Month: August 2021

After last night, I still could have gone out for the next grand eruption. I woke up before it occurred, but decided not to do that. Turned out to be the correct decision, as Grand had a One Burst Eruption about ten minutes later. Not enough time to get dressed and down the biketrail.

The day mostly consisted of a couple of events at Fan & Mortar and a couple of One Burst Grand eruptions. The Fan & Mortar events followed the same pattern-- splashing in Main Vent during a pause (or in the second case, two pauses) followed by no real followup from Upper Mortar. In both cases, the events, took place well before it was time to head to Grand.

The Grand eruptions were different. The midday eruption came on a Turban Delay Interval, and had over four minutes of boops out of Grand before it finally, reluctantly, erupted. This eruption lasted just under ten minutes, and unlike the eruption last night, Vent & Turban continued. The second had no delay, was just a long interval. It started with Turban erupting while Grand was overflowing heavily. It lasted close to eleven minutes and Vent & Turban did quit this time.

Before the second Fan & Mortar event wait, spent some time down at East Sentinel. It has changed since I was last there. It was boiling heavily and irregularly up to two meters along the southern edge of the vent. The water level was fluctuating between heavy overflow and down about 10cm. It might be having actual minor eruptions from that area, but I didn't see one in the hour I spent there.

Just after midnight on perhaps the first clear night of this visit. The moon was at last quarter, so there was plenty of light for a walk from the cabins out to Grand via Geyser Hill. Haven't done that in years. No need for bear bells because the walkway between Lion and Liberty is so noisy. Once we got onto the plastic walkway, we could feel the ice starting to form.

Probably arrived during a Turban Delay eruption. The next Turban eruption had no overflow, and the subsequent one was strong, but short. Grand finally erupted on the fourth Turban eruption after we arrived. During our wait, we did get to hear a full eruption of West Triplet, but no followup from Rift.

The Grand eruption was steamy, but without wind, so occasionally we could see the water column backlit by the moon. Finally decided to try illuminating it, and again, because of the wind, there wasn't much success from a variety of positions. By then the ice was forming on the benches along with the walkway.

The morning was spent taking care of various tasks in anticipation of another wait at Fan & Mortar starting tomorrow. Did arrive back in the area to find Grand hadn't erupted in the afternoon, so attempted to get out there. I got to see the start of the One Burst Grand from just below Crested Pool.

Went out to the sunset Grand with the assumption that it could erupt after dark. Saw Turban erupting as I was tying up the bike at Castle, so I know that the next interval was more than long enough to be a Turban Delay Interval. Percolator and Sput D were active, so I wasn't surprised when West Triplet started right after. But it only splashed for a few seconds, then receded back into the vent, and out of sight, leaving a high water mark.

It was forty minutes later that West Triplet started again, and this time continued. It took nearly four minutes to finally reach overflow. Midway through this eruption, two intervals after the Turban Delay eruption, there was another strong attempt at Grand erupting. It was getting dark, but still possible to see the pool was full and probably having waves.

Then Rift started, and Turban started having a series of eruptions that got shorter in duration and interval as the night progressed. Sometimes it looked like Grand's pool was steamier and possibly full. Most of the Turban eruptions started out weak but a few started strong, but most durations were just over three minutes. The intervals were getting down below 16 minutes long.

Then, shortly before midnight, and 4-1/2 hours after the Turban Delay Interval, there was a Turban interval of less than 14 minutes, and the eruption lasted just barely over two minutes. Around this time I checked Belgian Pool and Crystal, which were both full, with Slurp in full wet mode and water running down the runoff channel.

The next Turban was almost as poor, but finally we got a interval that lasted well over 17 minutes and Grand finally erupted. The moon, less than a quarter, was lighting the top of the water column, making backlighted viewing easy. But the eruption lasted only 9-1/2 minutes, and then, Vent & Turban quit.

