Since the thunderstorms last night kept me from going out and seeing Grand, I went out at dawn not knowing what to expect. (Dawn is now after 06:00 and getting later every day.)
It was cloudy with fog down below. I got out to find Grand in heavy overflow that ended almost immediately, followed by Turban erupting. The next Turban interval had no overflow, and the next was a long Delay Interval.
After that, it was an uneventful wait until Grand filled nicely for the fourth Turban eruption. The One Burst Grand was a steamy mess, with a wind blowing steam and spray all over the northern benches.
Next it was down to the Bijou Monkey Cage. Over the a period of over two hours we saw a few Mastiff surges, but Bijou never paused. then there was a surge that, unlike the previous surges, started slowly instead of suddenly. That built into a the largest surge of the morning, and about then Bijou slowed and paused.
The pause lasted 3m09s. The water in Mastiff was at about the same level as yesterday. There were a couple of spits from the Southwest Vents, but no large surging in Giant.
I got the Beehive Indicator call in the cabin, and made it to the railing for the start of Beehive's eruption. It was windy, and no way I was going to proceed further.
An hour later it was time to return to Grand. West Triplet was in eruption as I tied down my bike. We only had to wait one Turban eruption interval, and the Grand start was a bit of a surprise. It also took Vent about 4-1/2 minutes to start. West Triplet ended early in the Grand eruption.
With the short wait, it was on to the Bijou Cage. After about a two hour wait with a few small Mastiff surges, we finally got a Bijou pause. This was similar to the activity we'd seen this morning, except this time the Southwest Vents were active during the last minute, putting out enough water to form pools on both the platform and the shelf below.
Overflow from Southwest Vents during Mastiff bathtub. 2026 Aug 23 18:06
Finally went out for a nighttime Grand. It was mostly clear, and the gibbous moon was bright enough. Had to wait just over an hour, with no Turban Delay intervals, and finally got to see a two burst eruption. In the middle of the first burst, the moon disappeared behind a cloud, so the second burst was just barely visible. The total eruption lasted less than ten minutes, and then Vent & Turban quit.
As expected, Grand was below overflow, and I estimated that the eruption had happened about three hours earlier. So plenty of time to go down to Giant and see what happened.
I arrived there and Bijou was on strong, with no evidence of any recent platform activity. Across the river the steam rising from the Purple Pools runoff channel was obvious.
Every so often Mastiff would have a strong surge with thick jetting to the south, refreshing the shallow puddle between it and the base of Giant's cone. In a couple of cases, these surges preceded a Bijou pause or slowdown.
After 2-1/2 hours, I left to go and get ready for the next Grand eruption. Instead as I arrived at the cabin, I heard the radio call for the One Burst Eruption.
So I went back out to Giant. I was gone for about 50 minutes. As I arrived, I noticed that the Giant Indicator Pool (GIP) was high, about 30cm below the rim. Normally I can't see the water level. I was told that Bijou had not pause while I was gone, so it had been active for about two hours.
Mastiff continued to have some surges, some fairly large. Giant was also having surges that reached above the top of the bite in on the right side of the cone. These large surges would put water out the front of Giant, refreshing the puddle there.
Catfish was mostly quiet, but once I did see some splashing from it for a few seconds.
Finally, over six hours since the last pause, Rocket had a major eruption about 2-1/2 hours into a Grotto eruption. Then there was perhaps the largest Mastiff surge seen yet, and shortly after, Bijou quickly got quiet. Forty five seconds later water was visible in Mastiff. It never got higher than 30cm below the rim. The Southwest Vents did splash for a few seconds, and Giant had one large surge to the top of the cone. After 3-1/2 minutes, Bijou restarted.
Mastiff surge prior to Mastiff bathtub, 2026 Aug 22 14:45
Giant surge during Mastiff bathtub, 2026 Aug 22 14:45
Grotto finished erupting shortly after, for a duration of just under three hours. Water was not visible in the GIP.
Once again returned to the cabin to get ready for Grand. Because of the previous short interval, I decided to get out early. As it was, I saw Rift erupting when I arrived at the bike rack, but it had finished by the time I got over there. Turban started erupting as I sat down on the bench, and as I pulled my camera tripod out of the pack, Grand followed with another One Burst Eruption, one lasting 9m21s.
