Unusual Activity on Geyser Hill (Part 2)
I recently wrote about my observations of the Geyser Hill area before the September 2018 energy surge. It’s taken a bit to get the observations and photos together to make a better comparison. I’ve also spent time processing photos from the past to just satisfy my curiosity about possible connections.
So in this post, I’m sharing my observations from the trip in to Geyser Hill the day after Ear Spring erupted and the energy surge was on. Thanks for your patience if you’ve been waiting for this post.
Also, I use UTF to refer to Unnamed Thermal Features. Some have other numbers.
16 Sept 2018 Trip Report/Observations
After hearing the news about all the unusual activity on Geyser Hill on the 15th, I was up as early as possible. The anticipation kept waking me in the night. That meant I didn’t fall asleep until late and wasn’t up quite as early as I hoped. I arrived in the Upper Geyser Basin a little after 1000 (10:00 AM). As I drove in to the Old Faithful area, I noticed there was more steam rising from Doublet Pool than Giantess. This alone, was unusual. This was going to be good.
After getting my things together (as quickly as possible), I headed up to Geyser Hill, and took the Beehive Overlook path to check on the thermal features there. I didn’t spend much time on these as I was anxious to get up to see the changes.
1028 | Blue Star Spring – bubbles rising and the surface was “quivering” – no wind to speak of yet.
Early this year, Blue Star Spring was overflowing stronger than I’ve ever seen. Throughout the summer, I’ve seen times when there have been large bubbles strongly rising in Blue Star Spring as well as this “quivering” surface. I’m guessing lots of little bubbles rising might be behind the quivering, but I didn’t stop to look closer.
A quick look at Chinese Spring & East Chinaman Spring – No obvious changes seen.
From there, I power walked up the hill, almost bouncing with excitement. As Doublet Pool came into sight, there was a two-foot boil in the back pool and within seconds, a large area of bubbles rose slightly from the front pool. THIS was cool. A new geyser to add to my Life List. 1035 was the time. Yes!
There were so many gazers that I talked with about the changes that I didn’t get good notes on who told me what. But many thanks to Steve E., Tara, Kyle, Suzanne, Heinrich, Rocco, and more. Steve Eide gave me a quick overview of what he saw the night before. All the thermal features involved were erupting higher than they were this morning. That’s typical of new thermal features. The energy at first is often the strongest. He also mentioned that the energy in all the thermal features involved in this energy surge seemed to come in waves. From here, I settled into documenting more.
SUMMARY OF OBSERVATIONS
Doublet Pool – had almost continual boiling in the back vent that varied from 1-2 feet with occasional bursts higher. The front vent also had boiling eruptions, but these were smaller than the back pool’s. They varied from bubbles that just broke at the surface, to six inches or so. These were “boiling eruptions” or “bubble shower eruptions” where the water rises above the surface in thousands of smaller bubbles as opposed to bursts of water shooting up. Crested Pool also has these types of eruptions.
UTF Bubblers by Doublet Pool’s Sign – These were more full of water than they’ve been in some time and two new ones opened up under the boardwalk.
UTF Next to Doublet (GHG-16) had water rising and falling quickly – and bouncing. The water level raised a bit higher on each push, then dropped back down. Eventually, it flooded the freshly cleared off rim and an eruption began. The eruptions reached 2-3 feet high.
The UTFs Next to and Across the boardwalk from Aurum (There are four. Two next to Aurum and two across from Aurum) – the ones next to it didn’t appear very changed, but this is why I take comparison photos. The one farther from the boardwalk was sending up bubbles. The ones across the boardwalk from Aurum were more full of water than on the 7th.
UTFs Next to Aurum:
UTFs Across from Aurum:
Aurum Geyser – erupting much more often. Some intervals were as short as 2 hours! Unusually short intervals here. Cool.
Beach Spring – Now it’s erupting to better match its name. This spring was named for the way the water washed over the sinter like waves on a beach. I’d not seen enough water expelled from the vent to do this…until today. Yes, an appropriate name.
Beach Geyser and the two UTFs next to it – I watched these briefly between other eruptions in the area, and didn’t really notice much of a change in behavior. However, the water in Beach Geyser was a bit murky. The larger UTF next to it had clear water in it. And the small UTF bubbler in between appeared to bubble the same as before and what looked like clear water, but due to its size, that’s hard to determine. The microbes around the two UTFs appeared as I recalled – but do not have a photo of them from the 7th.
The two UTFs on the way to Solitary – The one on the right (as you head toward Solitary Geyser) was more full than on the 7th and was now erupting murky water and was erupting high enough to leave pebbles on the boardwalk. Near it, on the same side of the boardwalk, an opening (new this summer) was also a bit more full of water. Going through photos, though, I realized that I didn’t get a photo of that one on the 16th. However, I did take a video, but I seem to have a talent for hitting the slow motion on my cell phone.
The one on the left was completely covered with what appeared to be a thick microbe mat on the 7th. The microbe mat was still there, but you could see murky water beneath it and the color had changed. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of that one on the 7th.
Recent update: The two UTFs on the “right” side of the boardwalk as you walk toward Solitary Geyser have expanded and joined and are now one thermal feature according to Ranger Rebecca at Old Faithful.
Part 3 to come just as soon as possible.
This has turned into a monster post with so many images. One thing I’ve learned is to either NOT document on my first run through or systematically document as I go. It’s hard when there’s unusual activity going on, but I also don’t have a set pattern for documenting things in the Upper Geyser Basin. I think this will soon change for me. I have that system down for West Thumb and find a set pattern helps not only to make sure nothing is missed, but also helps when processing photos. I deeply appreciate everyone who has shared (and those that still might share) information on this energy surge/disturbance. Again…more to come.