This Grand interval was approaching eleven hours. A few weeks ago, the data logger reported that there was an interval well over eleven hours under similar nighttime circumstances. At the time, I suspected it was a double with the middle one missed. Looks like it was probably a real interval.

In the morning, Little Squirt was reported to be in eruption. By the time I got there about an hour later, it had finished much earlier. But the warm ground frying pan area did have some steam and noise coming from it. I suspect the activity we saw back in May was due to the wet weather drowning the warm ground. But it does indicate that the ground there has potential to develop further.

Arrived at Grand with Percolator in eruption, and Sput D joined in shortly after. So no surprise that West Triplet started about a half hour later. Which led into the start of Rift just before Grand. This was another Turban initiated eruption, after a couple of longer Turban eruption durations and intervals. Might have been some sort of delay before I arrived.

There was a report of East Sentinel erupting shortly before I went out, so after Grand, went down to check it out. Definitely something happened there. The pool was murky and mostly quiet, with just a slight boil along the southern edge. The pool was below overflow when I arrived, but rose quickly, which could be just the normal cycling. There were wet pools, but not as full as I would have expected after a couple of hours. The northern formation was completely dry, indicating no boiling from the alcove area. And there was just a hint of the smell of low tide.

At Beehive, we had several bubbling sputs -- Close-to-Cone, South Bubbler, West Bubbler -- before the Indicator finally started. There was little wind, so the water column was tall with only small segment of the boardwalk getting wet. During the eruption, the Base Vent also was active.

Grand had a Turban Delay Interval, and just before the second Turban eruption after that, Bulger had the only second eruption I've seen this visit. It also included an eruption of Bulger's Hole. A check after the Grand eruption showed that Crystal and Belgian were down about 5cm, and Slurp was barely steaming. Sawmill had also quit about fifteen minute prior.

Grand erupted almost immediately after Bulger. If the One Burst Eruption had taken place one Turban eruption interval later, the sun would have been set. As it was, there was no wind, and we got a nice rainbow once Vent started. Around the nine minute mark there were several slowdowns that weren't long enough for false pauses, but were enough to ensure the eruption continued.

Much more interesting day compared to yesterday.

Started with a One Burst Grand eruption on a Turban Delay. Immediately afterwards, got the call for activity in Main Vent at Fan & Mortar. On the way to the bikes, Castle started erupting. The first five minutes or so, Castle had multiple surges and quick pauses. Then, suddenly, it started to erupt continuously and steadily. It did this for the several more minutes we watched before heading north. Seemed obvious that this eruption was going into steam.

At Fan & Mortar, the sequence of activity leading up to an eruption progressed over the next hour. There were some huge surges from Main Vent while Bottom Vent was intermittently active. Finally everything died down until the Frying Pans started. At that point, Upper Mortar started to show signs of life. Fan also picked up in activity. Over the next few minutes, we started getting surging from Upper Mortar while Fan would die down, the pick up in intensity. Finally, one long surge in Upper Mortar set off the eruption. For a moment, at the very start, there were turquoise pools forming in Lower Mortar, Main Vent and East Vent before the jetting started. My video did not capture this, but others there saw the same activity. I don't remember seeing that sort of things before.

The wind was not cooperative with this eruption. It kept shifting so that the whole area got soaked at one time or another. At one point, I found that standing on the benches afforded a nice view of the activity people getting wet on both sides of me. Norris Pool also came up to its rim and had a heavy boil at the area closest to Fan.

Later on, went out to another One Burst Grand eruption. Unlike the activity of the last month, this time Turban initiated the activity without there being any sort of Turban Delay preceding. West Triplet also was active before Grand, and quit some time during the eruption.

After Grand, it seemed apparent that the Sawmill Group was finally out of a deep drain. I've noticed higher water levels before, along with quiet Slurp, but this was the first time the system looked like it was rising into actual overflow.