While I was out in the Bijou Monkey Cage, a geyser gamer reported an eruption of Daisy over the radio. I look over and see no steam, so figure either he's wrong, or he was reporting the very end of an eruption. I wait and look over frequently, and ten minutes later, I see Daisy start. So I make a post for the real eruption, then flag the erroneous report. First that report gets change to have the proper near start time. Then it gets deleted, along with my flag, and a new, superfluous secondary posting with a near star time appears. Why this person felt the need to duplicate my posting after screwing up, I don't know.
The radio call for a Penta major eruption went out just as we were about to head out into the basin. There was no report on Grand, and it had been only 14 hours since the previous observation. We also had to vacate our cabin so we could transfer later in the day to the one we prefer.
Got out to Penta and it was definitely in a major eruption. The start, however, was different from years ago in that Penta started without any overflow. Since Sawmill doesn't overflow before erupting any more, that makes sense. It lasted about 1-1/2 hours, and during most of that time Penta's Sixth Vent had a pool of water with bubbling in the middle. It may be time for the squirrels to clean it back out.
Water levels stayed high in the Sawmill Group for about an hour, then first Spasmodic, then Sawmill started to drop. The end of the Penta eruption took about a minute to go from full height to quiet. Then, about two minutes later, splashing started first in the Top vent, then in the Bottom vents.
Over at Grand, Sput C1 and the area behind the flat rock next to the runoff channel were steaming (Sput E1?). Belgian Pool had a water level where it was just starting to get wet in the side lobe.
I left the Penta splashing and got over to Grand just in time for the start of a One Burst Eruption. This One Burst Grand not only lasted only 9m39s, but Vent & Turban quit. What should have been a long first burst turned into a short eruption.
Right after Grand ended, West Triplet started. I didn't stick around to wait for Rift.
I noticed that at Crested Pool there was water pooling between the outer formations and the walkway, as if Crested is pushing out more water, or has a bit higher water level.
After a breakfast, it was time to kill time on Geyser Hill. Saw a Lion series initial eruption from the benches by Beehive, then Beehive itself. Despite being after noon, there as no wind so Beehive was tall accessible from the railings.
We finally got moved in and after a much needed rest, it was time for Grand.
Based on recent activity, it looks like there's not much reason to be out at Grand before seven hours. But I got out a bit early as I wasn't sure how crowded things might get with the wide NPS window starting around 6-1/2 hours. As it turned out, I was pretty much alone on the benches for the first few Turban eruptions.
The wait consisted of a couple of hours of slowly shortening Turban intervals. Then on a 16 minute interval, we got Vent overflowing along with a vigorous Turban eruption. That eruption was short, and followed by a Turban eruption interval with no overflow.
Before the Vent Delay Turban eruption, West Triplet finally started. With that delay, I figured we had a chance on the second Turban eruption after the Delay eruption. By then West Triplet had erupted long enough to either end, or have Rift start. Rift was steaming heavily when I noticed that Grand was having another early fill and looking good. Rift finally started at the same time Turban started erupting. Vent overflowed at the same time, and for the next minute the waves on Grand got heavier. Finally we got a good sized boop and the start of Grand.
The One Burst Eruption was quite tall, with a noticeable base surge cloud rolling over the runoff channels. Before Vent started erupting, I noticed that West Triplet was no longer erupting. That was followed by Rift quitting during Grand, for a duration of about nine minutes. Vent & Turban quit again, and restarted about seven minutes later.
I also learned that there must not be any geyser gamer point penalties for leaving a One Burst Grand Eruption once it becomes obvious that there will not be a subsequent burst.
Of course Grand erupted as we were in the Lodge checking in. As it was, an eight Turban Interval delay before the One Burst Eruption meant we didn't miss much.
Instead decided to go take a look at Giant. Spent about 1-1/4 hour in the Bijou Cage. During that time there was only one time that Bijou was not jetting strongly. For about three minutes it was almost off, with an occasional splash every few seconds.
