Month: July 2022

With Grand erupting just before dawn, there was no need to be out until late morning. Went out early with the expectation of waiting for a few hours, and didn't even see a Turban eruption interval. Another One Burst Eruption with West Triplet starting during the Grand eruption.

Early afternoon saw another early afternoon Beehive eruption, with a long indicator.

For the early evening, Turban was erupting nice and regular, with longer intervals (19-20 minutes) and longer durations (over 4 minutes). West Triplet had an eruption, and once it quit we got the One Burst Grand eruption. The pool filled nicely without any of the recent variations (late fill, dropping and refilling, etc.)

After yesterday's excessively long interval, didn't try for the overnight Grand eruption. Which had another long interval overnight. So got out to the Grand Group mid-morning, and only waited an hour for another two burst eruption. West Triplet started during Grand, and that led to a Rift eruption.

Spent an hour at Fan & Mortar, because nothing else was going on, and it looked no different from any other time this trip.

Went back to Grand to see what was going on there, and maybe catch the end of Rift, but was interrupted by the call for Beehive's Indicator. The wind caused Beehive to soak the boardwalk from Plume on toward Sulphide Spring. By the end of the eruption, that area was devoid of people.

Going to Geyser Hill I noticed that Liberty Pool was below overflow. I've heard reports of this, but not seen it myself before this.

Rift ended with a duration just under three hours long. Shortly afterward, Bulger had the first minor eruptions I've seen in over a week.

With Rift active, figured on a longer interval, but hard to stay away when you know Grand has had intervals this short. So compromised and went out at around 7-1/4 hours. Saw Bulger erupting from Castle, and it was the first major eruption I've seen this trip. Then as we approached the bridge, saw Bulger's Hole erupting. There was a second pair of eruptions about 75 minutes later. The third major Bulger eruption we saw, also 75 minutes after that, was only Bulger.

Meanwhile, there was a series of non-descript Turban eruptipn intervals until we got a nice heavy overflow with an interval of over 21 minutes. That was followed by a true delay, another case where Grand's pool didn't start to fill until the 20 minute mark, and the overflow wasn't audible until 25 minutes. Grand never really had any waves.

Two Turban eruption intervals later the sun was about to set, and Grand looked like it might erupt, but instead waited for one more interval. At least the One Burst Grand happened while it was still light enough to see the eruption without a flashlight.

A trip to Norris, where nothing much happened for six hours. Activity from New Crater/Steamboat was decent, but nothing that required the camera to be deployed.

Returned to the Upper Geyser Basin, and learned that Grand had not yet erupted, approaching 7-1/2 hours. So rushed on out and waited another four hours. Got to see West Triplet erupt twice. Both times the Turban eruption after West Triplet ended resulted in a Turban Delay Interval. The first even had a small Boop five minutes before Turban finally erupted. Fortunately, unlike the seven Turban eruption intervals after the first delay, Grand erupted only two Turban intervals after the second. During that time, most of the Turban eruption intervals were under 17 minutes, including one that was under 15 minutes.

The Grand eruption had two bursts, with a pause of nearly a minute preceeding a second burst lasting over two minutes long. Vent and Turban quit immediately after the second burst ended.

Slept in again, and got out to the Grand Group just as West Triplet ended. Ended up having to wait through a late Turban Delay interval and another West Triplet eruption. By the end of West Triplet, it appeared that Rift was going to start, based on the large amount of steam coming from between the rocks. But that died down and we got a One Burst Grand eruption instead.

Decided to wait on Geyser Hill in case Beehive had a no-indicator eruption. Not a long wait, and a normal (for this year) length indicator.

Off to Grand later. Had expected Rift after this morning's Grand eruption, but West Triplet erupted with no Rift followup. Figured we probably would get Grand a few hours later, but the One Burst Grand came a bit earlier, with no followup by West Triplet.

Yesterday spent a few hours at Artemisia and saw nothing. Today went there and got an eruption within an hour. Thumps at the start were nice. The wind kept shifting the steam coming up the embankment, and sometimes it was way too hot.

