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Observations for 2025 May 28


A report at 0500 of Vent & Turban in eruption let me know that the overnight Grand eruption was somewhere around 0400, and there was no need to rush out.

Got out to Grand just in time for a Turban Delay interval which included a nice boop from Grand. Went down to check on Economic, and it was about 2cm below overflow, but still convecting slightly and it was wet all around the outside of the rim.

The Delay at Grand only lasted four Turban intervals, and the One Burst Grand lasted almost 11 minutes. West Triplet was overflowing heavily after the eruption, but I didn't see any splashes or feel any thumps.

2025-May-28 : 11:08:26 D4/G1Q

 11:08:22	Boop	-0m04s
 11:08:26	B1	--- d=11m51s
 11:08:53	Vent Ovfl	0m27s
 11:09:10	Turban	0m44s
 11:11:59	Vent	3m33s
 11:20:17	P1	11m51s
 11:21:22	V&T Quit	12m56s
 11:28:17	V&T Restart	19m51s

				     	ΣD=11m51s
	* * * * *
 09:50:54			d=05m43s  D0 Boop: 09:47:30	
 10:08:56	Int: 18m02s	d=04m18s  D1	
 10:28:57	Int: 20m01s	d=04m27s  D2	
 10:47:35	Int: 18m38s	d=04m16s  D3	
		      Grand: 20m51s

Was intending to go out to Geyser Hill as it was probably time for Beehive, and spend some time at Aurum. That was when I heard the report of Aurum erupting. So instead waited maybe 45 minutes for the start of Beehive's Indicator. The conditions were excellent, with some wind but not enough to matter that close. The duration of the eruption was longer than typical, at 5m16s.

It was a short wait for the next One Burst Grand eruption. Nothing much to say about it, other than it lasted almost 11-1/2 minutes. It was followed by a few splashes from West Triplet.

2025-May-28 : 17:59:20 G1Q

 17:59:16	Boop	-0m04s
 17:59:20	B1	--- d=11m26s
 17:59:56	Vent Ovfl	0m35s
 18:00:13	Turban	0m53s
 18:02:52	Vent	3m32s
 18:10:46	P1	11m26s
 18:11:32	V&T Quit	12m11s

				     	ΣD=11m26s
	* * * * *
 16:54:24			d=04m16s 
 17:16:26	Int: 22m02s	d=05m01s 	
 17:37:20	Int: 20m54s	d=04m42s 
		      Grand: 21m59s

Afterwards caught the start of Sawmill, and then stuck around for about 1-1/2 hours hoping to see Uncertain erupt. Instead decided to leave when Castle started. With the sun low, there were some strong rainbows, along with a curtain of mist across the bike trail. (Uncertain finally erupted just after we left Castle.)


Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 27


With Rift still in erution when I left, I expected a long interval. Came out around the 7h45m mark and found Grand to be full. An hour later it was still full, and then it had a Turban Delay interval. This lead to three more Turban eruptions before Grand finally had a good fill.

Even then, Grand took its time and waited well over a minute before starting to erupt. That burst lasted less than eight minutes. But once again, any hopes of three or more bursts were dashed by a second burst lasting over 2-1/2 minutes.

2025-May-27 : 07:46:33 D4/T2*Q

 07:45:23	Turban	-1m10s
 07:45:37	Vent Ovfl	-0m56s
 07:46:33	B1	--- d=07m49s
 07:48:42	Vent	2m09s
 07:54:22	P1	7m49s d=35s
 07:54:58	B2	8m25s d=02m39s
 07:57:37	P2	11m04s
 07:58:29	V&T Quit	11m56s

				     ΣB=10m28s	ΣD=11m04s
	* * * * *
 05:29:07			d=03m47s 	
 05:49:40	Int: 20m33s	d=03m47s 	
 06:08:48	Int: 19m08s	d=03m37s 	
 06:38:17	Int: 29m29s	d=04m24s  D0	
 06:54:22	Int: 16m05s	d=03m18s  D1	
 07:10:25	Int: 16m03s	d=03m29s  D2	
 07:28:02	Int: 17m37s	d=04m03s  D3	
		     Turban: 17m21s

Coming back, there were two bison right next to the bike trail below Castle. One wanders off to the north/left to bed down near the trees. The other just stupidly stood right on the edge of the trail for 15 minutes until finally shuffling off to bed down just far enough away that we could go by.