Shortly after we arrived, Mastiff has a voluminous surge out of the back/south vent. This reached a height of about 2 meters, and lasted about ten seconds. It looked like how I remember the start of a Mastiff eruption looks. Later in the wait there was a smaller surge, just before the Bijou pseudo-pause.
We could hear something gurgling among the Southwest Vents, and that was the only activity on the platform in front of Giant. Back in early June I observed Emerald overflowing periodically.
Giant was much more vigorous than June. There were many surges to the top of the bite, and a lot of what seemed to be vertical surges, at least at the beginning.
It was hard to tell, but I don't think there was runoff from South Purple Pool.
Grotto was erupting when we arrived, and still going as we left. Spa was also active when we arrived.
After this, caught a Daisy eruption. Nice and strong, and it lasted 3-1/2 minutes.
Boardwalk staging site.
On the way back, decided I wanted to look at the new Sawmill Group boardwalk. See what over two months of work looks like. But first I got to experience the typical NPS pride in their work sites. I also like the way the blocked access to the signboard. It will be nice when they replace the one in front of Rift with wood. Except at the current rate, they will be fortunate to replace the remainder of the loop before it snows.
At some point Air France moved my flight from Denver to Paris to a day earlier. So we adjusted our schedules accordingly. On the afternoon of 06 August, Suzanne met me at the airport in Madrid following her three week stay in France. We didn't adjust our car rental, which we picked up the afternoon of the next day. So we used the hotel shuttle to get to our accommodations for the next two nights. Went out to eat at a local restaurant, and then I finally got some sleep. The next day Suzanne joined Graham Meech in Madrid while I mostly slept.
In two previous trips to New Zealand, we had to replace vehicles due to problems. This time we didn't even get out of the car rental parking-lot with the original car. The tire low pressure light was on, and one of the tires was obviously leaking. So we got "upgraded" to a slightly larger hybrid with automatic transmission. (Manual transmissions are common in Spain. Until 2008, I used to drive a manual vehicle, but Suzanne never has.)
The eclipse was going to occur at just before 20:30, about 45 minutes before sunset. In the days leading up to the big event, if possible we would take a look at the sun at that time to get a feel for what angle to expect. The sun would be low in the sky, no more than 10 degrees above the horizon. The weather forecast for the three days centered on Wednesday, eclipse day, were for sunny skies for all of central Spain. (Wildfires to the west were another matter…) Because of the low altitude of the sun, clouds far to the west could've been an issue.
The next day we stayed in the mountains of Cantabria, then headed to Bilbao. On the way we were informed by the host of our eclipse viewing accommodations that he had to cancel the reservation because a previous tenant had damaged the place and it needed major repairs. This was after the free cancellation deadline. We figured that that meant we didn't need to worry about not having a place to stay, and so had already dropped our backup accommodations. Thus leaving us with no place to stay both the night before and the night after the eclipse.
By the next morning, the host contacted us and said had found us an alternative at a location that had a totality duration four seconds longer than the original. We don't know how he did it, as the best we could find was a listing for 2600 Euros. (There were places to stay the night before with availability at normal rates, including our Madrid hotel. Worst case, we figured we would spend Wednesday night in the car watching the Perseids.) We got a place to stay and that was all that mattered.
In Bilbao, we visited the Gaztelugatxe, a small islet with an ancient (but repeatedly rebuilt) chapel perched at the top, requiring a 80 meter climb up a rock staircase. The entrance on the mainland was at 200 meters, and the causeway was only 15 meters above the ocean. A lot of steep climbs and drops. (note: in Basque, the "tx" is pronounced like "ch".)
On Tuesday, the day before the eclipse, we explored some of our viewing options. From satellite images, we'd settled on trying to see the eclipse from north of Torresandino, a small town northwest of Arranda de Duero. In Spain, you don't seem to find homesteads and farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere. Everyone seems to live in the small villages instead. From the maps, the area seemed mostly flat, but crossed by gravel roads allowing access away from the public.
We turned onto the gravel road, and almost immediately noticed a small butte about a kilometer from there. We went beyond to check out more locations, and found several possible sites. As we wanted to get checked into our hotel and no longer worry about where we were staying, we left intending to return around sunset.