Checked out East Sentinel, and the north rim boiling seemed even larger than previous days. That activity died down, and the pool then dropped well below overflow.

Like a few nights ago, got out to Grand shortly before midnight only to find Rift erupting. Came back in.

The parade of animals in the Lodge Cabin area continues. Earlier it was a pair of bull elk, then a bear, then sandhill cranes across the river. Today it was a fox that is probably habituated to people. We did see it try to harvest a ground squirrel, without success.

As expected, it was several hours until Grand erupted last night, well after midnight. When in the morning I saw the eruption time, I decided that I could get out for the early morning eruption.

Castle had a minor eruption as I tied down the bike. It was cold, with frost on the bridge and on the boardwalk past Rift. Only had about an hour to wait for the One Burst Eruption. Of interest was that the Turban eruption durations were well over four minutes, in contrast to yesterday's durations.

From there, decided it was not too late to head for the Lower Basin. Before getting to Fountain Paint Pots, stopped by Midway despite (or because) it not being the best time to view. Amusing to see that the runoff down from Excelsior was inundating a corner of the walkway with hot water. As we left, an NPS crew was starting to try to divert the flow under the walkway.

Got to the Fountain Paint Pots parking lot just as the lines were starting to form, but with a bit of waiting, got a parking spot. Went on out to the overlook, and didn't have long to wait before we got a Morning's Thief eruption. That was quickly followed by Fountain, and several more Thief eruptions. The wind was just enough to blow the Fountain steam over the walkway, but the view of the Thief eruptions were good. Fountain lasted almost 30 minutes, in contrast to some of the shorter eruptions of the past few days.

Was just about to head for Grand when the call for Beehive's Indicator went out. Went over to Geyser Hill to see that eruption, and didn't miss anything at Grand.

An eruption of West Triplet came and went, and I was expecting to now wait for the next time West Triplet was ready for Grand to erupt. Instead, we got a One Burst Eruption of Grand about three Turban eruption intervals (an hour) later. After a series of nondescript fills, suddenly Grand was overflowing heavily.

Following that, went to Artemisia, where nothing happened for several hours. A quick check of East Sentinel showed no change there.

Thought we were headed out to Grand a bit early, but that wasn't the case. Ten minutes after we arrived, following several minutes of good, heavy overflow, Turban started with some weak splashes. but ten seconds later, the One Burst Eruption of Grand started. Nice to not have to wait in the cold and dark for several hours. Around the nine minute mark, Grand even had a false pause of sorts, but otherwise it was just another 10-1/2 minute eruption.

Did a quick check of north Upper Basin Features in the morning. Artemisia was full and overflowing, and that was the extent of what I knew about it. East Sentinel seemed to be wetter around the main area of activity along the north rim. Fan & Mortar was unchanged, although it seemed like the area just below Bottom Vent was wet.

From that, it was on to Grand. The morning had been breezy, but by now, as noon approached, it was getting windy. Over the next five hours, it got windier. Also during that time Turban was regularly erupting about every 17 to 19 minutes, with duration lengths dropping from just under four minutes to just under three. Then there was a Turban Delay interval, followed by the second West Triplet eruption of the wait. No Rift eruption, and now the Turban intervals were shorter, less than 17 minutes and durations about 2-1/2 minutes.

Finally, after a 14-1/2 minute Turban interval Grand did erupt. The first burst was surprisingly tall considering the strong, gusty wind. At a couple of times during the eruption, Grand slowed down such that it appeared to be stopping, only to come back strong. It was as if we almost had another three burst eruption. The interval was the longest of the season so far, 11h37m.

During the first few hours of that wait, Sawmill was erupting. Toward the end of Sawmill's eruption, Tardy was also having a tall and steamy eruption, and from the benches at Grand, it almost looked like Uncertain. After Sawmill finally quit, there was a short eruption (perhaps five minutes long) about fifteen minutes later.

