Went to Norris just because it's been over 50 days since that last New Crater/Steamboat eruption, and there have been some reports of it having minor activity that looked encouraging. Arrived at 07:30 to clear skies, and by the time we left four hours later, it was cloudy, windy and starting to rain.
The overflow down from the South Vent is continuous, with frequent surges much of the time. At the bottom the bridge is just above the debris, and the runoff is stained chartreause by the plant life growing in it. But we never saw any good, strong, and sustained activity while waiting.
BWe made it back to the Old Faithful area with only one small delay due to a solitary bison standing on the road's shoulder just north of the Mallard Lake Trailhead. There we found that the window for Grand was open, so we headed out.
Only to find Rift in eruption. And Grand having the first of several Turban Delay intervals. As the summary shows, we ended up waiting five hours with little indication of an eruption. Rift stopped erupting about an hour after arrival, and that coincided with one of the Turban Delay intervals. There was another an hour later.
During this time Bulger was active, with several short but powerful eruptions from Bulger's Hole. During one of those eruptions, about 2-1/2 hours after Rift ended, it suddenly started putting our steam under considerable pressure. It looked like it might be trying to restart. An hour later there was a second such period of activity, but not as strong.
The rains started with the first Turban Delay that we saw, and became pretty much continuous by the time Grand erupted. That eruption was preceeded by a strange Turban eruption. It lasted less than 2-1/2 minutes, but emptied Grand's pool such that it looked like there had been a longer, Delay-type eruption.
Fortunately, Grand finally released the five poeple who were still waiting for it on the next eruption of Turban. The wind was such that we could at least see the start, but the eruption abruptly ended at 9m15s. The hope for a second burst was ended when the wind finally blew away enough steam that the empty crater was visible.
2024-May-25:18:27:21 D3/D11/T1C 18:26:58 Turban -0m23s 18:27:09 Vent Ovfl -0m12s 18:27:21 B1 --- d=09m15s 18:29:04 Vent 1m43s 18:36:36 P1 9m15s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=09m15s * * * * * 13:09:20 d=04m29s 13:27:07 Int: 17m47s d=04m06s 14:01:16 Int: 34m09s d=04m35s D0 14:18:45 Int: 17m29s d=03m32s D1 14:36:09 Int: 17m24s d=03m17s D2 15:06:58 Int: 30m49s d=04m13s D3/D0 15:24:16 Int: 17m18s d=03m20s D3/D1 15:41:28 Int: 17m12s d=03m34s D3/D2 15:58:55 Int: 17m27s d=03m33s D3/D3 16:17:32 Int: 18m37s d=03m08s D3/D4 16:36:24 Int: 18m52s d=03m10s D3/D5 16:54:10 Int: 17m46s d=03m26s D3/D6 17:13:06 Int: 18m56s d=03m23s D3/D7 17:30:06 Int: 17m00s d=03m49s D3/D8 17:48:35 Int: 18m29s d=03m37s D3/D9 18:06:40 Int: 18m05s d=02m26s D3/D10 Turban: 20m18s