Over the next hour, Spasmodic did come to overflow, with the main pools fairly quiet. Tardy was near overflow, and Sawmill was high. Then Tardy started to have one to two second blips (technically eruptions) every 80 to 100 seconds, with overflow starting after a few of them. At one point, Sawmill had a splash to about 5 meters as if it was starting. It didn't, but this did raise the pool level by about 5cm. Finally, Tardy went into a strong overflow and began to erupt continuously. At this point, Sawmill was slightly in overflow. No water going down the runoff, but it was filling the catch basins that had been dry. With Tardy starting, Sawmill started to slowly drop.

In the other parts of the group, Oval was high, and at one time I thought I saw it have pulsations. Thumping Hole was high and behaving in what would be a "normal" fashion. Penta was high, and this got way too many people excited for no reason.

By the end of the hour, Spasmodic had dropped down to the point where it wasn't in overflow except when there was a small surge. Sawmill was back down to about the level it was before the splash.

At that point, the call for Beehive's Indicator called me away. It was a windy eruption, but the clouds parted momentarily while Beehive was still near full height, and there was a rainbow in the curtain of water crossing Geyser Hill.

Afterwards, Tardy was still in eruption as we went past toward Castle and the bikes. Sawmill was well out of sight, and Spasmodic was not in overflow. What does it mean? It appears that the Sawmill Group is still in the process of reverting to activity prior to Sawmill's dormancy, and that it is possible to make a full recovery.

One last One Burst Grand just before midnight, and just before the moon finally appeared. It seems like all the one burst Grand eruptions lately have been long, over eleven minutes. This one was just under nine, which was disappointing.

Another fairly dull day. Three One Burst Grand eruptions and some Sawmill activity was about it.

The last One Burst Grand took place just before midnight. Was the result of a Delay of four Turban eruption intervals. After two Turban intervals, there was a strong Turban eruption which usually indicates that there is going to be another two intervals to wait. So when Turban started, I expected there to be a slow buildup to the Grand eruption. It took about a minute.

Off to Norris and Collapse Crater Spring. Watched it for several hours, and it was consistent the whole time. Eruptions every seven minutes lasting a bit over a minute. The only variation was in the height, with some eruptions as much as three meters above the rim, and some with only a meter or so.

New Crater/Steamboat is going to suddenly erupt without warning, like it does in those years where there are only one or two eruptions. Today was not one of those days. The North vent looked decent, and at one time from Collapse Crater there was a period of about ten minutes when the steam from there picked up considerably. The South vent only once put out any water down the runoff.

Back in the Upper Basin Beehive had not erupted while we were up north. So when the call went out, it was time to head out. After that, it was out to Grand for a Turban Delay of four eruption intervals and a One Burst Eruption.

West Triplet had just finished as we arrived, the water was still visible in the vent and dropping. In the dark we didn't have long to wait for another One Burst Grand eruption that had nothing much to distinguish it.

No reason to go down basin, so off to Grand instead. The walkways were just starting to ice up, and it was hazy from the smoke. The One Burst Grand was somewhere in the large steamcloud we saw. During the eruption Castle started, but we weren't sure when. By the time got over there, it was in steam.

Midday was time for another Grand eruption. This one had two nice bursts. The first burst tried to pause at the eight minute mark, then continued for another 20 seconds. Afterwards I waited a bit at Sawmill, as it was as full as I've seen it this year, but after about 15 minutes, nothing had changed. It still wasn't in eruption as I left from Castle.

From there it was off to Geyser Hill for Beehive. By then it had gotten windy, so the Beehive eruption was sending a curtain of spray all the way to Infant Geyser. Also, the Base Vent bubbler was active for a brief time as the Indicator quit.

Arrived at the sunset Grand as West Triplet was ending an eruption. Sawmill was also in eruption. The group seemed to be fairly full, at least for this year. Slurp was actually quiet, despite the lack of water coming in from a low Crystal.