Well after dark I went out to Grand on the possibility of there being a short interval. Instead, I saw Rift well into an eruption (West Triplet was dry). Decided it would probably be well after midnight before Grand finally erupted, so I left.

A good day to do something other than watch One Burst Grand Eruptions. Since the parking was surprisingly easy, stopped into Norris to watch New Crater/Steamboat for half an hour. Nothing to get excited about that I could see.

Did go out after sunset. Looked like West Triplet had finished erupting recently, which could mean Grand would wait the two hours for the next West Triplet eruption. Got the expected early Turban delay interval, but Turban was strong and sustained. It was just light enough to see Grand booping well after the two minute mark, so the start of Grand's eruption wasn't a surprise.

The first burst lasted 7-3/4 minutes, so not surprised that there was a second burst. The surprise was that the second burst lasted less than a minute, and at that point the whole eruption was just over nine minutes long. The third burst made sure that Vent & Turban would quit, and fairly quickly. West Triplet did nothing during or after Grand's eruption.

After a string of long intervals, Grand had some shorter ones. The first was during the foggy dawn, and I was just getting ready to head out when it started. The next was midday.

Spent an hour down at Fan & Mortar because there wasn't much else to do. If there is any cycling, it's so short as to be wishful thinking by the observer. Also checked out Daisy, which had an interval of 110 minutes.

So of course the next Grand interval was longer. No Turban delay intervals while I waited, just a nearly eight hour Grand interval that seemed to be waiting for West Triplet to get ready. Eight Turban eruption intervals all about 18 minutes long with a 3-1/2m duration eruption. The Turban eruption after sunset, Grand erupted followed almost immediately by West Triplet.

It also seemed to be "take your dog through the basin" day. I counted at least five around Castle and Grand during the day.

The sky was mostly clear when we went out at 02:00, but as the wait progressed, the moon slowly disappeared. West Triplet was erupting as we arrived at Grand, and when West Triplet ended without Grand eruption, knew that there was going to be a wait. During the next three hours, we saw pretty much everything except Grand-- Castle and a couple of Daisy eruptions and even a nice Oblong.

Grand finally erupted as the sky was starting to lighten up and the moon almost invisible behind the clouds. We lit up the eruption, but after the first couple of minutes, the lack of wind meant that not much could be seen of the One Burst Eruption. West Triplet started during that eruption, but we didn't stick around to see if Rift followed.

Rift waited for the next West Triplet before erupting. The Rift eruption lasted almost three hours, and we ended up with an interval almost as long as yesterday's. There were no delays, just a long series of short Turban eruptions. Once again, we got a One Burst Grand Eruption.

Beehive's Indicator was called just before Grand's eruption, and the two of them erupted at the same time. Due to the boardwalk between Sawmill and Lion being blocked by a bison closure, several people who wanted to be on Geyser Hill were forced to see Grand instead.

Before the next Grand we finally got a real thunderstorm, which started with hail. It was late enough in the day that everything stayed wet after sunset. Went out to Grand at around the 6-1/2 hour mark, and waited a little over an hour for a steamy, foggy One Burst Grand eruption that took place just before moonrise.

It's beginning to appear that unless Grand erupts on a Turban Delay interval around the 6-1/2 hour mark, it will not erupt until after eight hours or so. When there is a Turban Delay interval, the days of a quick two or three Turban interval wait are also long gone.

Woke up to report of West Triplet and Grand with an interval over seven hours. The expected eruption of Rift didn't happen, and neither was there a Turban delay interval. Five Turban eruption intervals we did get a delay, but fortunately Grand did erupt.

There was a relatively short first burst under nine minutes long, but was did get a second burst. one that lasted two and a quarter minutes.

Midday there was a Beehive eruption with an indicator long enough to get me from the cabin to near Plume.. Decided to wait there based on the wind. Of course it shifted and I needed the umbrella.

