Month: September 2021

Thw walkway past Rift had a nice coating of frost in the morning, as did the benches. It got heavier as I waited through the Turban intervals after a long Turban Delay Interval. It wasn't warming up as there was a thin layer of clouds that had replaced the smoke. But the One Burst Grand was nicely visible as the steam was being pushed to the south.

Toward noon, I decided that checking on Fan & Mortar was a good place to waste some time. Over 45 minutes I saw what appeared to be "garbage mode", where the Fan vents come and go, look good at first, but there's never any prolonged gap or activity from Mortar. So decided that I should check on East Sentinel, then head in.

As I approached, I saw a larger than usual steam cloud from East Sentinel. It appeared that I was seeing the activity between minor eruptions. The vent was empty as I arrived, while there was some jetting from the south rim toward the north inside the vent itself. There was steam coming from the small vents to the south of the crater.

Over the next few minutes the activity of the vents picked up, leading to a small minor eruption from an empty crater. About ten minutes later there was a second such increase in activity.

Then water became visible at the bottom of the vent, rising quickly. It got as high as about 1-1/2 meters from overflow, then started fluctuating. Around this time thumping could be heard. The pool finally rose to about 1/2 meter below overflow, when the activity shifted from the south to the north.

Now some horizontal jetting could be seen well under the shelf. The small vents to the south had stopped steaming by this point. After a while with no change, left the area on the assumption that it was in a refilling mode.

From there it was time for Grand, and another One Burst Eruption. That was immediately followed by the start of Beehive's Indicator, so a quick trip to Geyser Hill was in order.

A few hours later I decided to check on East Sentinel and Fan & Mortar again. I arrived at East Sentinel to find that the activity had shifted again, with the south rim boiling vigorously. Over the next few minutes, the water level in the crater rose as the activity increased. Water was pouring out of the runoff slot, while the south vents were jetting a couple of meters in height, including some horizontal activity to the east (the mostly dry channel at the front).

This activity lasted about three to four minutes, then the water level dropped and the boiling subsided. Over the next hour, the water level would rise to overflow, then drop. Eventually the overflow was so heavy that the runoff notch couldn't contain it, and water started running south over a low spot in the rim. At that point, surging started again, and we got another eruption, stronger than the previous. This one lasted under three minutes, and once again the crater water level dropped about 30cm at the end.

Following this the rising and falling started again, but I decided that it would be nearing dark before the next attempt, and left.

Did go out for the after sunset One Burst Grand eruption. This one lasted over twelve minutes, and featured a couple of false pauses, one at around the 8-1/2 minute mark, the other a few seconds before Grand finally quit.

Plans for today were completely ruined by the eruption yesterday evening of Fan & Mortar. It didn't help that Grand had a long double interval.

So the day really didn't begin until late morning. Rift had been seen in eruption a few hours earlier, so when I got to the Sawmill Group, I wasn't surprised to find Belgian and Crystal Springs full. Slurp was erupting in its Wet mode, and there was runoff well beyond the walkway. The Grand Group was in a deep drain, with Spasmodic's main vents almost out of sight.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Belgian and Crystal are rising in response to Rift, and that process begins or peaks several hours after Rift starts. In the last week I've seen this on several occasions, and I have been watching all this visit and not really seen many times when those two are full. Another indication that things have changed from the past, as years ago an eruption of Rift would draw the two down 3 to 6cm, not cause a rise.

Did a walk around Geyser Hill to kill some time, with nothing much happening there, either. By the time I got back Belgian and Crystal had dropped, and Slurp was back into fumarole mode.

The One Burst Grand Eruption after noon fairly undistinguished, other than it being started by Turban. From there,I had just passed the Lodge on my bike when the call for Beehive came over the radio. Went over for a nice, but crowded eruption.

Headed out for Biscuit Basin, but realized it was getting late, so only made it as far as Cauliflower. Saw a nice eruption, maybe reaching 1/2meter for a few seconds.