Around noon went out to catch an eruption of Uncertain, and didn't have to wait long. Even though Sawmill had started, Uncertain started overflowing heavily and within two minutes Uncertain's eruption started.

Returned to the cabin to reconfigure for the wait at Grand, and just when I was ready to leave found a bison grazing away next a cabin across the road for our cabin. Got out of there quickly, only to encounter a second bison by the biketrail across from the store. At least there was a bypass available.

The wait at Grand started out nice enough, but over the next two hours of Turban eruptions the weather deteriorated. It got quite windy with slowly building showers. The wind knocked Grand's water column well to the southeast, but the direction didn't take it over the boardwalk. We got another two burst eruption, once again with a pause lasting nearly a minute. It wasn't long after the eruption that the wind died down completely and the rain stopped.

2025-May-27 : 15:30:42 G2C

 15:30:37	Boop	-0m05s
 15:30:42	B1	--- d=08m35s
 15:30:47	Vent Ovfl	0m05s
 15:31:00	Turban	0m18s
 15:33:45	Vent	3m03s
 15:39:17	P1	8m35s d=57s
 15:40:14	B2	9m32s d=40s
 15:40:54	P2	10m12s
Vent & Turban continue
				     ΣB=09m15s	ΣD=10m12s
	* * * * *
 13:36:10			d=05m08s 	
 13:54:12	Int: 18m02s	d=04m25s 	
 14:14:24	Int: 20m12s	d=04m18s 	
 14:33:43	Int: 19m19s	d=04m07s 	
 14:52:56	Int: 19m13s	d=03m33s 	
 15:11:38	Int: 18m42s	d=03m36s 	
		      Grand: 19m04s

There was still plenty of light as was locking up my bike. I looked over to see Sawmill erupting, and saw Grand start to do the same. The interval was under six hours. Walked over to see the rest of the eruption, which turned out to be another two burst with a long pause and a fairly long second burst.

2025-May-27 : 21:23:28 2Q

 21:23:28	B1	--- d=09m15s
 21:32:43	P1	9m15s d=52s
 21:33:35	B2	10m07s d=1m04s
 21:34:39	P2	11m11s
 21:35:53	V&T Quit
				     ΣB=10m07s	ΣD=11m11s

Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 26


Woke up at dawn with no reports for any geyser activity. It being 7-1/2 hours, decided to find out for certain if Grand had erupted, and if it hadn't, figure on a short interval.

Arrived just as Turban started to erupt. No Grand eruption and the pool was full. The following Turban eruption interval was just over 15 minutes. Such a short Turban interval late in the Grand interval implied that Grand would erupt at the end of this Turban interval.

And it did. Once again the steam was pushed aside enough to be able to see the start of Grand and Vent clearly. For the last two minutes or so of the eruption Grand went into Big Sawmill mode. With the fog and steam it was hard to tell when the first burst quit. And at 9m42s, it was long enough for a One Burst Eruption. But after nearly a minute, the start of the second burst could be heard through the fog.

2025-May-26 : 06:11:46 T2Q

 06:11:30	Turban	-0m16s
 06:11:46	B1	--- d=09m42s
 06:14:25	Vent	2m39s
 06:21:28	P1	9m42s d=52s
 06:22:20	B2	10m34s d=48s
 06:23:08	P2	11m22s
 06:23:52	V&T Quit	12m06s

				     ΣB=10m30s	ΣD=11m22s
	* * * * *
 05:37:22			d=03m04s 	
 05:53:02	Int: 15m40s	d=03m19s 	
		     Turban: 18m28s

West Triplet started to erupt at some point near the end of the Grand eruption, with many splashes but not much thumping.

Decided to spend some time on Geyser Hill as Beehive could be due soon. Didn't have to wait long. Didn't see any rainbows because I decided to not risk getting wet at that end of the walkway, although it only misted down there.