Came on out to Grand on a warm, sunny afternoon. Half hour later, right after an eruption of Oblong, we got a Turban delay interval that included a small Grand boop about five minutes before the pool dropped.

Four Turban eruption intervals later, we got a West Triplet eruption. but it took a total of eleven Turban intervals before we got an attempt at erupting by Grand. During that time it clouded up, got quite windy, and there were even some sprinkles. Like the night before, there was a late fill by Grand. Unlike the night before, Grand didn't erupt.

Finally , two Turban eruption intervals later, Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption. It lasted almost twelve minutes, and the final five minutes or so consisted of Big Sawmill.

After last night's fiasco, decided to not try too hard for a short interval. Woke up to a report of West Triplet in eruption at about seven hours into Grand's interval. So went on out, and finally rewarded with a short wait. The sun was high enough that the top of the water column of the One Burst Eruption was backlit.

After that, decided a trip to Norris made sense. The activity at New Crater/Steamboat was uninspiring, but did spend some time in Porcelain and saw eruptions of Constant and Whirligig.

After a return trip where it took 45 minutes to get from north of Fountain Paint Pots back to the cabin, went out to Grand in time for the Turban Delay Eruption. Shortly after, West Triplet started, and at the half-hour mark, Rift joined in. By then, we'd had a thunderstorm scare, but that had passed by with only a few drops. So right after Rift we got another One Burst Grand Eruption.

Back at the cabin, I headed over to the indoor plumbing. As I always do, I look over the thermal area across the river, and saw a black bear there. Went back to the cabin, got my camera and found that it had moved across the river and was just below the housing cabins along the river. After a few minutes, it wandered off upriver. Nearby, next to the river, was also a bison engaged in some digestive relief.

The moon had just risen as I went out for the next Grand. It was hidden behind a bank of clouds, but as it got higher, the clouds disappeared. There was heavy overflow from Grand when I arrived, and for the next Turban eruption Grand had no overflow, so I might have just missed a Turban Delay interval. In any case, it was only two more Turban eruption intervals later that Grand started to overflow heavily at the 25 minute point. The moon was still low, but positioned such that it was directly behind Grand's vent if one was standing at the northernmost bench. The start was tall, but quickly the slight breeze hid the water column.

It was an eleven minute long One Burst Grand eruption that never showed any signs of wanting to stop. The moonlight was too low for any moonbows, too.

Woke up about 6-1/2 hours after the previous Grand eruption to see a report that Turban had erupted about a half hour earlier. Made the assumption that this meant that Turban was in the middle of a Delay interval. Had earlier decided that it made sense to skip a short interval. But with the delay , it mean that we had plenty of time to get out to Grand and see the eruption.

Turned out that could've slept in another hour or more, because it took nine Turban eruption intervals before Grand finally erupted. Another One Burst Grand that lasted just under ten minutes.

Did get a bonus, as Castle started while untying the bikes. The first few minutes of the eruption were filled with pauses, then around the six minute mark the play became continuous, and we got a nice major eruption.

The next Grand interval did not have a Turban delay that anyone observed. But it still took almost two hours of Turban eruptions that never looked promising. Then we got an early fill and a One Burst Grand eruption that lasted 8m16s. After the burst, the pool held water for maybe ten or fifteen seconds, then drained. At least Vent & Turban made no attempt to slow down and stop.

Next it was over to Geyser Hill to see what Beehive might do. Waited about 45 minutes, and there were a few nice splashes from Beehive, but nothing much to get excited about. Then there was a large surge, maybe 5 meters high, followed immediately by another surge that lifted into a full eruption. The water column for the first 20 seconds or so appeared to be shorter than most starts I've seen, then it climbed up to full height.

The Indicator joined in briefly during the middle of the eruption, and the duration was longer than normal, perhaps because of the less powerful start.

During the wait, Lion had made several weak surges. It was about time for another series to start, so headed in that direction. Got to Lion just as the initial eruption of the series started, and had to make sure to not be downwind.