Got ourselves checked in, and visited our original host at his winery for a quick tasting. I was driving, but Suzanne partook of some samples from the barrel and bottles, and made arrangement to settle accounts. Then we returned to the Cañada Real Merinera near Torresandino to check out the viewing location. We found a suitable place to park, and walked up the hillside only to discover, in the middle of nowhere, a couple also walking up. They were from Torresandino, and with the language barrier, we weren't able to communicate much. But they said that the butte was "a wasteland", and accessible.
At the top was 360° of unobstructed viewing. At the time of the eclipse, the sun would be above much of the haze. We concluded that this was where we wanted to see the eclipse.
Driving back, the sun was a deep red as it dropped into the haze layer. I tried driving an alternate route to the hotel, one that avoided more of the A-1 autovia/expressway in case it was jammed solid.
On the big day, we took our time getting started. Finally left our hotel at 12:30, eight hours before totality. Once again, drove some back roads instead of direct route, just to get a feel for any alternate routes we might need. As it was, we took our time and spent four hours that the directions app said should take 45 minutes. We arrived at our desired location and settled in to wait about three hours before we needed to set up. It was hot, with a slight breeze, no humidity, and too many flies. Shortly after we arrived a car with a couple arrived, investigated the area, and settled in to wait as we were. Theirs was the only vehicle we saw during the wait.
When 19:00 arrived, we started to prepare to head up to the top of the butte. First contact was around 19:30, and I was able to get my camera setup to start taking some photos by then. I took a quick shot every five minutes, just to document what we were seeing.
The people from the car joined us. They were from the UK, and it was their first eclipse. Like us, they found this location by scouting the satellite maps and views. The top of the butte was full of thorny plants and some rocks, but there were plenty of spaces to move around. We spread a sheet for shadow bands, just in case, but didn't expect them with the sun so low. The sheet was suspended on top of the plants and a bit lumpy, so took a little effort to get it reasonably flat. (Also figured it would be a place to dump something during the eclipse.) During that time, cars appeared on the road, and a small group, including the couple we'd met the day before, joined us up on the ridge.
Fifteen minutes before totality, I turned on the camera to continuously record the view of the setting sun. and darkening skies. I also took a couple of panoramas of our observation location.
A couple of minutes before totality, I turned on the phone camera to record what I could. While I prefer to not see the event on a little screen, I had to keep glancing at it to recenter it. As the video shows, it worked out fairly well.
As the eclipse started, I could see the corona start to appear as the diamond ring effect took place. Then suddenly it got much darker. It was strange to see the sun so near the horizon. Because of the haze layer, the corona seemed more orangish red than the pearly white I'd seen in previous eclipses. There was a huge prominence on the left side, and the corona was distinctly flattened at the bottom.
I also tried to take a jerky panorama of our horizon, considering that was one of the features of the location that made us want to be there. The colors weren't as uniform as I'd expected them to be. I never thought to look for planets, although in my video I see Venus just on screen in one corner.
Solar Eclipse 2026 Aug 12 from Torresandino, Spain
Because of the shorter length, it was over too soon, even more than in the previous eclipses I've seen. We never saw shadow bands. The video show a plane passing over the sun within a minute of the end of totality.
For a short time, we watched the ending partial phase drop into the haze layer and turn red. By the time we left, the sun could not be seen through the #14 welder's filter we brought for looking at the sun. The group from Torresandino was still gathered on the top and appeared to be finishing the meal they'd started during the wait.
The drive back was uneventful. Not much traffic anywhere, including the autovia, so all the exploration of side roads wasn't needed. But still useful for seeing areas that don't normally get tourists. Got back with the end of twilight.
Today will be a rest day, with a less than two hour drive back to our hotel in Madrid, then an early start Friday before dawn for our flights home via London and Dallas.
Next year's eclipse will be different, as it'll be early in a cruise visiting Mediterranean islands.
A video combing my two recordings along with Suzanne's has been also posted.
Once again, geyser gazers are welcome to contact me to get a Promo Code which will allow downloading of the app for free. I'm also open to suggestions for features users would like to see added, or finding out about bugs that need to be fixed.
So today I'm working on an update to my GeyserLog app, fixing some stupid bugs, and getting ready to do another release. Also working on a newer app that will get field testing in August if everything works out.