Afterwards, went over to wait on Aurum. Spent an hour trying to record an eruption start without success. (It erupted about 20 minutes after I left.)

Went out for the next Grand eruption a bit early because it was time for Uncertain. Didn't have long to wait.

From there, headed over to Grand where I probably saw a Turban eruption that concluded a Turban Delay Interval. If that was the case, then we then got to experience a four Turban interval delay. The first burst of the Grand eruption lasted only 7-1/2 minutes. I remarked that we were about to see either a two-star, a three or a four burst eruption. We got the two-star, and the second burst lasted almost 2-1/2 minutes.

Following the eruption, West Triplet again had a heavy overflow with some splashing, but no thumping.

2025-May-26 : 13:10:29 G2*Q

 13:10:29	B1	--- d=07m33s
 13:10:33	Vent Ovfl	0m04s
 13:11:08	Turban	0m39s
 13:13:33	Vent	3m04s
 13:18:02	P1	7m33s d=16s
 13:18:18	B2	7m49s d=02m24s
 13:20:42	P2	10m13s
 13:21:43	V&T Quit	11m14s

				     ΣB=09m57s	ΣD=10m13s
	* * * * *
 11:53:36			d=05m39s 	
 12:12:29	Int: 18m53s	d=04m16s 	
 12:31:45	Int: 19m16s	d=04m09s 	
 12:51:17	Int: 19m32s	d=03m38s 	
		      Grand: 19m12s

Then waited for Castle, because the interval since last night's eruption was well over 17 hours. It ended up over 18 hours, and we got a minor eruption that lasted just under four minutes.

Arrived at Grand for the evening eruption a bit early, and probably saw the end of the Turban Delay Interval, since the Turban eruption lasted nearly six minutes, and the following Turban eruption was not preceeded by any overflow from Grand.

About an hour later, West Triplet began to erupt. As this was the first true eruption I'd seen, I wasn't surprised that Rift started shortly afterwards. At the same time, Castle started to erupt, the followup to the afternoon's minor eruption.

Until West Triplet quit erupting, Percolator was also in eruption. That was the first activity I've seen from it in at least a couple of years.

It took three Turban eruption intervals after the start of Rift before Grand erupted. This One Burst Eruption lasted exactly eleven minutes, but there was about three minutes of Big Sawmill at the end.

2025-May-26 : 21:41:02 T1Q

 21:40:26	Turban	-0m36s
 21:40:58	Boop	-0m04s
 21:41:02	B1	--- d=11m00s
 21:43:30	Vent	2m28s
 21:52:02	P1	11m00s
 21:53:00	V&T Quit	11m58s

				     	ΣD=11m00s
	* * * * *
 19:16:18			d=05m44s 	
 19:34:15	Int: 17m57s	d=04m14s 	
 19:52:53	Int: 18m38s	d=03m42s 	
 20:10:12	Int: 17m19s	d=04m26s 	
 20:29:02	Int: 18m50s	d=03m54s 	
 20:45:58	Int: 16m56s	d=03m59s 	
 21:04:40	Int: 18m42s	d=03m24s 	
 21:22:46	Int: 18m06s	d=03m52s 	
		     Turban: 17m40s

Rift was still in eruption when I left, so I expect the next Grand interval to be long.


Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 25


No reports of any geyser activity during the night, so I headed out to Grand at dawn. There was frost on all the cars in the Lodge cabin area, and the frost was starting to form on the boardwalks by Rift and Grand.

West Triplet was in overflow. Grand was also nicely in overflow, so I knew that it had been at least 4-1/2 hours since the previous eruption. Turban didn't erupt for another 19 minutes, a good indication that I had just witnessed a Turban Delay interval.

It took three more Turban eruption intervals before we got a second delay. This one was just over 25 minutes. It was cold, so the view was steamy, but there wasn't much rain on the northern end of the boardwalk, so I could see Turban and Vent from there.

