Observations for 2020 May 23
The snow started just about the time we needed to go out for the morning Grand. We trudged on out there, into the north wind. The temperature was right at freezing, so instead of bouncing off, the snow stuck and accumulated to gloves, hats, coats and packs.
The wait at Grand was uneventful. I did watch a West Triplet overflow early in the wait, then went on down to the main runoff. just before Grand started, a small bird flew up from the runoff channel and tried to land on my notebook pouch. I shooed it away.Because of the wind, the pool was easily visible. Turban Geyser's intervals were consistently about 21 minutes, and the durations just under five minutes.
Then we got a nice fill, and the 21 minute mark passed. At 24-1/2 minutes, Turban started and Grand quickly followed. Thanks to the wind, there wasn't much height to this One Burst Grand eruption which lasted about 10-1/2 minutes.
West Triplet was overflowing as we were leaving, and started to well up and burst. Didn't stay around for the duration, and what we saw of the bursts were pretty weak, so it might have been a short eruption. Bulger did nothing the whole time we were out there.
On the way out, at Castle, we encountered two other people. The guy was wearing shorts, and I overheard him say they wanted to go to Grand.
The snow continued during the day, so when we went back out for the mid-day One Burst Grand, the tracks from our previous visit (and of the other two people) were just barely visible. Again the wind was from the north, so we were able to easily see the water level in the pool.
We had a ten minute wait with a nice full pool when Grand had a boop. Then nothing for almost four minutes other than the pool slowly dropping. A long Turban eruption and this meant we were getting a delay. It was two Turban intervals, another ten minute long eruption where Vent & Turban quit. Afterward West Triplet was in heavy overflow, but all we saw was a single heavy upwelling, no eruption.
Decided that it was time to visit Geyser Hill, to see what it was like. Walk over to Lion under at least four inches of snow, and slow going as the temperature was also just at freezing, making everything mushy. When we got to Aurum, it was having a sequence of nice surges that sucked us in. It continued to do that for the next hour. At some point Castle started, but it was hard to see it. Mostly we could tell it was eruption by the sound.
I finally had enough, and left to look at the rest of Geyser Hill. Lion was quiet, as was Beehive. It was at Beehive where I turned around and saw the large Aurum eruption steamcloud. Went over to Anemone, and then returned back to the vehicle at the store lot via the Sawmill Group.
Went out in the evening and the snow was pretty much ended. There was even, once, a bright spot in the sky to the west where the sun should have been. Also arrived in time for a delay. This time, it took three Turban intervals for the One Burst Grand eruption. If the sun had been visible, it probably would have just set.