Month: August 2022

Decided today was a good day to visit some backcountry geysers.

After yesterday's storms, it was damp, cool, gray and foggy. Left from Fountain Paint Pots parking lot at 09:00, and arrived at Great Fountain by 09:20. The pool was high, but yet at overflow. So went back to Pink Cone, where we spent 45 minutes eating breakfast and seeing nothing happen. Returned from there back to Great Fountain.

We found it had just started to overflow. There was steam coming from the pool outside the crater, but no overflow off the inner terrace. As we waited, the fog finally cleared, revealing blue sky, but there was also no wind, which made it hard to determine which place might be the best place to see the eruption start. Also during the wait, saw five eruptions of White Dome.

After at least 72 minutes of overflow, Great Fountain went from big boil directly into erupting. It wasn't a great start, and the second burst wasn't all that good, either. But the third burst started with several surges that put water over the edges of the terraces.

It was after the first burst that the only other people we saw passed by. A couple of people more interested in bicycling, as they didn't stick around for the eruption after a couple of minutes.

We left after the third burst to go to White Dome. After having frequent eruptions during the wait, it was over a half hour later and no sign of an eruption. During that time, Great Fountain had its fourth and fifth burst, and both of them had surges that looked nicely large from our vantage point.

During the wait at White Dome, we did see an eruption of what might be WDG-1. But it only lasted two minutes.

After finally giving up on White Dome, we then saw Pink Cone in eruption. Not sure how long it had been erupting, but an hour later it was still having strong resurgences every time it looked like it was ending.

Late in the eruption we saw an eruption of Bead, and just before leaving, Narcissus and then Pink erupted.

Got back to the Upper Basin to find that Beehive hadn't erupted as expected. So pleasant surprise to hear the radio call about the Indicator. It was a short Indicator, and arrived just as Beehive started.

Later it was time to go to Grand. Got there on what looked to be a Turban Delay Interval, and the lack of overflow from Grand before the next Turban eruption tended to confirm that. If Grand had erupted on the second or third Turban eruptions after the Delay, we'd have been able to come back inside before the rains started. As it was, we got wet, and had to wait until the eighth Turban eruption before Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption. This took place just after the sun disappeared behind the ridge, so between the steam from the humidity and the lack of sunlight, it wasn't particularly good looking eruption.

And then, as we were leaving, Oblong had an eruption.

Spent over and hour at Fan & Mortar. Unlike sits last week, there was not real pattern to the activity, with River, Gold and High turning off and on, and Angle sputtering away the whole time. Not surprising, but was hoping maybe Angle would quiet down a bit.

At Grand, arrived in time for a Turban Delay Interval with multiple Grand boops. Then a series of eight more Turban intervals before we got the One Burst Eruption. The wait was hot and humid and windless. The clouds were building with occasional thunder, but it seemed they never provided much shade.

Kept expecting the rains to start during the wait at Grand, but it was actually over an hour later. They lasted into the night, and I decided to let someone else enjoy a One Burst Grand in the dark.

After midnight there was high thin cloudiness with occasional thicker clouds. Most of the time the area was brightly lit, even when the moon went behind a cloud. Got out to the Grand area for a twenty-five minute wait for a Turban eruption, so we definitely had to wait through a Turban Delay. But we only had to wait through two Turban eruption intervals for the One Burst Grand Eruption.

About an hour later, Fan & Mortar had the first eruption in several months. Before going to Grand for the early morning eruption, I went down basin to check things out. There was definite wash zone beyond the walkway with runoff into the Backwater Spring area. The catch basins between Upper Mortar and the river were full, and all the vents were completely quiet. What was interesting is that there wasn't much evidence of flow down from Bottom Mortar to the river. I would have expected there to be pooled water there.

The One Burst Grand eruption came after a Turban Delay interval and three more Turban eruption intervals. It was followed shortly after by an eruption of Castle, the followup to last night's pathetic minor eruption.

The afternoon saw the forecast thundershowers finally appear. Went out to Grand after one ended, and was sweltering in my raincoat by the time I arrived because the sun came out and the wind died down. But then the rains started for a bit, and the coat went back on.

