Turns out the forecasts were right. There was no precipitation, and the sky was mostly clear. And the earlier clouds had kept it from being as cold as the night before. Too bad I wasn't out there much.
Grand started during that short time that it was hidden behind the trees below Castle. I did get over there in time to see West Triplet just start, and to finally get an eruption with a second burst.
Sawmill had been erupting as I passed by, but by the time Grand's eruption was over and I could return to enjoy Sawmill by moonlight, it had quit. Looked like it was going to be one of those nights, when Castle started.
As I gathered back up my stuff and headed over there, Castle kept having long pauses, as if it was going to have the minor eruption end before I got over there. But that didn't happen, and after many more such pauses, the change over to continuous water happened around 12 minutes in, and shortly after it was definitely going into steam.
The moon was really too high for any moonbows. I could see one, at the base of the cone,with a hint of red and yellow, if I was well below Castle. But it was really too low to be more than a hint.
The morning was quite a contrast to yesterday. Instead of the thick fog, it was so dry that there wasn't any dew on the benches at Grand. Since Rift had gone after the last eruption, we had a similar situation to that of the last few days, and once again, Grand waited several hours for West Triplet to appear. For another one burst eruption.
During the wait several deer appeared on the hillside behind Grand, hidden in the early morning shadows. I took photos, but can't find them in those photos even though I know they are there.
Splendid Geyser and runoff channel
It was such a nice cool day that I decided that a visit down basin was in order. Saw an eruption of Daisy from the south side. Went around over to Splendid, which is in sad shape. The runoff channels to the north which were so well defined when it was last active are now just gravel depressions between the grass. There's no runoff from Splendid that I could see, and what little water there was seemed to be more the result of the sputs between it and Comet.
Then went over to see how much grass was growing on Giant's platform. Just as I passed Grotto, which was in weakly eruption, Rocket started up. So I went back to get a few pictures of it, then proceeded onto Giant. On the walk back, about seven minutes later, Rocket took off again. This time seemed higher and more vigorous than the previous. Since I took still photos during the first, I took motion for the second.
In the afternoon, Castle skipped the minor eruption and went straight to slopping. When I headed out to Grand, about 15 minutes after the close of the Castle window, there was a huge crowd lining the walkway, spilling onto the boardwalk out to Crested. All during the afternoon there would be inquiries on the radio from someone in the Visitor Cathedral asking about it.
Once again Grand didn't take advantage of the early West Triplet window, forcing us to wait an extra couple of hours. At least it was a two burst eruption, and it even tried for a third. The pool stayed high for at least 90 seconds before finally draining. After that, it was just a matter of waiting to confirm that Rift was going to erupt,
Sturgis motorcycle idiocy is in all its full glory. One thing I've noticed is that all the obvious motorcyclists are older than I am, or at least look like they are a lot older. Where are the younger riders? Aren't they interested in an annual reenactment of Easy Rider (but without the happy ending)? Or just not dressing up in that way? Does this mean the whole Sturgis get-together is going to die off in a few years? If that's the only way to get rid of all the noise they make, then so be it.