During the eruption, I saw something which may or may not be normal. In Big Cub, I caught on video a blip of water, maybe a few cm high. It was not any higher than the back rim of the vent. A review of the video shows that I wasn't imagining things, but it lasted only a few frames.

Saw the next One Burst Grand as I was passing the Inn on my bike. Watched the rest of the One Burst eruption from Castle.

After the quick wait last night, it was disappointing that in the morning Grand had a ten Turban interval delay. Got out at sunrise and was three hours later when Grand finally erupted. Several of the Turban eruptions were not preceded by any overflow from Grand.

The pool finally filled nicely, with Vent overflowing before Grand initiated the eruption, with Turban following a second later. The burst duration of 9m20s was short enough for a One Burst Grand, but after about 80 seconds, with lots of sloshing about at the end, we got a second burst. That burst lasted two minutes.

I've noticed that when Vent & Turban quit at the end of an eruption, as in this case, the pause before the restart is fairly short. And the activity quickly become quite vigorous. In this case, it took quite a bit of heavy steam before water started jetting in Turban.

Six hours later, I was back out at Grand. This was the short interval that was expected in the morning. Grand's pool was filling nicely, and completely full, but waves or other variations. Then suddenly, we got a 10 meter boop to start the eruption. Was the most sudden start that I've seen in a while. It then took Turban a minute to start, and Vent almost four minutes before it joined in. This One Burst Grand eruption, at least, lasted about 10m20s.

There was still a bit of glow in the sky when we headed out again. After a couple of Turban eruptions, we got a delay interval. It was interesting in that the overflow didn't start to really pick up until about 22 minutes after the previous Turban start.

Three Turban intervals later we got another interesting delay interval. The overflow could be heard at around the fifteen minute mark, but then decreased a few minutes later. But Turban did not erupt, and around the 23 minute mark, the overflow picked up again. When Turban started at 33 minutes, it started out strong, but Grand didn't follow through. It finally started 68 seconds later.

The burst lasted only 8-1/2 minutes. So it was a relief to get a second strong burst, nicely lit by the moon. After that, Vent & Turban tried to quit, but over the course of the next few minutes, the activity picked back up and by then, Vent was roaring away.

Got out to Grand just before midnight. Riding past the lift station on the bikes we could feel the temperature suddenly drop. Daisy was erupting as we started the walk down from Castle. Over in the Sawmill Group, it appeared that nothing much had appened since the evening. Based on the twenty minute wait we had before Turban finally erupted, and the copious overflow in the middle of the interval, we got there just in time for the Turban delay interval.

Sawmill had a brief two minute eruption during our wait, but for the next five Turban intervals, the durations of Turban eruption slows decreased from five minutes to well under four. Daisy had an interval well under two hours, and then Grand finally erupted. A long one burst eruption at the last possible time. If it had waited one more Turvan interval, the moon would have set.

Slept in a little bit longer on the assumption that the next interval wouldn't be excessively short. Which turned out to be the case. Grand took its time after a Turban Delay interval that happened while we were still
back in the cabin. The eruption had a nice build up to a Turban start, but it was another One Burst Grand. Afterwards, West Triplet had a strong overflow with a couple of splashes to qualify as an eruption.

Check on Fan & Mortar, where Angle mode continues. Went on to East Sentinel for a quick check. Arrived to see some activity along the north rim, along with heavy overflow. That activity increased for a while to include superheated boilin over the near part of the pool and splashing along the entire rim. Then the activity died down and the overflow stopped for a couple of minutes. Then activity resumed as before, with some minor cycling in the amount of boiling. Only spent about 15 minutes there.

Of course the call for Beehive's Indicator came over the radio just as we'd finished the preparation of lunch and started to eat. Quite windy, but still a nice tall eruption under excellent conditions. Afterwards there was a preplay from Old Faithful that lasted for at least 30 seconds and was huge. It took it almost a half hour to recover from that. In the cabin we heard the cheering when it finally erupted.

