iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

It’s been a rock bottom month. I don’t know how I’m going to finish this GSA presentation and give it tomorrow. There is simply no more gas in the tank.

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To be clear my colleague had it worse, but there was a scary time in the air where I knew nothing other than that TSA had taken them and I was kicking myself for not forcing myself off the plane when the door closed and they hadn’t boarded. With everything going on… I went to worst case scenario.

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Just sitting in the Denver airport hiding inside a fortress of the NCKRI outreach bags while I wait for my colleague, who was detained by TSA long enough to miss their flt and not given access to their phone for a couple hours, to arrive on a later flt in a few hours. I need a damn hug.

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This may be how I'm headed to GSA...

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Wait. Never disappoints. Not never fails to disappoint. I am *tired*

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

The Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park never fails to disappoint.

A young raccoon scrambles down concrete in the shape of rocks. Behind it is a fenced enclosure with the face a bald eagle peaking out from behind a prickly pear cactus. A second raccoon peaks out from a rock.

Two young raccoons and a mother raccoon peak out from concrete molded in the shape of a rock face.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Takes a couple weeks to fully develop antibodies.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Too late to be effective for GSA, but finally grabbed my flu/COVID shots. I think this is a record for me for fastest immune response (it’s only been 2.5 hours and I’m starting to shiver!) so rip to my productivity for the next 24 to 48 hours. 🫠

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

When thunder roars, go outside! Wait.

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I was on the team that mapped ejecta after the 2024 hydrothermal explosion (see the quoted thread for more on that original event) and spent last summer working for the park's geology program, and it's been absolutely *wild* to see places I walked numerous times turning into these new pools.

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The activity from the new pools might be similar to how Black Diamond Pool and its neighbor Black Opal Pool began to form between 1902 and the early 1930s. Why does this part of Biscuit Basin just want to keep exploding? Hopefully the folks carrying on this work will find out!

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Last night at 8:12pm, one of those new pools appears to have erupted violently or undergone a hydrothermal explosion. All the new monitoring—including two webcams, a seismometer, an infrasound array, additional temperature sensors, and a temporary geophone array—are paying dividends.

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Oops, it did it again: Another small hydrothermal explosion at Biscuit Basin

Back in June, the area just north of Black Diamond Pool in Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone experienced another hydrothermal explosion that fractured the ground and led to the development of new pools. www.usgs.gov/observatorie...

usgs.gov

Early on the morning of Saturday, June 13, 2026, a small hydrothermal explosion occurred at Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Although smaller than the explosion that occurred in the same ar...

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone webcam still courtesy of USGS from 18:45 MDT on 27 September, 2026. The view looks east onto a patchy sinter/grass field with several steaming pools.

Biscuit Basin, Yellowstone webcam still courtesy of USGS from 07:30 MDT on 28 September, 2026. The view looks east onto a patchy sinter/grass field with several steaming pools. One of the pools north of Black Diamond clearly had an energetic eruption or hydrothermal explosion overnight that ejected lots of sediment and rocks to the left side of the frame.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Oh yeah, I'm *so* excited for another week of trying to navigate Carlsbad streets during a heavy rain event. The infrastructure is lacking and the Ford F-150s/etc. just speed down the streets kicking up walls of water that exceed the height of my Crosstrek. [this is fine.jpeg]

NOAA NWS excessive rainfall outlook graphic for Tuesday, 29 September. A moderate (at least 40%) risk covers nearly all of New Mexico and some of adjacent states.

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evening update: sky still good

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I really like the sky sometimes.

Photo of wispy clouds against a blue sky.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I didn't know Samson released any music as a solo act! This is delightful. Or depressing. Delightfully depressing.