On the way back, made the mistake of looking at Fan & Mortar. Bottom Vent was starting to erupt, and Main Vent was steaming heavily. Within a minute or so, Bottom was in eruption, and we'd seen several splashes in Main. A few of those splashes were huge, with definite shape of the erupting water being thrown far into East Vent. I decided that a one day interval was extremely unlikely, and didn't let myself get sucked in.

Grand had a Turban Interval Delay, and waited just long enough to erupt just after the sun could no longer illuminate the water column. We did get a second burst, but it was a short pause, and one of the weaker second bursts I've seen in quite a while.

To cap off the day, waited for Castle, and watched it go into steam as it got dark. The pausing stopped around the seven minute mark, only for there to be a couple of pauses about six minutes later. But then the water became continuous.

Got a late start to the day, after last night's late Grand eruption. It didn't help that Grand followed up with an interval well over seven hours.

Went down to check East Sentinel. No change since last visit. Didn't stop at Fan & Mortar as it seemed to early to get sucked into that time sink.

From there it was back to wait for Grand. The water levels in the Sawmill Group were high, with Sawmill in eruption. Spasmodic had been in overflow recently, as the runoff channel was still wet. Slurp was actually quiet, with just some gentle steam coming from the vent. Belgian & Crystal were down perhaps 1.5cm.

West Triplet had finished just before I arrived. Only had to wait one Turban eruption interval for the One Burst Grand eruption. It featured not only a boop well before Grand started, but a significant pause pause about nine minutes in. Just at the time when it was obvious there was no longer a chance for a second burst. Slurp was still quiet as we left.

Heard the call for Beehive, and got out there with plenty of time, as this Indicator interval was nearly 19 minutes.

Then time for another Grand wait. The Sawmill Group was back into a deep drain, with Slurp a fumarole, and Belgian and Crystal down about 3cm. I arrived to a Turban eruption, a long one lasting 5-1/2 minutes. I suspicious that I had just missed a Turban Delay Interval were confirmed when the next interval had no Grand overflow.

Then ten minutes into that interval the call comes in that there is splashing from Main Vent down at Fan & Mortar. Fortunately, if there was a Delay, it was only a Two Turban Interval Delay, as Grand was suddenly full and having waves and overflow from Vent. Once again, it was a One Burst Grand Eruption, with Vent & Turban quitting even though the eruption was barely 10-1/2 minutes long.

With that out of the way, it was time to head down to Fan & Mortar. We had already decided that that was going to be our destination after Grand, to do a quick check on early activity before sunset.

But as the activity progressed, it became obvious that despite the 2-1/2 day interval, this was not going to die down. The Frying Pans became active much sooner than usual, and were quickly followed by increased noise from Upper Mortar. The vents on Fan by then were erupting continuously, with High Vent up to 3 or 4 meters high.

There was an aborted attempt at a start from Upper Mortar, then a second, longer attempt. After about ten seconds, this one died down, then suddenly every vent started erupting. The wind was mostly cooperative, and with it being late evening, all the vents were backlit nicely. Between the vents was usually a good place to see everything.

During the eruption Norris Pool rose to slightly above its rim. At some point Spiteful's back vents stopped, with the pool calm and pouring out water from a level perhaps 1-2cm higher than usual. Toward the end of Fan & Mortar's eruption the back vents of Spiteful reactivated briefly.

After this eruption, did a quick check of East Sentinel. There was no change from this morning.

Another day to visit Norris. New Crater/Steamboat looked moderately interesting the first hour or so, with infrequent surges from South Vent that send a flood of water down the runoff, but during the second hour, that activity had subsided. Over at Collapse Crater Spring, the eruptions were about six minute apart, and not as strong as during the previous visit.

Back in the Upper Basin and in the cabin, it was time for lunch. I was chowing down in the cabin with the door open when I saw a small dog without a leash run by. I got up to see what the owner looked like, and saw no one. The dog was still trotting away toward the south. It looked like an oversized chihuahua, and it occurred to me that I had just seen Iris, who had escaped last week.