At some point while waiting for Grand, a bison moved into the Sawmill Group. It bedded down for a while right next to both the boardwalk and Oval Spring. It was so close to the walkway that for once, no one tried to walk past it.

As the bison appeared, Grand had a Turban Delay Interval. Fortunately, it delayed the Grand eruption by only two Turban eruption intervals, so there was still plenty of light to see the eruption. Again, we had a short first burst and a nice second burst.

The bison had moved over into the trees as we left.

Another day of Fan & Mortar not doing much. Day started out cold, but not as overcast, foggy or smoky as previous days. The smoky part changed as the day progressed, as did the windiness.

Rift erupted before, during and after a One Burst Grand Eruption at midday. This was followed by a minor event at Fan & Mortar, which looked promising until it came time for the Frying Pan vents to come on. Then things just quieted down.

Went to another One Burst Grand eruption just before a red sunset. Then a few hours later, got another minor event at Fan & Mortar. The moon was rising red, and cast little to no light. The event itself was similar to the one earlier, in that things deteriorated as the event progressed.

The day started out wet and raining. Fortunately, it quit by the time I wanted to head out. After yesterday's long intervals, Grand had some short intervals overnight, so there had been no need to get up early. Instead, time to waste time at other geysers.

Was riding down toward Grotto when Grotto Fountain started. Circled back, parked the bike in the rack and then heard a loud snap in the Trees. It was a bison right next to the benches, grazing away. It continued to graze, blocking the trail. Eventually it came out on the trail, wandered north and then disappeared into the trees across from Spa. It was gone when Grotto started.

After that, it was time to visit Daisy. By then the wind had picked up, and so it was now overcast, cold, windy and damp. At least Daisy didn't have a long interval.

At Grand there wasn't much of a wait for the One Burst Grand. At first it appeared that Vent and Turban were going to quit, but every ten or fifteen seconds, there was a blip from Turban. Finally, the Turban activity picked up, with Vent roaring. It looked as if there might be an attempt at an afterburst, but nothing visible from Grand.

Instead of hanging around Fan & Mortar, instead I went to Daisy. This time the wind had an effect. For the better part of an hour, Daisy appeared as if it was about five minutes from the start of the eruption. Finally, with the interval approaching three hours, it erupted for a fairly normal 3-1/2 minutes.

Sawmill started as I walked by on my way to Grand. Once again, it was well below overflow and had none of the thumps that an overflow start used to have. The rest of the group was fairly high, at least for current activity, while Belgian and Crystal were down 4-5cm. Slurp was quiet, barely steaming, when normally it would be a noisy fumarole when not being flooded by Crystal.

Grand, once again, didn't make us wait for long, and this time had a nice second burst, with rainbows. It was perhaps the first Grand in fairly good conditions in days.

Did a quick check of East Sentinel. Arrived at a time when it was quiet and well below overflow. In just a few minutes, it was pouring out water and the boiling was strong and superheated.

Of course Fan & Mortar waiting until sunset before finally setting us free by having a weak an event as possible-- a single splash from Main Vent.

Finally got some clear skies at night, and with the moon just past full, so had to go out for Grand. A short wait (with a loud Beehive eruption during it), and we got a nice, wet two burst eruption backlit by the moon. Most of the walkway got wet, and the fogs were already forming.

The morning was cold and foggy, in large part because it had been a clear night. I though of going out for a moonlit Grand eruption, but the cold and haze drove me back indoors.

The wait for the One Burst Grand eruption was less than an hour. It was mostly gray on grey, although Grand did boop well before it started erupting. Sawmill had one of its short eruptions that started just before Grand, and was over as we left.

In the afternoon, ended up waiting for a series of Turban intervals interspersed with rains. Rift was erupting, with all the sputs quiet. Sput D started erupting intermittently about an hour into the wait. I figured we'd see Rift stop erupting during or just before Grand, as has happened several times these past weeks. Instead, it was over an hour from the end of Rift until we got Grand.