But wasn't a long wait. For whatever reason, after a day of long Grand intervals following the Rift eruption, Grand has reverted to shorter intervals.

The start of what turned out to be a unique eruption caught me a bit by surprise, as I didn't start the video recording until it had started. I try to capture the lead up to the eruption through the Grand start until Vent reaches full height. During the past week, the Vent start has been as late as four minutes after Grand's start, especially if Turban is also slow to start.

From my location, it was sometimes hard to see Vent due to the way the steam was swirling around. But as five minutes approached, I realized that I could see Vent clearly, and it wasn't erupting. A few years ago, I saw an eruption of Grand where, if I remember correctly, it took over seven minutes for Vent to start. Seven minutes became eight this time.

At 8m42s, Grand's first burst ended. It was strange to see just Turban erupting with the water in Grand's vent sloshing around, and no Vent eruption off to the side. The sloshing built into a tall second burst (my first of the trip), and when it ended, there was still no Vent activity. That's when I definitely saw water in Vent for the first time. Grand sloshed a bit like it might try for a third burst, then drained. The total Grand eruption duration was exactly ten minutes. It took Vent a minute after Grand's end before it finally started. It built up as normal, but unlike most post-Grand activity, it was tall and not steamy. (It occurs to me that if there had been a third burst, Turban would probably have quit, and Vent may not have started at all.) Waited to see what Grand might do, but after about fifteen minutes there was still no afterplay.

2022-Aug-12:16:05:05 G2C

2022-Aug-12 16:05:05	Grand B1	---	d=8m44s
2022-Aug-12 16:06:03	Turban		0m58s
2022-Aug-12 16:13:49	P1		8m44s	d=0m41s
2022-Aug-12 16:14:30	B2		9m25s	d=0m36s
2022-Aug-12 16:15:06	P2		10m01s
2022-Aug-12 16:15:10	Vent Ovfl	10m05s
2022-Aug-12 16:16:09	Vent		11m04s
Vent & Turban continue

				     ΣB=9m20s	ΣD=10m01s
(Turban 21m53s)
* * * * *
2022-Aug-12 15:22:53			d=4m05s 	
2022-Aug-12 15:43:12	Int: 20m19s	d=4m29s 	

Came in just in time to miss the showers and then heavy rain for the next few hours.

Back out well before midnight. It was mostly cloudy, with frequent lightning to the north. Waited about an hour with no decrease in the lightning, with occasional thunder from a strike that was probably in the Lower Basin. During the same period, the sky near the moon was starting to clear.

Turban started the proceedings, and the moon was still behind a cloud at that time, so we illuminated the start of the Grand eruption. But within minutes, before Vent started, the moon cleared the clouds and we were able to watch the One Burst Grand eruption backlit. Vent itself started at the expected time, but under the conditions, it appeared to be taller than usual.

Could have gotten out to the morning Grand eruption if I'd been a bit faster in getting up and moving. Not too surprised that the Rift effect had finally wore off.

Finally got out for the next, noontime Grand. Only waited one Turban interval for a One Burst Eruption that lasted less than ten minutes.

With nothing much better to do, spent an hour or so in the Bijou Monkey Cage. For much of the time, Bijou was quiet or showing only small splashes. Then every so often, it would pick up in activity, joined by splashing in Catfish. In less than a minute, it was back to mostly quiet. Only once did I see any sort of splashing from Mastiff's back vent. The platform itself was dry except for what was probably a puddle left over from last night's showers.

As I was about to untie my bike, Grotto had a Central Vent Delay. Hung around for a while, but nothing much else, other than a lot of rumbling, happened over the next half hour.

Was about to go out for another Grand eruption when got the call that Beehive's Indicator was in eruption. That was surprising, because yesterday's Beehive eruption was so late that today was expected to be a day that Beehive would skip erupting. Since the start of the Indicator was known (turns out it had been erupting for well over ten minutes) I decided to watch it from the bike trail. It started as I passed the Inn, and across from the parking lot got some nice rainbows.

Got out to Grand finally, and the pool was full. No waves, but did get a couple of boops. That alone was enough to indicate that this was some sort of Turban Delay Interval. Unlike the other recent ones, we only needed to wait two more Turban Intervals before Grand (preceded by another large boop) erupted. Once again, the One Burst Eruption lasted less than ten minutes.

