Geyser Notes

With Rift having erupted well before Grand, I thought that if there was any chance of an early eruption, this might be it. So headed out early, but not too early, As it turned out, with the full moon, it was an interesting night, no thanks to Grand.

When I arrived just before midnight, I was greeted by Percolator. This is the first time I've noticed Percolator unrelated to current activity by either Rift or West Triplet. It's annoying at night because it makes just enough noise to make listening for other features a bit harder. And the steady breeze didn't help the hearing situation much either. But I did hear an eruption of Old Faithful just fine, perhaps because I was downwind.

As usual, I took the first couple of Turban intervals to check out the Sawmill group. Nothing much of interest, although Sawmill was erupting, At midnight West Triplet started, but Grand show inclination to erupt with it.

So I had just settled in when I noticed a new large cloud, an eruption of Fan & Mortar had started. I'd had the radio off, but a quick check showed that no one was down there, and there are people who do leave the radio on all night.

In the other direction Bulger started an eruption. After a minute it was apparent that it was a major,and time to go down and see what sort of activity was going on in Bulger's Hole. I got there just in time to see the water start to fill, and was rewarded with a nice 3m38 long eruption by MagLite. The bridge is still intact.

I settled back in to waiting and in quick succession got eruptions Riverside, Daisy, and Churn. Then a long series of indifferent Turban eruptions, with both intervals and durations showing not variations or even hinting of any eruption possibilities. Mixed in was an Oblong, which is always impressive by moonlight by the size and height of the steam column, and its distinctive sound.

After a few hours I was suddenly not alone. I saw a small shape running across the runoff sheet between Grand and me. Got out the MagLite again, and it was a coyote quickly trotting off to the north. That's the first time I've ever encountered a coyote out there at night, and a bit surprised one would come so close to me.

It was finally time for another West Triplet eruption, well over three hours since the previous one. By this time Turban had finally shortened its intervals to about 16 minutes, and the durations were oscillating between a bit over 3 minutes and about 4-and-a-half. Turban started the eruption, and unlike several other eruptions the past few days, it was obvious that Grand was quickly going to join in.

Nice by moonlight, with the breeze pushing the steam away, it would've been a nice to finally have a second burst. (Since I arrived, there have been only a couple of two burst eruptions, one when I was distracted by Bulger's Hole.) West Triplet joined in, and I also got to get an interval on Daisy.

Also during the wait I noticed a large, noisy steamcloud down near the river at the base of Grand's middle runoff channel. In years past I remember there being active features down there, but due to its position, it's difficult to evaluate what might be going on down there.

It turned out that the West Triplet I saw start preceded a Rift eruption, so mid-day's wait was another one of those where it's just a matter of waiting for West Triplet to recover. A less than 10 hour interval, again without much to distinguish any of the Turban activity. Followed by another one burst Grand. At this point I've seen sixteen eruptions and fourteen of them have been one burst. I'm beginning to believe that in a few years I'll have seem my last multi-burst eruption.

During the three hour wait Bulger did absolutely nothing. The formations were dry and gray the whole time. Seems like a long time without even a minor. Over in the Sawmill Group there was a Tardy cycle that came and went.

Went out for the next Grand at sunset, and walked up on West Triplet in eruption and Grand in heavy overflow. The overflow turned into a delay, and West Triplet ended shortly after. Castle erupted, but it appeared that none of the crowd came over toward Grand. For the next three hours we got the usual long Grand interval.

Because it was bright from the moon, were about a dozen at around midnight, when we finally got another West Triplet. Grand showed signs of life, but Rift started at midnight. Fortunately, Grand showed that it could erupt with those other two also erupting. The evening was dead calm, and so Grand put out a nice base surge that rolled almost to the boardwalk. But that calm also meant that it was almost impossible to see the eruption, especially with al the steam being produced to the southeast. But the pause for the second burst was just enough time to clear out the worst of it on the northern side, and we got a nice, huge backlit burst. That made up for all the waiting around we'd just had.