The rain was never really heavy, just enough to require full rain gear. The long wait started with a short, heavy Turban eruption. That was followed by a series of shorter than usual (16 to 19 minute range) Turban eruption intervals with an occasional filling of Grand's pool that made it look like it wanted to erupt.

The One Burst Grand we finally got had a nice base surge because the wind died down at the start. Then it went on, like this morning's eruption, for just over twelve minutes.

Woke up just in time to head out for the morning Grand eruption. Arrived in time to see the start of a Turban Delay Interval. That was the entire wait for a One Burst Eruption.

The midday eruption was similar, no Delay interval but a couple of Turban eruption intervals before another One Burst Grand eruption. But this time the rain started as Grand was quitting, so once again had to bicycle back while getting wet.

Went out at sunset for the final eruption of the day. This time it was early, so when there was Turban Delay Interval with a Grand Boop. By then, it was getting dark, although a nearly full moon had already risen. It was also cold and a bit breezy. The delay meant that we had to wait for two more Turban intervals before the eruption. It started suddenly, and Turban started almost immediately afterward. The wind of course died down, so the area to the north, where one would go to see the moon and Grand together, got soaked. Despite the long first burst lasting just over 9-1/2 minutes, we did get a nice second burst.

During today's eruptions it seems that West Triplet would come to overflow, but not eruption. For the last eruption, it was already overflowing heavily before the eruption.

Another wet day where it was better to be elsewhere. Did get back in time to head out for the evening One Burst Grand Eruption. The weather felt more like October than August-- damp and windy. No boops this time. The eruption started with a single, sudden surge from Grand at least 5 meters high, and built from there.

It was a wet, cold day, and there wasn't much reason to go out into it.

I did head over to Geyser Hill during a break in the early afternoon to check on Little Squirt's frying pans. Little Squirt had obviously quit quite a while ago, but the steaming area was about the same as last night.

While out there, I also got to see the start of Castle, and watched it until it went into the steam phase. Also kept an eye on Beehive's Indicator, but it didn't do anything.

Later went out to Grand. At the time there hadn't been a report on the midday eruption. But when I arrived there was a Turban Delay interval, and the electronic time finally got posted. It was a bit early in the interval. While waiting, I heard Beehive erupting, a situation almost identical to last night. Grand erupted two Turban Intervals later, for a One Burst Eruption at almost exactly 10 minutes. West Triplet overflowed during the eruption, but I didn't see an eruption, and it was down by the end.

Since the weather map showed a band of rain coming, I headed out, but as usual, the rains started as I got on my bike at Castle.

The day started with a notification of Beehive's Indicator in eruption. I got no farther than the path from the cabins when Beehive started erupting.

The report from Fan & Mortar was no eruption overnight. At that point, it was time for Grand. Saw Turban from the bike rack, which was fortunate, as Grand started 30 minutes later. It was a Turban initiated, and it took Grand about twenty seconds to get going. Just over ten minutes in there was a significant false pause, then Grand continued for well over another minute.

The webcam operators reported a Bulger eruption during the Grand eruption, but I saw no evidence of any activity. The runoff channel was dry both before and after, while Bulger was having it's low boils every so often. They've been reporting a lot of activity from Bulger that I think did not happen.

With Fan & Mortar not doing much, I went over to Daisy to catch what for this year was a long eruption, lasting well over 3-1/2 minutes. Afterwards, the vents on Splendid started quickly, alternating between the Main Vent and the Side Boiler.

The mid-afternoon Grand wait had something special. I had just got there when there was a call of large Upper Mortar splashing. Left Grand and headed toward Castle, just in case. Since there wasn't a follow up, headed back to wait for Grand. Sawmill was erupting all during this time, and the group was well into a deep drain. About a half hour later, got a radio call of Uncertain in eruption. I was able to capture some video over the crowd. This is the third eruption observed of the year, and I've seen all three, the last two while waiting for Grand.