The first burst lasted exactly 9-1/2 minutes, which is more than long enough, but after almost a minute, we got a nicely backlighted second burst. One that lasted for nearly 2-1/2 minutes. Vent & Turban quit with 15 second of the end of the eruption.

2025-May-25 : 07:19:03 D0/G2*Q

 07:19:03	B1	--- d=09m30s
 07:19:25	Turban	0m21s
 07:22:16	Vent	3m12s
 07:28:34	P1	9m30s d=58s
 07:29:31	B2	10m28s d=02m25s
 07:31:56	P2	12m53s
 07:32:13	V&T Quit	13m09s

				     ΣB=11m56s	ΣD=12m53s
	* * * * *
 06:15:20			d=05m13s 	
 06:33:47	Int: 18m27s	d=04m33s 
 06:53:56	Int: 20m09s	d=04m27s 
		      Grand: 25m06s

Since Castle wasn't acting like it had had a minor before I arrived this morning, and it was almost 18 hours since the previous eruption, and it was a nice clear and calm morning, decided to wait for the eruption. Waited well over an hour. The eruption was nicely backlighted also, while it lasted. The minor eruption lasted 2m36s, with only one preliminary pause before the end. There was very little splashing for the next few minutes, indicating that there wasn't going to be any sort of restart.

While cooking some breakfast this morning, we were stalked by a raven looking for an easy meal. It sat on the peak of the cabin roof, clucking and squawking at us, looking for an opportunity to drop down. It finally gave up only after I put the folding table back inside the truck.

For the mid-day Grand the wait was only about an hour. Nothing out of the ordinary about the One Burst Grand eruption until just before the ten minute mark. Then there was a long false pause whose restart got cheers from the crowd who didn't know better. The eruption lasted another minute, followed by a quick restart from Vent & Turban.

2025-May-25 : 14:17:16 G1Q

 14:17:16	B1	--- d=10m50s
 14:17:38	Vent Ovfl	0m22s
 14:17:52	Turban	0m36s
 14:20:40	Vent	3m24s
 14:27:01	FP	9m45s
 14:28:06	P1	10m50s
 14:29:10	V&T Quit	11m54s
 14:38:55	V&T Restart	21m39s

				     	ΣD=10m50s
	* * * * *
 12:58:02			d=03m37s 	
 13:15:26	Int: 17m24s	d=04m11s 	
 13:35:21	Int: 19m55s	d=04m28s 	
 13:55:48	Int: 20m27s	d=04m30s 	
		      Grand: 21m28s

Shortly after West Triplet, which had been in overflow, had a few burst about a meter high. The overflow continued for another couple of minutes. The Belgian Pool water level was up to the rim again.

In the afternoon decided to visit Geyser Hill just before the call for the Indicator came over the radio. There was little wind, so no one got wet on the walkways. After, tried to walk around the rest of Geyser Hill, but was blocked over between Aurum and Pump by a couple of bison grazing just close enough to the walkway.

Castle finally recovered from this morning's minor eruption as I was heading out for the evening Grand eruption. The Sawmill Group was high, with Churn in overflow and Sawmill nearly so. West Triplet had just finished another period of overflow. Caught an eruption of Turban and was going to see if Sawmill was still close to overflow when it started to erupt.

The next Turban eruption interval was a Delay Interval. At around 26 minutes Grand had a series of boops, some as high as two meters. It took another five minutes before Grand's pool finally subsided and Turban erupted.

It was a three Turban Interval delay. It was still light enough to see and the wind from the north pushing the steam to the right helped. The first burst lasted just over ten minutes. There was a pause of nearly a minute and then a nice tall second burst that spiked repeatedly above the steam clouds below it.