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

If neither of our two cave minerals make it past the first round I’m gonna crash out. Support me not crashing out by voting for #calcite now: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...

mineralcup.org

Vote in Round 1 Match 11 — Mineral Cup & Ore Cup

Vote in Calcite vs Julienite Credit: Harold Moritz and David Hospital

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

There’s still a chance to support cave minerals by voting for #calcite today. The photo depicts yours truly admiring flowstone in a Montana cave. ⚒️🧪 #MinCup26

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Look y'all if you vote #gypsum you get more cave photos. You *do* want more cave photos, don't you? Gypsum makes up the white crust depicted in this photo, and boy is it dazzling! #MinCup26 www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...

A caver sits next to a cave wall covered in bulbous, white gypsum crust.

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Reposted by Mara Reed

👻 Saavik ‘Spooky Season’ Ford 🎃 @saavikford.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Gotta go with #Gypsum! It’s the white sand in White Sands National Park, which is my banner photo! Also, so many cool crystalline growths!! And it is currently LOSING! Go vote!! #MinCup26

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

That's extremely rude of them :(

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Our education program manager and I cooked this up. Vote #gypsum if you like caves. ⚒️ #MinCup26

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

psssssst only 4.5 more hours until you can vote for #gypsum in #MinCup26

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Weird to see a Townsend's awake during the day and hanging out in a structure that sees a lot of foot traffic. Hope this little guy is doing alright.

A bat with large ears clings to rock masonry.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Aw! Good noodle! A buddy and I made sure a tarantula got safely across the road today. But no pics :(

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

All I have to say for today's match is skutter skutter skutter skutter #MinCup26

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

You too will succumb to the cave minerals…

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I am quite literally in the pocket of Big Cave. >:) #MinCup

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Me realizing I probably have the power to make my workplace social media accounts campaign for #calcite and #gypsum in this year's #MinCup

static.klipy.com

Mischievous Raccoon Hehehe

Alt: Mischievous Raccoon Hehehe

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

All of my dopamine is currently riding on at least one of the workplace squabs surviving. C’mon, little nuggets!

Photo taken out a 2nd floor window looking into a window alcove in the corner of a building. Mom pigeon is feeding one of two scrawny, tan baby pigeons amidst nest materials, feathers, and poop.

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Please. My cold-adapted self is dying in the desert summer. 🫠

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

buckle up kids, we’re going STRAIGHT TO HELL

Photo of a gravel road in the desert on a sunny day. There’s a road sign that’s been turned 180 degrees so that the symbol normally depicting sharp curves ahead points down.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Definitely changing my work email profile photo to this guy's face...

Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I love it and its chonky face

The head of a black and yellow salamander peaks out from behind a rock. Its head is very smooth and round.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

I saw a baby javelina today and you know what maybe the desert is okay after all.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Semi-related: if there had been a thermal-related death last season, it would have been me or my coworkers dealing with the aftermath. And I still had visitors joke to me unprompted about how “stupid tourists” deserve to die if they break the rules. I dunno, think before you say things. Please.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I know the internet loves a good “stupid tourist” narrative, but this isn’t one of them, and even if it was—that individual and his family would still not deserve to be vilified online.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Person who has worked in and generally spent a lot of time in Yellowstone here. While somebody used to reading bison body language would’ve tried to get out of that situation, the average visitor wouldn’t—and these folks were at a reasonable distance away.

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

People really just don't describe things like they used to. (From the 1919 Superintendent's Annual Report for Yellowstone, submitted by Horace Albright)

Screenshot of text that reads: About September 1, 1919, a quiescent paint pot near the south approach road and a few hundred feet east of the Thumb Ranger Station, belched forth a considerable amount of material of the color and consistency of whipped cream, which ran down the slope toward the hot spring basin. This paint pot is less active now, but is still puffing out some of its peculiar thick liquid.

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Reposted by Mara Reed

Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

I've been doing sexual harassment and assault research and advocacy work since 2012. If there's one thing people need to understand is that everything, literally everything, is stacked against the victim. Every one who comes forward risks their reputation, identity, safety, and more. 1/2

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Mara Reed @geyserite.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Hell yeah; thanks for the news!!