In the early morning hours there was a bright moon and enough breeze to keep the mosquitoes away. For the first time this trip the benches weren't dripping, despite all the storms of the day before.
After dumping my pack at Grand and getting the first Turban eruption, I intended to go watch Sawmill by moonlight for a while. After I passed Bulger the activity just stopped. It seems to do that a lot.
Also for once Grand took advantage of the start of an eruption of West Triplet to start erupting instead of delaying for three hours. From my vantage point, it was nicely backlit by the moon. Unfortunately, there wasn't a second burst.
The next morning it felt like September arrived early. It was cool and blustery, thanks to a cold front that had moved through since I'd last been out. As with the previous eruption, Grand took advantage West Triplet and erupted shortly after it quit. This was a two burst eruption, and with the breeze blowing to the north and backlighting by the sun, was another nice view.
Bulger's Hole morning and evening
It was still cold and blustery in the early evening when it was time for the next Grand. Came out to find Rift well into an eruption, and spent the next few hours with desultory Turban eruptions. Penta did have an eruption during that time, as well as Bulger's Hole. I didn't get over there to see it because of the unusually large crowd packing the benches. But this was the eruption that finally destroyed the bridge.
Turban finally had an eruption that signaled that Grand would be really to erupt in a Turban eruption or three. Three later, the pool looked okay, and Vent started to overflow then dropped, along with a drop in Grand. Usually this signals a two to four Turban delay, and I decided that maybe I should take advantage of that by making a gas station run. As I walked away, I noticed that Grand's pool had refilled. Scuttled back to the bench and saw a noisy, powerful Turban well into its third minute as Grand began having waves. Grand finally erupted (and Vent overflowed again) at 3m28s into Turban's activity.
Of course Vent started almost immediately, as its start time is related to Turban more than Grand. But then Grand quit at the 7m33s, which gave us a nice three burst eruption.
At the Lodge they no longer sell bison meat loaf in the cafeteria. "Meatloaf" seems like a good name for the annoying bison that hangs around the various trails.