Geyser Notes

It wasn’t necessary for Grand to wait an entire West Triplet interval before erupting. I arrived at midnight, just as the crescent moon was setting. There was a long wait for the first Turban, and then West Triplet started. The next five Turban eruption intervals were undistinguished, and pretty much the same. Finally there was a duration almost a minute shorter than the previous interval, and Grand finally erupted two Turban intervals later. It was during Grand that West Triplet started again. I didn’t stick around to see if we got Rift.

The morning eruption reverted to pattern. I only had to wait one Turban interval. And this, my sixth eruption of the trip, as the first one with more than one burst.

With little to do during the day, I went down basin for the latest Fan & Mortar call. Not just because of boredom, but also because it was the first call in which there was evidence that a single splash from the Main Vent was going to constitute the entirety of the “event”. There were a few times when the activity from Fan’s vents look encouraging, but those lasted for only a minute or so.

Also checked out Daisy and Splendid. The latter shows no change from any visit during the past few years. So if reports of “surging” are accurate, they aren’t resulting in any additional water leaving a mark on the surroundings.

The next Grand wait was a bit different from previous ones. Each of the Turban intervals were well over 21 minutes, but none were coming close to a delay. West Triplet preceded another one burst Grand eruption. At least it was over 10 minutes long.

I wanted to get some bison meat loaf, so went over to the Lodge at the usual time, about an hour after the latest Old Faithful eruption. There was still quite a line, so decided to wait another 15 or 20 minutes. Came back the second time, and while there wasn’t a line, there were at least half a dozen people waiting to complete their order. Seems about a third of the trays at that station were in need of refilling. Quite a contrast to previous years, where at that point in the Old Faithful interval, the trays would be full and I’d be about the only person in the serving area. I gave up and dug into the snacks box.

The quarter moon was high and bright when I went out around 22:00. With two hours to go, I had a good chance of seeing my fourth Grand eruption of the day. First couple of Turban eruptions were long and undistinguished. Then, with an hour to go, got a relatively short and strong Turban eruption. A little calculation showed that there was enough time for at least three more Turban intervals before midnight. It turned out that the next Turban eruption came after very little overflow, and despite the long duration, much of the activity was barely audible splashing.

So Grand went right as expected. At the start, what little wind there was was pushing the steam away. So the initial surges were nice and impressively visible in front of the steam. The moon was still high and bright, and if you knew where to look, it was possible to see a faint moon bow. And it was another one burst eruption.