2025-May-25 : 21:46:34 D3/G2Q

Yesterday  21:46:34	B1	--- d=10m02s
Yesterday  21:47:24	Turban	0m50s
Yesterday  21:50:04	Vent	3m30s
Yesterday  21:56:36	P1	10m02s d=55s
Yesterday  21:57:31	B2	10m57s d=01m01s
Yesterday  21:58:32	P2	11m58s
Yesterday  21:59:23	V&T Quit	12m49s

				     ΣB=11m03s	ΣD=11m58s
	* * * * *
Yesterday  20:17:05			d=04m45s 	
Yesterday  20:50:24	Int: 33m19s	d=04m49s  D0 Boop: 20:43:23	
Yesterday  21:06:37	Int: 16m13s	d=05m01s  D1	
Yesterday  21:26:05	Int: 19m28s	d=04m17s  D2	
		      Grand: 20m29s

Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 24


The days started the way many do-- with a call of "water in Beehive's Indicator". Got out in plenty of time. There was a breeze blowing the spray across the river and onto the overlook. This meant we had a strong half double rainbow most of the eruption.

A few hours later, it was time again to go out to Grand. Sawmill was in eruption, while Belgian was full and West Triplet was in overflow. A quick check on Economic showed that it was unchanged from yesterday, overflowing in several directions with a hint of convection over the vent.

Only had to wait for two Turban eruption intervals before we got our Grand eruption. This was my first two burst eruption of the trip, lasting just under 10-1/2 minutes, with Vent & Turban continuing after. During the wait for Grand I noticed that West Triplet was in overflow at least once, and overflow started during this Grand eruption.

2025-May-24 : 11:46:42 G2C

 11:46:37	Vent Ovfl	-0m04s
 11:46:40	Boop	-0m01s
 11:46:42	B1	--- d=08m57s
 11:46:54	Turban	0m11s
 11:49:50	Vent	3m07s
 11:55:40	P1	8m57s d=39s
 11:56:18	B2	9m36s d=37s
 11:56:56	P2	10m13s
Vent & Turban continue

				     ΣB=09m34s	ΣD=10m13s
	* * * * *
 10:48:41			d=04m26s 	
 11:09:21	Int: 20m40s	d=04m31s 	
 11:27:38	Int: 18m17s	d=04m03s 	
		      Grand: 19m04s

After lunch it was time to visit more of the basin beside the walkway from Castle to Grand. I caught a Rocket eruption as I stopped a the bike rack by Grotto. I then discovered that the Bijou Monkey Cage was no longer there, but under reconstruction. At least it appears they are going to rebuild it as it was before.

Bijou Monkey Cage construction
Bijou Monkey Cage construction

Did a quick check on Fan & Mortar just to see that nothing has happened there in the last few days. Then headed over to Daisy.

I found that Splendid was full. There was water being pushed into the northern (left) lobe where Splendid's runoff channels begin. Large ripples on the pool, but I never saw any boiling during the lead-up to the Daisy eruption. About ten minutes before Daisy, Splendid began to drop such that when Daisy started, the lobe was empty of water. Despite a strong wind, Daisy had an interval just over 100 minutes.

After Daisy, the refill of Splendid didn't look much different from previous visits. Most of the boiling during the fifteen minutes of observation was from the Side Boiler, with single, infrequent bursts from the Main Vent.

The Sawmill eruption I'd seen while headed to Grand earlier resulted in a deep drain at the Sawmill Group. Sawmill and Uncertain were both quiet when I arrived, but a few minutes later Sawmill had an eruption lasting about 25 seconds. That seemed to help stimulate Uncertain. Just as it was starting to look promising, Sawmill started, and proceeded to erupt for about 26 minutes. The activity from Uncertain died down during the first few minutes of the eruption, and it did nothing for about 15 minutes. Then splashing started up, and it appeared we might even get a dual eruption with Sawmill.

When Sawmill did quit, the activity in Uncertain increased. It seemed to stall during a short Tardy eruption a couple of minutes after the end of Sawmill's eruption. But five minutes later, the surging and bubbling built into another nice Uncertain eruption.

Back out for the evening Grand. Saw Turban in eruption as I locked up my bike. Noted that Belgian had dropped a little, but was still mostly full, while West Triplet had just ended overflow. Was finishing setting up my camera when Grand suddenly started booping, catching me off guard. So I failed to get a video of another One Burst Grand eruption. The wind direction was toward the walkway, soaking the benches between the prediction sign and West Triplet.