Grand erupted about an hour later, and never had a delay during this time. It was another One Burst Eruption lasting about 11 minutes.

Towards evening, there was a report of Little Squirt in eruption. I went over about an hour later, to check on the frying pans I'd seen active back in May. Little Squirt was still erupting, but the only hint of activity was some slight steaming from one of the frying pan depressions. It might take a while for them to get going at the strength I'd seen before.

Headed out for the nighttime Grand, finding West Triplet, Percolator and Sput D active. Also arrived for a Turban Delay Interval. Shortly after West Triplet quit, I saw my first Bulger major eruption of this trip, thanks in part to some headlights from the Inn parking lot illuminating the area. Got down there just in time to see the eruption end. It was quite obvious that there had been an eruption, with water still flowing down the runoff channel.

Then there was this strange noise that seemed to be coming from the area of the sputs. Finally realized that what we were hearing was Beehive. Maybe the smoky haze was having an effect on the sound.

Two Turban eruption intervals after the Delay eruption, we got another strong Turban eruption that either goes into a Grand eruption, or results in a further delay. Grand didn't erupt. By then, we were seeing flashes of lightning and hearing thunder getting closer. A check of the radar weather maps showed that the odds were we'd get soaked before Grand erupted, so it was time to go. Got back to the cabin just in time for the heavy rain to start.

Going out after midnight to see the end of a Fan & Mortar event was probably not the most productive use of the time, but it did mean we didn't have to get up at dawn to see what what going on down there.

Throughout the day there were splashes from Upper Mortar during the ending of the cycle when the Mortar Frying Pans start to erupt and put out steam. The ones I saw never much looked like they would result in an eruption.

The mid-day Grand had a short interval and a short duration. At 8m10s, a second burst was a near certainty. The pool even rose up afterwards and for about five second, it looked like a third was possible.

Immediately afterward, as I was approaching the bike rack, there was a call for Beehive's Indicator, so for the first time this trip I watched Beehive from across the river. Probably for the best, as it was windy with shifting directions, so people were scattering from Scissors to Plume. Also because of the wind, it seemed like one of the shorter eruptions that I can remember.

Spent too much time at Fan & Mortar seeing nothing much happen. Went out for Grand at sunset, and caught the start of a Turban Delay interval. That's when another call of something happening at Fan & Mortar came through. Remembering the fiasco early in the trip, I decided I had to abandon Grand. As it turned out, nothing much happened at Fan & Mortar, and Grand erupted on the Delay and had at least two bursts. Oh, well.

Got up before dawn in order to check out Fan & Mortar. It was cold and dreary from the overcast smoke. Turns out that going down there wasn't the wrong thing to do. They had a strong event shortly after dawn, with some decent Upper Mortar activity at the end, but nothing really exciting.

From there, it was time to go to Grand. Castle started as we rounded the curve, the proceeded to go into one of its sloppy, pausing eruptions. It finally went into the major steam phase with one of the pauses well over four minutes.

Grand didn't make us wait, and it had a nice two burst eruption. The sun was red, but it nicely backlit the activity.

As we left Grand, we saw Penta splashing from the Top Vent. It was starting a steam phase eruption that lasted about ten minutes. Just as the activity died down, we got the call for Beehive's Indicator, so it was off to Geyser Hill. There was no wind, so once again it was a tall, impressive eruption. I didn't see any activity from the Base Vent. Also caught a secondary Lion eruption as I was leaving Geyser Hill.

In the afternoon we got another, weaker event down at Fan & Mortar, one that died down fast enough so that we were able to got back to see another two burst Grand eruption.

There was a third Fan & Mortar event in the evening, about the same strength as the previous two. Then at sunset, went out for a One Burst Grand. Rift was in eruption, but as it seems to do quite often, ended sometime during Grand. Sawmill was also in a long eruption during our entire wait.