In October, you are pretty much on your own. We arrived at the Lower Ham's empty parking lot at 16:45, and all we knew is that there wasn't any report of any activity down by Giant for the day. So despite the weather, and not yet having checked in, we went down to check things out.
Arrived at the tail end of some sort of long Bijou pause at 17:00. Probably just a bathtub, as while the platform was wet, the water wasn't moving, and areas near the Southwest Vents were drying out. Grotto started at about 17:09, so it was definitely worth waiting around until it ended, or there was a Rocket eruption.
The next pause was almost an hour later, and Bijou was quite strong. Giant seemed quieter than I remembered from a few weeks ago. there was very little splashing and surging in the conem and what there was, was barely visible. It just sounded like the water level in Giant was low, as if it was a day or so after an eruption.
After the first short pause, there were a couple more at 10 and 19 minute intervals. Then we got a pause with water in Mastiff, just as Rocket started. This hot period was pretty strong, with Feather never shutting down, and lasting exactly 14 minutes. But the Giant surging was never all that strong, There was a good, sustained push at one point that filled the cone, but otherwise it just seemed that the water level wasn't there.
By then, the sun had set and it was time to head in, warm up, check in and unpack.