I contacted the VC who in turn contacted the Comm Center, who sent out one of the Law Enforcement rangers. I met him when he arrived with the area, and described what I'd seen. He was still patrolling the area as I left for Grand.

Out at Grand, maybe a half hour later, I heard that they had a loose dog in custody, one that matched the description of the one I saw. They also believed it was the missing Iris. So I await my reward for putting them in the right position to make a successful capture.

At Grand itself, it was another dull One Burst Grand that lasted just long enough (about ten minutes) to know that there wasn't a chance of a second burst. From there, went on down to East Sentinel, where things didn't look much different that they had yesterday.

Had just finished getting together something to eat when got the call for Beehive's Indicator. Shove the food into the microwave, and headed out. Was approaching Anemone when Beehive started, but fortunately, the wind, while string, was steady and no one there got wet.

Went out for the evening Grand to find Rift in eruption. It appears Rift is now having an effect on Grand, with Grand not even trying to erupt until well after Rift ends. As in the other night, the intervals and durations for Turban eruptions gets shorter. For this Grand eruption, the Turban interval prior to Grand starting was less than 16 minutes, with overflow well before that. Also, Grand didn't start until 1m44s after Turban. The first burst was just over eight minutes, but the second burst was long, with once again Vent & Turban stopping on a relatively short duration.

Also of interest is that once again, a couple of hours after Rift ended, Belgian and Crystal were full, with a wet Slurp eruption in progress.

Busy morning. First I had to go down to check on Fan & Mortar since there had been no reports of any activity or status since sunset yesterday. (Some people can't be bothered to report the obvious while on their way to look at "the sun dress.") From Culvert I could already see that the bridge was wet. The wash zone extended all the way beyond Spiteful and Norris Pool. The vents were completely quiet, so it had been several hours, but it also hadn't been before midnight.

From there, did a quick check on East Sentinel and discovered it too had erupted, and recently. The water in the vent was down about 1/2 meter and calm and clear. The large catch basin was still steaming gently. It looked like the grass to the south was pushed down more. If not a major eruption, it was a pretty powerful minor.

On the way back, as I was rounding the curve below Oblong, a bison started to step out of the trees as I rode past. I was gone before either of us could react.

While tying up my bike, I saw that Bulger was in a strong, major eruption. As I walked down that way, I saw Bulger's Hole start up, too. Height was at least a meter above the rim, and lasted for well over 1/2 minute.

Finally got out to Grand, which was my intention when I got up this morning. Had just set the pack down and wiped down the bench when I saw a large boop from Grand. A couple seconds later the eruption had started. Was another One Burst Grand, but there was just enough breeze that the water jets were visible from West Triplet area.

With nothing much going on, it was a good time to visit Lone Star. We arrived just as the eruption was making the transition from water to steam, probably the time with the longest wait for the next eruption. Decided that we'd rather not kill a few hours there, and returned.

When walking out to the noontime Grand, I noticed a jet of water coming from Penta. Sawmill was in eruption, and Penta was having a weak steam-phase eruption. There were a few more jets of water from the Top Vent, and a lot of noise from the vents, but there had been no water discharge. The Sawmill Group was in a deep drain, with Spasmodic's water levels almost out of sight.

The wait for Grand was a long series of non-descript Turban eruptions and intervals. As the seven hour mark was passed, we had short Turban interval of just under 16 minutes with a short Turban duration. I was wondering if we were going to get a repeat of the other night, but it turns out we got a One Burst Grand eruption with the next Turban eruption start.

By then it had gotten very windy. Stopped by Daisy at the 2-1/2 hour mark, and decided instead to check out East Sentinel. It had recovered from this morning's activity, with the vent discharging water. All the activity was back along the northern rim, with some of the boiling going well over the rim itself.

Returned to Daisy, and it still hadn't erupted. Ended up being an interval well over three hours long.

Finally went out to Grand after sunset. Never saw a Turban eruption, but did wait close to half an hour. It was one of those time when once Turban started, there seemed little doubt that there would be another One Burst Eruption. The only interesting part of the eruption was during the wait, when a bison went through the Sawmill group on its way to the river.