The webcam is being displayed on another screen, and working on the app gets me to see changes in the database almost in real time. A lot of postings do seem to disappear after a while. It's also amusing to watch the Turban Delay number get bigger as I'm working…
I see this comment on Grand, from something calling itself "guysirgooner (Guy Sir)", which registered less than an hour before making the posting.
"Pool is full. Waiting on turban to bust. Need waves and bubbles. Surely 17:15."
There was a second, similar comment to this a few minutes prior that disappeared before I had a chance to also note it.
Shortly after that, Graham posts a Turban eruption time with the comment, "D0. Late fill at 20m mark."
To which this same person comments: "D0? But yea this one went off for sure. I just saw it a couple minutes ago."
I flag the Grand post: "Do not report Turban Delays with Grand notes. (And geysers don't "bust")".
(Attempting to add the flag from my app actually revealed another bug in need of fixing, as I wasn't logged in, but the app acted like the flag went through, instead of correctly displaying an error. So I did it from the website instead.)
I fix that posting bug (easy fix, but it appeared in multiple locations), and then after a while I get an email message from GeyserTImes saying a positing I flagged has been changed. It appears that a long diatribe was appended to the Grand comment. Quoted here in full for your edification and amusement.
My response to the flag is as follows: Calling Turban a “flag” for delay is rookie-tier Grand analysis. Turban behavior absolutely correlates with delayed Grand intervals in many cycles because it reflects continued energy/water redistribution in the vent complex instead of a fully stabilized recharge state. That’s not controversial if you actually watch the basin instead of parroting simplified interval charts.
Notes 44931 and 44495 both discuss/mention Turban-related behavior associated with delayed Grand eruptions. The entire point is that Grand is not an isolated vent — it is dynamically linked with Turban and Vent. Persistent or unusually active Turban behavior can indicate heat/water being bled off or system instability before Grand commits to eruption.
People love pretending Grand is a perfect timer. It isn’t. The “average interval” crowd gets humbled constantly because Grand responds to:
number/strength of prior bursts
recharge efficiency
Turban/Vent activity
minor seismic/water level fluctuations
overflow characteristics
basin-wide thermal interactions
If Turban is highly active late in the interval, especially with strong sustained boiling or atypical surging, experienced watchers absolutely factor that into eruption expectations. Nobody who seriously studies Grand dismisses Turban observations outright.
The funniest part is acting like observational heuristics are invalid unless they’re a binary deterministic predictor. Geyser forecasting is probabilistic hydrodynamics, not a microwave timer.
I’d trust basin-side pattern recognition over internet armchair “flags” every time.
I amended my flag:
The added comments do not address the problem-- This comment is still inappropriate and added to the wrong feature.
The long, arrogant lecture on Grand's behavior, ending with "I’d trust basin-side pattern recognition over internet armchair “flags” every time." is especially amusing, considering to whom it is being addressed.
After I amended the flag, I decided to do this posting to capture this exchange. Because, as expected, shortly after the One Burst Grand eruption (on the third Turban eruption after the Delay), the flagged note, along with the long comment, disappeared. I decided that all the work and wisdom that that person put into the reply should not be lost forever.
Now back to application development, as I eagerly await more "basin-side" observations and insights from "Guy Sir".
Update 19:15:
A post-Grand comment from "Guy Sir":
Crazy how people were “waiting for more signs” while I literally called the exact eruption time and then the post gets deleted after being right. Some of y’all watch Grand like it’s astrology instead of actually understanding interval behavior, Turban pacing, and vent dynamics. The geyser does not care about your vibes-based predictions.
Fixed SMS note support and fixed bugs found during field testing.
Fixed toolbar compatibility with iOS 26 ("liquid glass").
Added a GrandWait widget and lockscreen item.
Add optional Stopwatch actions as observations/events.
Fixed some AppleWatch issues
Fixed login settings not in sync with Settings App values.
Once again, geyser gazers are welcome to contact me to get a Promo Code which will allow downloading of the app for free. I'm also open to suggestions for features users would like to see added, or finding out about bugs that need to be fixed.
It appears that this year either people are less stupid, or the NPS is being more circumspect on the radio, or they are just using alternate forms of communication. Sometimes most of the day went by with even minimal traffic stops ("verbal warning for speeding") being called.
