August weather finally arrived today, with a clear morning that warmed quickly. Out at Grand there was an eruption of Oblong shortly after I arrived. Only waited two Turban eruption intervals (with a Daisy eruption during the second). But that last interval was a Turban Delay Interval lasting almost 35 minutes. Grand's pool did not look good when Turban started, but we ended up with a One Burst Grand Eruption (nicely backlit) about 80 seconds later.
2023-Aug-29:10:14:34 D0/T1Q 10:13:15 Turban -1m19s 10:14:34 Grand B1 --- d=11m31s 10:17:01 Vent 2m27s 10:21:52 FP 7m18s 10:26:05 P1 11m31s 10:26:53 V&T Quit 12m19s ΣD=11m31s * * * * * 09:24:57 09:39:23 Int: 14m26s d=4m38s Turban: 33m52s
To enjoy the good weather, went out and spent some time at Grotto, which was not close to erupting, then caught a Daisy eruption. By that time, Rift was in eruption, which of course disrupted some plans for the rest of the day. Shortly afterwards, Castle started, and since there had been a minor in the morning, decided that a major eruption was most likely, so went there to watch the transition into steam. It was way too early for rainbows.
With Rift erupting, I decided there wasn't a good reason to be out early for the Grand eruption. So I missed the One Burst Grand that appears to have happened during the Rift eruption.
Another reason to skip Grand was that I had been invited to go to the roof of the Inn, and didn't want to have to abandon Grand. The weather conditions were ideal, but unfortunately, nothing much was erupting. Did see Little Squirt, Little Cub and White from up there.
During that time, the bellman/guide mentioned a mudpot making loud thumping noises. Based upon what he said, we eventually found it just south of the High Bridge where the road to Craig Pass crosses the river. The route to it starts at the Mallard Lake Trailhead. Don't cross the bridge, but head right/west toward the employee fire-ring. As we approached there, we heard a low thumping off in the distance. We followed the sounds and eventually arrived at the mudpot, on the cabin side of the river, on the hillside below the old campground. There are several pools in the mud volcano, all at different levels and liquidity. The one making the noise was the deepest, and no water was visible, just noise and steam.