The wait for the next One Burst Grand eruption was only an hour this time. As earlier, it started with Turban. One thing I noticed is that the start of Vent still took over three minutes from the Grand start, when it should have been much shorter. Castle started shortly after Grand, and it was a major eruption.

It was fairly windy by now, but decided to check out he Daisy Group. As it turned out, the Daisy interval was still only two hours. The duration was short at 3m16s. After the eruption Splendid did show some nice boiling from both Side Boiler and the Main Vent, but there is no evidence of any increase in discharge from the pool.

Went out to Grand just before midnight with the expectation of another long wait. Stopped at Belgian Pool when I noticed that the water level was pushing into the side lobe. That's when I heard Turban erupting, and within seconds, so was Grand.

It was nicely lit by the moon, and there were hints of moonbows, but the eruption lasted, at most, 8m40s, which was quite disappointing. But almost immediately after we figured out that the eruption was over, I noticed the steam building up down basin. Just after midnight, and Oblong had just started. So we headed down that way to get a closer look. I got as far as Chromatic, but by then the eruption was being illuminated.

(While we were at Oblong, and it was lit up, someone drove down basin and then turned around and drove back. I assume it was NPS looking for someone or something else, because they didn't stop.)

Went out to Grand early. It was a nice clear, and relatively warm morning, and after yesterday's short interval, seemed like a worthwhile place to be. Arrive during a Turban delay eruption, so at least that was out of the way. I prefer the early delays. Since it occurs when Grand is highly unlikely to actually erupt, it doesn't seem to do any sort of reset on the system the way the later delays behave.

And that was pretty much the case here. The next Turban, as expected, was quick with no Grand overflow. The next few Turban eruptions were short intervals, and Grand finally erupted on D4. Turban started strongly, and the waves building up to a huge boil. No chance of any boops. The eruption was a typical short one burst, with Vent & Turban continuing.

West Triplet started shortly after. Those who have been here a while were surpised with the eruption did not stop after a few minutes. Instead, we got what I consider the normal sequence of activity-- Percolator rising and starting, and at about the half hour mark, Rift beginning to erupt. West Triplet lasted about 45 minutes.

After a few hours, still hadn't heard that Rift had quit, which was disappointing. So decided to go on out and wait for the end and for Grand's first overflow. Rift had just quit as I was tying down my bike over at Castle, for a duration of three hours. The first overflow was at 4h50m, which seemed to be a bit longer, but not excessive. Expected the eruption of Rift to have had an effect, and perhaps the effect on the rest of the interval would be minimal.

With a little time to kill, I went over to Giant, where I saw a platform that looked like it did in the early 1980s. The only water visible was some damp areas around Mastiff towards Giant.

Today I noticed for the first time that Solstice is actually visible from the benches at Grand. I do not remember seeing the obvious steam and spray in previous years, which leads me to believe that Solistice has become stronger and taller, or that maybe a blocking tree has fallen.

Back at Grand it was around the seven hour mark, we got a Turban Delay interval. After six more undistiguished Turban eruption intervals, we finally got good overflow from Grand. Grand started immediately after Turban. The eruption lasted over eleven minutes, and the last minute consisted mostly of large boils and weak jetting.

Sawmill had been erupting most of the day, with a perhaps one hour pause while we waiting for Grand's first overflow. So wasn't surprised to see that the Sawill Group was in a deep drain. What was surprising was how far down Belgian Pool and Crystal Springs were. Both were down 20 to 25cm from their respective rims. Oval Spring did not have any visible water, other than an ocassional splash coming from the northern vent.

Went out to Grand with the expectation of having to wait until dark for the eruption. The pack had nighttime gear, including a light, and dinner. As it turned out, saw Grand start while standing at Sawmill. It was a nice tall start, and noisy. Two bursts but the total duration was under 10 minutes.

Since it was still going to be daylight for over an hour, went down to Fan & Mortar to kill some time. Definitely in a garbage mode, as within a minute or two of River starting, Gold and High were getting continuously with some power. Then it all died down.