21 May
Couple on foot behind the Lodge feeding ravens. Later report they were walking toward OF followed by several ravens.
22 May
Group of 4 at Ojo Caliente in the bear closure area. Just a warning.
23 May
Thermal trespass by four at Fountain Paint Pots. Court dates requested for two.
Ravens attacking trash in the back of red pickup parked in handicap spot next to the VC.
At sunset, two women from California off trail north of Fountain Paint Pots. Only warnings.
Report of bear spray deployment along road north of Midway. Attempt to find failed, then report of victim already at clinic.
24 May
Need to stop traffic near Gibbon Picnic in order to euthanize an injured deer hit by car.
30 May
Bear reported near the Old Faithful employee pub. UTL: "Unable To Locate"
02 June
"East lot, outbound on the inbound lane" Warning.
F150 pickup from Sask. "back is completely full of food.". "Does YPSS have ability to store vehicle inside?" "In the bus barn." Third raven pickup attack in two days.
03 June
Need maint at OFVC due to several spots of vomit in lobby.
Dog off leash in Madison Campground
06 June
Calif Jeep passing line waiting to enter Fairy Falls parking, then using handicap spot w/o proper permit.
07 June
At Madison Campground, RV dumped graywater tank in campsite, then left.
Coyote jam at Mallard Lake Trailhead.
Two cars "parked out in the field" at Fairy Falls trailhead. Citations issued.
Got a late start because Grand had a short interval overnight. Woke up to showers that were clearing at the time to head out approached. The wind also started to pick up around then, and it was strong for the rest of the day.
At Grand, first I got a Turban Delay Interval, then West Triplet started to erupt. Two Turban eruption intervals later, we got a second Delay Interval. With that, it looked to be a long wait.
Two hours and six Turban eruption intervals later, Grand finally erupted. Grand's pool filled early and then stayed high as waves started around the 16 minute mark. Vent overflowed well before Grand started to boil and boop. An 8-1/2 minute interval was a good indication that we were going to get a second burst, and we did. Despite the total duration being less than ten minutes, Vent & Turban quit.
It never got warm during the day, and the wind never died down. A good day to stay inside and let others brave the wind, except that Beehive had a mid-afternoon no-Indicator eruption.
Conditions were unchanged when it was time to head out to Grand. After an hour wait, we got a Turban Delay interval, and then had to wait another five more Turban intervals before Grand showed signs of wanting to erupt. It was still light, and the wind pushed the steam from the runoff away, making Grand easily visible. West Triplet had no water visible during the wait, but rose and erupted during Grand's One Burst Eruption. The only thing of note with the eruption was that despite the longer duration (about 10-1/2 minutes), Vent & Turban died down briefly, but then did not quit. Did not see any afterplay from Grand in the few minutes before we all headed in to warm up.
Not as cold as expected, as clouds moved in during the night, and it was overcast at dawn when I went back out to Grand. Arrived to find West Triplet in eruption. Spent the next 2-1/2 hours waiting for the next West Triplet eruption as Turban had a series of varying strength eruption.
West Triplet started again just before the Grand One Burst Eruption. It was calm, so there was a nice base surge rolling across the runoff channels at the start. The eruption was followed by an eruption of Rift.
Then it was off to Geyser Hill as Beehive had not yet erupted. Got over there and after killing some time, thought about waiting over at Aurum in case it erupted. Instead at that point water appeared in the Indicator, and shortly afterward, like yesterday, Aurum erupted while Beehive's Indicator was erupting. So if I had gone over to Aurum, I probably would have missed the eruption while en route past Lion.
With the wind, the best view of Beehive was from near Plume. Not the full arc like yesterday, but still strong and double.
The wind blew the spray from Beehive all over the area around Scissors. When I went past shortly after Beehive's eruption ended, Scissor was completely quiet. I wasn't able to get a photo at that time (too many people milling about), and when I tried again a few minutes later, Scissors was back to normal.
Went up to look at the various holes and features around to the left of Sponge. I noticed that Sponge itself was having periodic overflow eruptions, but never dropped out of sight. Dropping out of sight is what I remember from a few years ago. Then waited around and eventually saw an eruption of Slot Geyser.