Since it had been 18 hours since Castle's middle of the night major eruption, joined the crowd over there waiting for the next eruption. Waited almost 40 minutes, with Castle slopping and even acting like the eruption was starting. I commented that we were going to get a three minute minor eruption.

After waiting 40 minutes, the eruption finally started. Castle had a short pause during the first minute, and pauses were frequent after that until it finally gave up about five minutes into the eruption.

Since we were in the area, stopped by Norris to watch New Crater/Steamboat do nothing for a couple of hours. The runoff channels are slowly turning white from deposits.

Back in the Upper Basin, had a short wait for a One Burst Grand Eruption. It was preceeded by a large boop about 20 seconds before the start.

Just before sunset, Beehive finally erupted, and I watched it from near Sawmill. At Grand, there wasn't any Turban Delay Interval, but the Turban eruption intervals slowly got shorter of a period of two hours. The One Burst Grand Eruption started on a 15 minute Turban interval, and it took over 50 seconds to finally get started.

Shortly after the Beehive eruption, there was a report by Xanterra maintenance of a bear with two cubs sighted behind the Lodge. Sounded like it was over near where The Box used to be. No further sightings, but the trail to Observation Point was closed today due to bear.

There wasn't a Turban eruption delay associated with the morning One Burst Grand eruption. Castle finally had a major eruption shortly afterwards, and then Oblong also erupted. So watched Oblong from near Rift, then went over to watch the steamphase on Castle.

Spent a few hours waiting for the afternoon eruption of Beehive. Was not hot and not windy, which made Geyser Hill actually pleasant.

There was a Turban eruption interval delay for the next Grand eruption. With the shorter Grand intervals, was hoping that this delay would only be for two or three Turban eruption intervals, but ended up taking five eruptions. Once again, it was a long One Burst Grand eruption that we saw, but with nice rainbows, especially after Vent started.

Went out to wait for a moonlight Grand eruption at six hours since the previous eruption, and got to see Rift instead. West Triplet was completely dry, indicating that Rift had been active for quite a while. By bright flashlight, was able to see patches of steaming at Sputnik and Sput F3 behind it. Belgian had already dropped out of the lobe. Walked up on an eruption of Tilt on the way back.

Went out with the expectation of a short interval, since Grand finally erupted four hours after the Rift observations. On the second Turban eruption, got a Turban Delay Interval. Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption nine Turban intervals later. On the fourth Turban eruption, there was no overflow from Grand, as it the third eruption had been another Turban Delay.

Early in the wait, did see a long Bulger major eruption, but there was nothing from Bulger's Hole. Before the Delay, also got to see a nice eruption of Oblong.

The wind allowed for the viewing of Beehive from the south for once, and only during a brief time was there a threat of getting wet. For much of the eruption, it was dead calm and water was falling all around Beehive's cone.

Went out for Grand just before sunset. At around the 6-1/2 hour mark, got a Turban Delay Interval where Grand had multiple boops over a period of a minute. Knew from that that we were in for a long wait.

Turned out to be ten Turban eruption interval long wait. This time the intervals between Turban eruptions slowly decreased, so that just before the One Burst Grand eruption, there was an interval of 16-1/2 minutes. Grand and Turban started almost simultaneously after an extended boil from Grand, and the duration was well under ten minutes.

During the wait we did get to see a strong Penta steam-phase eruption.

There wasn't a Turban eruption delay associated with the morning One Burst Grand eruption. Castle finally had a major eruption shortly afterwards, and then Oblong also erupted. So watched Oblong from near Rift, then went over to watch the steamphase on Castle.

Spent a few hours waiting for the afternoon eruption of Beehive. Was not hot and not windy, which made Geyser Hill actually pleasant.

There was a Turban eruption interval delay for the next Grand eruption. With the shorter Grand intervals, was hoping that this delay would only be for two or three Turban eruption intervals, but ended up taking five eruptions. Once again, it was a long One Burst Grand eruption that we saw, but with nice rainbows, especially after Vent started.

Decided to not try for the morning One Burst Grand eruption. Based on last night, pretty certain that it would be foggy and steamy.

