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.