That's when the fun began. Old Faithful started to erupt, after a nearly two hour long interval. Then we noticed a bison passing by Doublet headed our way. We quickly cleared out as the bison crossed the boardwalk by Pump, then broke through the crust. It continued on, again crossing the boardwalk to the left of Sponge. Out in the flat it broke through again, but continued to plod along. We started moving in order to beat it to the junction by Sulphide. Fortunately, it found some tasty grass below Giantess. By that time we were ahead of it, but the crowd from Old Faithful was starting to appear. None of us wanted to hang around considering that bison/touron interactions were bound to occur soon. Fortunately, on the other side of the bridge a person in NPS uniform was headed toward Geyser Hill, and I warned her of the bison.
In the mid afternoon I walked up on a gently steaming Uncertain, having missed it by about ten minutes. The wait for Grand was short and uneventful, less than an hour long. Once again we got a One Burst Eruption, but no activity from West Triplet either before or after.
Despite it being a bit breezy, it was warm and sunny and too nice to go inside, so went down basin to kill some time. Arrived at Riverside just before the eruption started. I don't remember Riverside starting this way, but it's been a few years since I've actually waited in the loop there. The back vent surge thickly several meters high, repeatedly for about twenty seconds before the eruption started throwing water onto the river.
Down at Fan & Mortar, bicycled up on High vent erupting to at least four meters, with Gold going strong next to it, and nothing else active. That activity continued intermittently for a number of minutes, until Angle started to join in. That's when the other two vents died down quite a bit, and shortly after, were left to themselves.
After intermittent evening showers, went out to Grand before sunset. About 18 minutes after a Turban eruption, West Triplet began to erupt. At that point, Grand didn't look good. But over the next twelve minutes, it came up and started to pour off water. Around the 32 minute mark, the overflow seemed to subside a bit, and at over 35 minutes, Turban began to erupt.
About 30 seconds in, Turban seemed to pick up in intensity, and in the dim light, it looked like Grand had risen back up and was having good waves. So no surprise when about 1-1/2 minutes after Turban started, Grand began another One Burst Eruption. It was another eruption that was long enough for there to be no doubt about there not being a second burst. Vent & Turban quickly restarted, and West Triplet was still in eruption as we left. From the bike rack I didn't see any activity from Rift.
Turns out Grand erupted only an hour after we left, so needed to get back out a bit earlier than I'd expected. Still ended up waiting two hours of ordinary Turban eruption intervals. During that time Castle had a short, minor eruption, the Grand filled and erupted without a Turban Delay Interval. The One Burst Eruption lasted less than ten minutes, and showed no signs of trying for a second burst. West Triplet started in the middle of the Grand eruption, but I didn't stick around to get a duration.
In the afternoon, Uncertain was in eruption as I tied up my bike near Castle. West Triplet started to erupt before I saw the first Turban eruption for this wait, so I figured it might be a while before the Grand eruption. Turned out to be less than an hour and a half, and the end of that consisted of a Turban Delay Interval lasting over 30 minutes. This time the One Burst Eruption lasted well over eleven minutes, with the last four in Big Sawmill mode, acting like it was about to stop, but never quit succeeding.
Afterward I stopped in down basin to catch a windy and short Daisy eruption, then watch a lot of grumbling from Grotto, but no eruption.
After dinner, Beehive's Indicator was called on the radio. It being late evening, with the sun low and still windy, there was a full arc double rainbow visible from the western side. At one point I had to deploy the umbrella, and almost got a full circle rainbow.
According to the NPS radio traffic, around sunset there was a bear hanging around near Castle. A hazing round was deployed to move it back into the trees.
Got out to Grand early. After about five minutes, got a Turban eruption that lasted over five minutes. The next Turban eruption had no overflow preceding it, so I assumed that there had been a Turban Delay interval and I was in for a long wait.
Instead, Grand was heavily overflowing and there was indications that I was about to get another Delay Interval when Grand explosively started erupting. Turban took nearly a minute to start, and this was another case where Vent took nearly four minutes. The One Burst Eruption lasted just long enough to ensure there wasn't a second burst.