Did head out a bit early for the next Grand eruption. Turned out that this one Burst Grand was preceded by a four Turban Eruption Delay. Once again, West Triplet overflowed heavily during and after the Grand eruption, but no actual bursting. During the eruption, an osprey, with catch, flew in front of Grand.

Also, as expected, Beehive erupted shortly before Grand. If the delay had been three Turban intervals, they would have erupted together.

Right after that we caught the start of Castle. Almost immediately, Castle started pausing, so no surprise when a pause shortly after four minutes ended the minor eruption.

On to Daisy, where at least the duration of the eruption was almost 3-1/2 minutes, much better than yesterday.

Went out around sunset for the next Grand, prepared to stay out after dark. Shortly after arrival we got another minor eruption from Castle. It wouldn't surprise me that over the next few years that minor eruptions become the normal mode, with steam phase eruptions being the unusual exception. Of course, that means Castle won't be as predictable unless someone finds patterns in the minor eruptions.

But Grand did cooperate. Only waited one Turban eruption interval, and the One Burst Grand eruption didn't start with a Delay. Over in the Sawmill Group, Belgian was high enough to have water in the lobe, and Slurp was weakly sloshing instead of steaming.

It seems that the longer intervals due to the influence 0f Rift and West Triplet is not as strong now. I was just leaving the cabin and missed the start of a One Burst Grand this morning because it was the shorted interval of the season, just over six hours. This after a couple of intervals less than seven hours long overnight.

Crystal Spring and Belgian were fairly high, with the latter only about 5cm below its rim. From Castle saw a long Bulger major eruption, but from there saw no evidence of anything out of Bulger's hole.

Since the rains were not forecast for several hours, decided to waste an hour down at Fan & Mortar. On the way down, saw a deer wandering in the Round Spring Group, and shortly after arriving at Fan & Mortar, heard an osprey fail to harvest a fish, but did see it fly away.

The only active vent on my arrival was Angle. For the next hour it never shut down, or changed much. For the next ten minutes, there was rumbling from Upper Mortar and splashing visible from Bottom Vent. Then the Fan River Vent started. Almost immediately Gold Vent and High Vent looked really good. Over the next fifteen minutes, they died down, only to come back to life. I was pretty sure that this activity was not going to go into an eruption, but decided that if I saw any steam from Mortar's Frying Pans, that was the sign to make a call. After about half an hour, the River Vent finally shut off, and all looked like when I arrived.

Checked out East Sentinel, and looks pretty much like it did when I last checked it a few weeks ago. Caught a Daisy eruption. The interval was well under two hours, but the eruption duration was barely over three minutes (3m07s).

Later on I went out to Grand during a slight rain. Thought it was a bit early, but the rain was supposed to pick up, and this morning's interval might not last long as the shortest of the season. From Castle (which had just had a short minor eruption), I could see a blue awning set up over on the walkway near West Triplet. It completely blocked the walkway, and I had to walk under it to get over to my preferred viewing location.

I have never seen anything like this done before. It was put there by a family reunion. I overheard that they had to wait several hot hours for Grand the last time they were here. So they knew how crowded things could get, even though today it was water instead of sunlight. Fortunately, the NPS had them take it down before it became a nuisance and before Grand erupted.

That One Burst Grand eruption lasted over 12-1/2 minutes, and started out steamy. I did see several boops well before the start, but this was not otherwise a delay.

The weather cleared after a couple of hours of steady rain, and a quarter moon was visible in what looked to be clear skies. But as we walked out beyond Castle, the clouds from the north moved in and there wasn't much light (other than the usual Inn parking headlights) the rest of the wait.

Arrived to a trickle of overflow, which ended. Then about fifteen minutes after arrival, it picked up, and my twenty-five minutes, was a flood. There may have been a boop, but in any case it was a Turban Delay interval. The next two Turban eruptions were standard, with no overflow from Grand for the first, and slight overflow the second time.

It would appear shorter Delay recoveries are part of the shorter intervals. We got the eruption on the third Turban eruption. It was quite steamy, but the bright lights did illuminate the activity. West Triplet overflowed heavily during another long One Burst Eruption. By this time, it appeared that it was going to be a foggy morning.