Month: July 2018

Out at dawn to wait for the next Giant Hot Period. I expected it to be late in the morning, but wasn't about to take chances when there was no good reason to not be there. As it turned out, I was pretty much right, as we got the expected hot period at 11:55. As far as I could tell, the only difference from last night was it started a little slower, with Mastiff taking its usual two minutes to rise.

I also skipped the Grand eruption at 10:15. Turns out it had two bursts, which was a bit annoying. I played the odds and lost. But still the right decision, as there no point in seeing yet another one burst Grand in the middle of the day in the middle of a crowd.

Later in the day did go to the Grand eruption. It didn't have an official delay, but the one burst eruption was preceeded by a good 15 to 20 seconds of booping. I really thought that it would fail to erupt, and we'd have to wait several more Turban intervals.

While having dinner, there was a short, weak hot period that wasn't quite expected. Not sure what to make of it, other than a guess that it might delay the next, strong one.

That was about it for the day. Did go to Grotto a little later, trying to see Rocket, but it turned into a long eruption instead, and finally gave up to prepare for tomorrow's Giant wait.

Having Fan & Mortar erupt during the night was disappointing. But the intervals have shortened nicely, and that means several more opportuities this month.

But the day was spent waiting at Giant. There was a weak hot period in the middle of the day, and then a strong one in the early evening. That one was a classic Feather Restart, with lots of nice surging from Giant at that point, some filling the cone. But nothing came of it.

At sunset, Grand had an extremely long Turban interval. It was at least 25 minutes from the time we arrived. During that time Grand booped, and the duration for the Turban eruption was well over 7 minutes. That was right at sunset, and it would have been an eruption with nice rainbows. But Grand managed to delay only one interval, while it was still light.

And then we returned to the cabin just in time for a radio announcement that Beehive's Indicator was in eruption. Turns out no one was out on Geyser Hill, so it was up to the webcam viewers and operators to let people know to get out there. We headed right out, but Beehive was already erupting as we crossed the bridge

Today Grand decided that it needed to put in some longer intervals. Had no intention of going out in the middle of the night, so relieved to discover that would have had to wait a couple of extra hours, until dawn. In the middle of the day the interval was almost as long, which allowed a huge accumulation of people.

Again, another day of waiting for Giant. At least there was a hot period during the night, and then another one near sunset. I didn't see that one, but nice to know that they can happen more than once a day. In this case, appeared to be about 16 to 18 hours between them, which seems to fit the pattern established during the buildup to the last eruption.

Got to see a complete Bulger's Hole eruption and record the whole thing. I'd like to upload the video, but I don't want to use of all my allocation, and the service here is so slow it might take way too long. It'll just have to wait until I get home.

Otherwise, it was another day waiting down by Giant. No hot periods or even bathtubs, just a 6 minute long pause about an hour after the start of Grotto.

The morning had several bits of weirdness while waiting for the dawn Grand eruption. First there was the coyote that wandered past west of the boardwalk at Grand heading for Churn. Then a bit later it was a woman and two young boys visible from Grand on the other bank of the Firehole River. They were investigating one of the warm seeps next to the river, before they headed back to the trail. Mama and her cubs.

Almost immediately there were tourists reporting a real grizzly bear and cub next to the trail just north of Lion. Fortunately, they were not seen again. Do wish they would go elsewhere.

Spent more time down at Giant during the morning, and was rewarded with a long series of Bijou slowdowns every 15 minutes. In the afternoon, it was a long Grotto eruption with more slowdowns

Today had the potential for being a Five Grand Day. It started out nicely with a two burst eruption only 23 minutes after midnight. But the chance slipped away when the second eruption of the day had a two-Turban delay. The third had the type of interval needed. Despite a long delay, Grand erupted on the next Turban for an interval just under six hours.

So we didn't get 5 Grand eruptions, but the eruptions we did get were a nice representation of the good conditions for viewing Grand. The dark nighttime eruption, the dawn eruption, the warm middle of the day eruption, and finally the sunset eruption.

Time to get reacquainted with Giant. Spent a few hours in the Monkey Cage. After a few quick, short pauses, there was 5-1/2 minute bathtub as Grotto started. Then after that, nothing. I was expecting the pause to resume after Grotto ended less than an hour later, but all I got for the next hour were Bijou slowdowns.

First up was Bulger's Hole. It was observed to fill and bubble a bit well into a major eruption of Bulger. After the morning Grand eruption, about 40 minutes later, I saw Bulger erupting again. I got down there and saw that it looked like another major. As we were standing there, the Hole filled with water to about 1 foot below the rim, then started splashing well above the rim. The duration was only a few seconds, and then the hole drained. But Suzanne, Ben Hoppe and I got to see the first activity there since 2011.

I liked to think that this activity is related to the deeper fluctuations in Sawmill Group. A little bit later I noticed that the water level had dropped such that a bank about 10cm wide of the orange slime lining the vent was exposed. This is much more fluctuation than last year, based on how that orange band wouldn't be exposed otherwise. I would hope that this, along with Bulger's Hole, are signs that changes in the Group, and reactivation, are possible this summer.

Then it was the Suicide Bride's turn. Down by South Scalloped a woman in a wedding dress decided to get up close to that spring. I yelled down, and she did get back on the trail. An Asian couple (of course). Turns out I wasn't their first encounter with getting caught. During the wait for Beehive I was told that they'd also been seen wandering loose between Morning and Fountain, and off trail at Midway. If I'd have known, I would've tried to get Law Enforcement involved.

I also need to remember that I do have a camera, and to record stupid incidents like this.

The evening Grand could've gone while it was still light, but it had to have a two Turban delay, resulting in the longest interval in about 10 days. At least there were two bursts, breaking a long string on one burst eruptions.

Arrived for an extended stay during the afternoon after an uneventful drive. It's so much nicer to be able to avoid evening traffic leaving Denver and not having to drive from Moran Jct in the dark. This time that part of the drive was in the early afternoon, and at both checkpoints into Grand Teton and Yellowstone, I managed to get into the fasted moving lanes.

After decompressing the contents of the truck, went out to see Fan & Mortar let us know that it was ready to erupt in the dark, and then a one-burst Grand. Actually kind of nice knowing that nothing much happening for a few days. One thing I found in years past was that for longer stays, there's not the pressure to see everything. There's going to be lots of down time and periods of boredom.

So while here, I will try to post observations and info as I did in years past. May not be everyday, but should be enough items of interest-- New Crater/Steamboat, Giant, Fan & Mortar, and now Sawmill Group?-- to keep from being too repetitious.