2025-May-24 : 17:58:33 G1C

 17:58:33	B1	--- d=09m52s
 17:59:17	Turban	0m44s
 18:00:33	Vent Ovfl	2m00s
 18:02:02	Vent	3m29s
 18:08:25	P1	9m52s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m52s

West Triplet was back in overflow, and Sawmill was erupting, as we left the area. Have not seen any activity in Bulger since the activity of Bulger's Hole.


Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 23


After last night, it was welcome to wake up to clear skies and no wind, although there was heavy frost on all the vehicles in the cabin area. Once again, Sawmill started during the walk from Castle. Spasmodic was high, and starting to overflow. Belgian Pool was full clear to the rim.
West Triplet also showed evidence that it had overflowed a bit, but was now well below that.

The wait for Grand started out well enough, but just after the six hour mark of the interval we had a heavy fill, strong Turban eruption with Vent overflowing during that time. This meant we were going to have another long wait.

After the sixth Turban eruption later came the announcement of water in Beehive's Indicator followed by the start. Of course Grand erupted on with the next opportunity. This One Burst Eruption lasted less than ten minutes but Vent & Turban still quit afterwards.

2025-May-23 : 13:01:13 V7/T1Q

 13:00:25	Turban		-0m48s
 13:00:56	Vent Ovfl	-0m17s
 13:01:13	B1	--- d=09m35s
 13:03:44	Vent	2m31s
 13:10:48	P1	9m35s
 13:12:18	V&T Quit	11m05s

				     	ΣD=09m35s
	* * * * *
 10:17:00			d=05m39s 	
 10:35:29	Int: 18m29s	d=04m20s 	
 10:54:32	Int: 19m03s	d=03m42s  V0 Vent ovfl: 10:55:43	
 11:10:30	Int: 15m58s	d=03m28s  V1	
 11:29:44	Int: 19m14s	d=03m26s  V2	
 11:48:48	Int: 19m04s	d=04m14s  V3	
 12:08:31	Int: 19m43s	d=04m10s  V4	
 12:26:26	Int: 17m55s	d=03m39s  V5	
 12:43:10	Int: 16m44s	d=03m31s  V6	
		     Turban: 17m39s

Following that I checked on Economic, which was unchanged from the night before. It's hot and overflowing, but needs something more for there to be some activity. As I came back past Grand I noted that West Triplet was in a steady overflow.

The Sawmill eruption I saw start lasted well over four hours. An hour or so after it finally quit I went back out to see if Uncertain might erupt. It was also well inside the Castle eruption window. It wasn't long before Castle started, and the eruption lasted 2m52s. It slopped for a while, but after that was much quieter than many post-minor periods I've seen.

Uncertain didn't seem to do much until shortly after the Castle eruption when Sawmill suddenly had a 50s long eruption. It was still quiet for the better part of half an hour before it started to have periods of overflow. A couple more of these, and it started erupting. That eruption was followed about a minute later by the start of Sawmill.

As we were leaving I noticed that Oblong was putting up a lot of steam. A change of position confirmed that it was in eruption.

The next Grand eruption followed much of the pattern of the previous eruptions-- a long wait before the One Burst Grand. Waited exactly two hours as the Turban intervals and durations got shorter. After a Turban interval that was less than 16 minutes, we got a longer one, and during that extra time Grand finally started looking full with waves. The One Burst Eruption lasted almost 10-1/2 minutes, and despite being longer than the Grand eruption earlier in the day, Vent & Turban continued.

2025-May-23 : 20:53:20 T1C

 20:52:30	Turban		-0m50s
 20:52:47	Vent Ovfl	-0m33s
 20:53:13	Boop		-0m07s
 20:53:20	B1		--- d=10m28s
 20:55:42	Vent		2m22s
 21:03:48	P1		10m28s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=10m28s
	* * * * *
 19:05:18			d=04m35s 	
 19:24:03	Int: 18m45s	d=04m13s 	
 19:43:44	Int: 19m41s	d=03m39s 	
 20:01:22	Int: 17m38s	d=04m03s 	
 20:18:53	Int: 17m31s	d=03m08s 	
 20:34:35	Int: 15m42s	d=03m25s 	
		     Turban: 17m55s

Sawmill was in eruption when I arrived, and was still erupting when I left. Belgian Pool had recovered and was just below full. West Triplet was overflowing after the Grand eruption.


