Woke up at about 05:10 by the need to visit the indoor plumbing. Which with our cabin, means a short walk to a different building. It was dark, and it had rained, but the sky seemed mostly clear and the waning moon lit the area up. I got back and checked GeyserTimes for the Grand eruption time, it any. Found it, then noticed the entry above it… The webcam folks had an entry for Giant, almost an hour earlier.
Quickly got myself ready for a nighttime excursion and got on my bike. Arrived at Grotto at 05:45, and could see as I passed by that the Giant platform was steamy with Bijou off. Got over to the Bijou Cage, where Giant was huffing away down deep, and most of the log signs had been moved. There was a slight low tide smell, especially toward the back where grass got flooded. Thanks to the rain, it wasn't possible to tell the extent of any wash zones. Took some video with the powerful flashlight.
Hung around the area waiting for it to get light in order to take some video, and to meet others who were headed down basin. Around 07:00, a coyote started barking and howling nearby. I spotted it on the large rock just to the west of Oblong. This behavior continued on for at least a quarter hour, then it move off, probably disturbed by a person walking past Oblong. It continued to make noise, then a second coyote off to the south joined in, and that one headed toward it.
By 07:30, Grotto was still erupting, and the sky was getting dark and wet.
Spent much of the next hour waiting for the rain showers to lighten up while watching some activity from Spa and Grotto. Then it cleared enough that I was able to make a run for the cabin, and didn't get too wet.
Cold and damp and hungry, and by then it was time for a breakfast at the Lower Store. From there it was out to Grand with the last of the showers. Shortly after, Uncertain had an eruption. During the less than hour long wait, The sky cleared, but it also got a bit windier than it had been during the previous week. It was easy to see the One Burst Grand eruption, which lasted less than nine minutes. Well after that eruption West Triplet finally started.
2026-Aug-30 : 10:54:57 T1C 10:54:11 Turban -0m46s 10:54:57 B1 --- d=08m54s 10:58:36 Vent 3m39s 11:03:51 P1 8m54s Vent & Turban continue ΣD=08m54s * * * * * 09:56:01 10:12:48 Int: 16m47s d=03m05s 10:30:53 Int: 18m05s d=03m11s Turban: 23m18s
By the time to go out to Grand again, it was clear, cool, and windy. I dressed warmly, even though the sun was out, as it was getting cloudy in the west, and the wind may not die down after sunset.
Got out in time to see both a Penta steam phase eruption, and the evidence that West Triplet had just ended an eruption. The latter meant there was going to be a bit of a wait for Grand.
As expected, that wait was just under two hours, with no pattern to the intervals between Turban eruptions. When it was finally time for Grand's One Burst Eruption, the pool did fill a bit early, and Vent overflowed for almost half a minute before Grand started.
The wind even died down a bit, which also allowed the tall jets at the start to reach full height. Then there was a gap in the clouds, so the last half of the eruption was nicely illuminated, with Vent contributing a nice rainbow.
2026-Aug-30 : 19:17:09 T1Q 19:16:43 Vent Ovfl -0m26s 19:16:57 Turban -0m12s 19:17:06 Boop -0m03s 19:17:09 B1 --- d=11m06s 19:20:05 Vent 2m56s 19:28:15 P1 11m06s 19:28:55 V&T Quit 11m46s ΣD=11m06s * * * * * 17:28:21 d=02m45s 17:45:36 Int: 17m15s d=03m27s 18:03:45 Int: 18m09s d=02m59s 18:22:41 Int: 18m56s d=02m47s 18:41:04 Int: 18m23s d=03m55s 19:00:04 Int: 19m00s d=03m19s 19:31:59 West Triplet Turban: 16m53s
Based on past experience, the window for the next Giant eruption, if it is starting a new series, is from five to 21 days. That means we have a few days to do other things before starting to spend too much time in the Bijou Cage. From what we can tell from the leadup to this one eruption, the cessation of Bijou pauses and Mastiff bathtub events is a good sign. This tracks with past experience. Years ago, for example, having a series of regular Hot Period intervals that suddenly got much longer was a sign of possible impending eruption of Giant.
Suzanne stayed out in the Cage until midnight last night, because of the way the platform was behaving. Another observer saw the same minimal pause behavior from Bijou as short as two hours before the eruption. There were also changes in Grotto's behavior in the day or two before Giant erupted, with extremely short durations and intervals.
In this case, the key will probably be the observation of overflow from Mastiff, or erupting activity from the platform from a feature other than the Southwest Vents. Something that breaks up the series of events that all look similar.