ALmost forgot to go out to Grand. Based on the eruption we saw last night, I knew there was no need to be out there early, so instead decided to enjoy the sunny, fogless morning and go on Geyser Hill and wait for Beehive. As it turned out, Beehive was taking its time, and when the overnight electronic Grand time appeared, I realized I should be there.
Fortunately, I arrived in plenty of time, and didn't have to wait a full Turban eruption interval. The nicely backlit (although a bit steamy) two burst Grand eruption also improved by burst average for the trip. Right now it's better than any year for me since 2012.
2023-Aug-09:08:57:59 G2Q 08:57:53 Boop -0m05s 08:57:59 Grand B1 --- d=8m56s 08:58:37 Vent Ovfl 0m38s 08:58:51 Turban 0m52s 09:01:24 Vent 3m25s 09:06:55 P1 8m56s d=0m54s 09:07:50 B2 9m51s d=0m33s 09:08:24 P2 10m25s 09:09:18 V&T Quit 11m19s ΣB=9m30s ΣD=10m25s
Back to Geyser Hill, where the waiting continued. A report of an extended fill at North Goggles meant I got to record a North Goggles minor eruption, the first I've seen up close in a while. Over at Beehive, the South Bubbler finally erupted, followed by a long, sixteen minute long Indicator eruption. There was a packed crowd along the railing, and they all got wet. During the Beehive eruption, Depression started its own eruption.
Later went out to Grand with Rift in eruption for at least 2-1/2 hours. Castle started as I was riding my bike out, so watched it a bit to see if it would be a minor eruption. At about six minutes after I first saw the eruption, there were a couple of long pauses, then the activity came back on strong with no more pausing.
Over at Grand there were over two hours of Rift erupting with Turban and Grand not showing any indication of an approaching Grand eruption. When Rift finally quit after about 4-1/2 long eruption, Grand's pool immediately started looking like it was ready to erupt. The One Burst Eruption start was slow, with multiple boils to a couple of meters before the jetting started. At the nine minute mark there was a false pause after some Big Sawmill activity, then Grand continued for another 1-1/2 minutes.
2023-Aug-09:16:43:19 T1C 16:42:51 Vent Ovfl -0m28s 16:42:56 Turban -0m23s 16:43:12 Boop -0m07s 16:43:19 Grand B1 --- d=10m07s 16:45:26 Vent 2m07s 16:52:09 FP 8m50s 16:53:26 P1 10m07s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=10m07s * * * * * 14:41:09 d=4m40s 15:00:11 Int: 19m02s d=4m26s 15:20:35 Int: 20m24s d=4m09s 15:38:54 Int: 18m19s d=3m40s 15:59:52 Int: 20m58s d=3m51s 16:19:02 Int: 19m10s d=3m55s Turban: 23m54s
In the Sawmill Group, Sawmill was erupting the whole time I was waiting for Grand. It finally quit about ten minutes after the Grand eruption. Belgian Pool was nearly full, and Crystal Spring was overflowing into Slurp so much that there was runoff almost to the walkway.