the next feature. But you know what, I loved every second of it.

Lone Star Geyser

Three miles south of Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin is a small secluded backcountry thermal area. This is the Lone Star Geyser Basin. From a trailhead located about ten minutes down the Grand Loop Road from Old Faithful Village a well maintained walking/bike path travels 2.5 miles down the Firehole River Valley. At the end of this trail is Lone Star Geyser.

Lone Star Geyser Meadow photo by: Micah K. 

Walking up to Lone Star Geyser is always a unique experience. After traveling through the shaded woods, with squirrels chattering complaints at you and the Firehole River burbling alongside, you emerge suddenly into an open meadow. A hillside rises to your right with multiple small spouters and thermal features on its slopes, however, at this point signs admonish you to stay on the trail, and it is illegal to approach these features.

But it is hard to miss the sentinel of this meadow, the ruler of this small group of features. Rising from a large geyserite platform shared with two geysers nearly insignificant to it, Lone Star's nine foot cone towers above everything else.

Lone Star Geyser erupts about every 2.5-3 hours. It has major and minor eruptions, sometimes there is no minor preceding a major, and sometimes there are two or three. It's quiet period is periodically interjected with surges and small jets of water from the main vent. Eventually one of these surges will last longer than the others, and grow stronger, suddenly the surge will turn into a explosive jet that rockets thin streamers of water 45 feet or more above the cone. Water pours down the sides and into deeply carved runoff channels down to the Firehole River. 20 or so minutes into the eruption the water will begin to wane, and the eruption will begin to switch to one of the most powerful steam phases in Yellowstone, audible sometimes a up to a mile away. The roar of the vaporized water escaping out of the vent is truly stupendous. 

Lone Star Geyser major eruption Photo by: Micah K.

Lone Star is one of my favorites because it is a major geyser somewhat away from the crowds, the hike to reach it is gorgeous, the settings are fantastic, and the eruption itself is awe inspiring. Lone Star is a special gem among Yellowstone's Geysers and I would highly recommend going to see it.