Posted on

Observations for 2025 May 22


Arrived at the Lodge just as Old Faithful erupted. We were checked in, unloaded and the cabin organized by the time of the next Old Faithful eruption. Right after that, went out to Grand. We knew that Rift had been seen in eruption, and it was still erupting as we arrived. But we also knew that there was a good chance that Bulger and Bulger's Hole would be active, too.

Sawmill started after we'd crossed the bridge, and then we saw Bulger was in eruption, too. It was a major and we hurried over there in time to see water in Bulger's Hole. The pool dropped, then came back and it erupted weakly for about half a minute. It was shortly after that that the Rift eruption ended.

About a half hour later, Bulger had another 5-1/2 minute long major eruption, and once again Bulger's Hole erupted with it. The duration was the same, but this time the eruption was strong, with a height of about three meters (above eye level while I was standing watching it.

During a brief interruption in our wait for Grand, Turban had a long Delay Interval lasting over 33 minutes. That was followed by seven more Turban eruption intervals before we finally got our first One Burst Grand of the year. At first I was going to illuminate the start, but there was still enough light, and a strong wind from the northwest so that the eruption was easily visible, with a distinctly bluish cast.

2025-May-22 : 21:40:46 D7/G1C

 21:40:46	B1	--- d=09m48s
 21:41:26	Turban	0m40s
 21:43:53	Vent	3m07s
 21:50:34	P1	9m48s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m48s
	* * * * *
 18:40:11			d=04m37s 	
 18:58:48	Int: 18m37s	d=03m52s 	
 19:32:03	Int: 33m15s	d=05m06s  D0	
 19:49:58	Int: 17m55s	d=03m36s  D1	
 20:06:58	Int: 17m00s	d=03m26s  D2	
 20:25:59	Int: 19m01s	d=03m33s  D3	
 20:43:44	Int: 17m45s	d=03m17s  D4	
 21:02:08	Int: 18m24s	d=03m25s  D5	
 21:20:55	Int: 18m47s	d=03m30s  D6	
		      Grand: 19m51s

During that long wait, there were a couple more Bulger eruptions, at half hour intervals, but all Bulger's Hole really did was fill and splash maybe as high as the rim. During one Bulger eruption, there were two such fill episodes. The Bulger stopped erupting and all that was seen were a few splashes.

Also shortly before Grand Castle finally had a major eruption. It was rumbling nicely in the dark as we were untieing our bikes.


The "brief interruption" meantioned above was the appearance of a grizzly bear and her new cub on the boardwalk down by Beauty Pool. They continued down the boardwalk until they reached the northernmost Turban runoff channel. By that time, I'd shoved everything back into the pack, after getting out the bear-spray. The mother bear looked like she wanted to continue up the hill behind Grand, but then returned to the boardwalk when she wasn't followed. They passed right next to the benches where I always wait for Grand, then by the little boardwalk tree got back onto the ground headed southwest.

By that time I was over by Bulger, and able to take some video of the pair as suddenly the mother started running toward Churn and Scalloped. Now the bears that had been headed toward me were now headed away, so I stopped my retreat. The bears got back on the boardwalk by Scalloped, crossed the bridge, and went up the walkway between the railings. That was the last I saw of them. Someone on the radio reported them over by Castle.

Bears behind Bulger Geyser

Based on their behavior, the mother knew exactly where she wanted to go, where there was a way to cross the river without getting wet. A while later, I heard on the NPS radio that the two had been sighted in the trailer rows of the government area. Also learned that a similar pair had been sighted by Lynn Stephens in the Lower Basin near Labial around noon-time.

In all my waits at Grand, this was the first time I've felt the need to move due to animal behavior. A few times I've had bison herds suddenly appear and pass around me either going up the hill or coming down. I've also seen a bear, briefly, on the hillside.