Month: September 2026

With a moon approaching full and clear skies, made the decision to go out for one last Grand eruption. Arrived to the start of an eruption of West Triplet, which fortunately did not result in an eruption of Rift. Then it was just a matter of waiting out the series of Turban eruptions before the next West Triplet eruption became possible.

Grand tried to have a Turban Delay interval, with water starting to pour out at around 22 minutes, but it finally erupted twelve seconds short of the Delay interval cutoff. By then it had been calm for so long that the water column was shrouded in steam, and hard to see, even with the low moon. Bright light made observation even worse. But just enough breeze came up to push out the steam at the north, so the second burst was visible.

A2026-Sep-24 : 01:43:10 G2Q

 01:43:10	B1	--- d=08m27s
 01:44:20	Turban	1m10s
 01:46:16	Vent	3m06s
 01:51:37	P1	8m27s d=48s
 01:52:25	B2	9m15s d=01m01s
 01:53:26	P2	10m16s
 01:54:21	V&T Quit	11m11s

				     ΣB=09m28s	ΣD=10m16s
	* * * * *
 00:03:39	West Triplet d=36m45s
 00:04:23			d=01m52s	
 00:22:24	Int: 18m01s	d=03m29s	
 00:41:19	Int: 18m55s	d=03m04s	
 00:59:42	Int: 18m23s	d=03m30s	
 01:18:22	Int: 18m40s	d=03m34s	
		      Grand: 24m48s

Last night I was expecting to be able to sleep in and head out late to Grand. Instead, it erupted just after midnight, so I went out into the dark, cold, and damp about six hours later. It got lighter, but breezy and gray and still cold.

Arrived in time to catch the start of West Triplet, and then the full interval leading up to a Turban Delay Interval. Fortunately, West Triplet ended without Rift starting, and the delay was only for three Turban eruption intervals.

The One Burst Grand was interesting only because it lasted for nearly eleven minutes, and Vent & Turban did not quit. At first I thought they had, then there was a resurgence from both geysers. Vent went into a loud roaring phase. I stuck around a little bit on the very off chance this could lead to an afterburst, but over the next few minutes Grand never showed any splashing.

2026-Sep-23 : 08:10:37 D3/T1C

 08:10:25	Turban	-0m12s
 08:10:37	B1	--- d=10m58s
 08:13:32	Vent	2m54s
 08:21:36	P1	10m58s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=10m58s
	* * * * *
 06:42:25			d=04m18s	
 06:57:41	West Triplet d=32m41s
 07:12:52	Int: 30m27s	d=04m58s D0
 07:30:23	Int: 17m31s	d=03m28s D1
 07:48:07	Int: 17m43s	d=03m47s D2
		     Turban: 22m17s

In the afternoon, Grand waited for West Triplet to erupt. Kept us waiting through almost three hours of uninspired Turban eruptions. Over that time the Turban eruption intervals got shorter, until finally we got an early fill where the pool didn't drop. The lighting was nice, although the sun was low enough that rainbows were only visible when Grand and Vent were at their peaks.
The expected West Triplet eruption started during Grand's One Burst Eruption.

2026-Sep-23 : 17:24:31 G1C

 17:24:29	Boop	-0m02s
 17:24:31	B1	--- d=09m35s
 17:24:39	Vent Ovfl	0m08s
 17:25:00	Turban	0m29s
 17:27:44	Vent	3m13s
 17:34:06	P1	9m35s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m35s
	* * * * *
 14:30:19			d=03m34s	
 14:51:27	Int: 21m08s	d=03m54s	
 15:11:18	Int: 19m51s	d=03m59s	
 15:31:06	Int: 19m48s	d=03m44s	
 15:51:01	Int: 19m55s	d=03m44s	
 16:10:06	Int: 19m05s	d=03m50s	
 16:29:35	Int: 19m29s	d=03m47s	
 16:48:13	Int: 18m38s	d=03m48s	
 17:06:23	Int: 18m10s	d=03m29s	
 17:31:31	West Triplet
		      Grand: 18m08s

We decided that we needed to get some sleep, so were not out in the Cage overnight. Instead, we arrived just before 06:00, while it was still dark. It was another cool day that started out cold, damp and foggy, but once it cleared around 10:00, it was actually nice, although the sun was rarely visible

Overnight nothing much had happened since the relatively strong Giant Hot Period that had allowed us to head in the night before. During the next 3-1/2 hours, we saw some short Bijou pauses, and the occasional Mastiff surge, but no visible water in Mastiff, and all the pauses were relatively short.

So I left to catch a Grand, in part to get out of the cage for a while. Grand cooperated, and I only had to wait an hour for the One Burst Grand eruption. There was absolutely no wind, so it was hard to see the activity through the steam.

2026-Sep-22 : 10:49:50 G1Q

 10:49:50	B1	--- d=11m43s
 10:49:52	Turban	0m02s
 10:52:57	Vent	3m07s
 11:01:33	P1	11m43s
 11:02:13	V&T Quit	12m23s

				     	ΣD=11m43s
	* * * * *
 09:36:20			d=03m16s	
 09:53:56	Int: 17m36s	d=03m40s	
 10:13:19	Int: 19m23s	d=03m57s	
 10:32:25	Int: 19m06s	d=03m45s	
		      Grand: 17m25s

After that, it was back to the Cage, where nothing continued to happen for the next 2-1/2 hours. We would get occasional Mastiff surges, and sometimes Bijou would pause, but the pauses were short and only once did Mastiff show water.

The big excitement/entertainment was having a bison appear near the trees in front of Oblong, and having it slowly make its way north. It passed right by the Cage, trailing lots of insects and a strong odor.

Finally, at 14:43, we saw Bijou suddenly pause with Mastiff having a large surge. At that point the activity progressed in the way we usually get for a Standard Bathtub, until about three minutes in Feather started pulsating. Within a minute Feather was erupting to about 10 cm, at which point it stopped for several seconds before restarting and then coming back strong.

By then, Mastiff was near overflow, but it still took about two minutes for Mastiff to reach and begin to overflow. At this point, it became apparent that we were going to either get a strong Hot Period or maybe even an eruption. Mastiff then started surging, and then it too dropped and was quiet for a while.

More and more of the small platform vents began to erupt by this point. Catfish restarted, along with Bijou. Within seconds of Mastiff's restart it was erupting to 3-4 meters, higher than Giant's Cone. At the same time Giant was vertically surging to the top of the cone.

Mastiff erupted over five meters high for over a minute, with Giant's surging becoming stronger and more sustained. I would guess Mastiff reached twelve to fifteen meters at some point, although it was hard to see through the steam. Mastiff was so impressive that no one noticed that Feather's Satellite had started erupting at about the same time, something I had to see from a video replay.

By then I had abandoned the Cage for the walkway to the south, in order to see the start of Giant's eruption instead of getting drenched. The start was as quick as always, and Giant quickly got up to full height, measured to over 200ft. The only part of the Cage which got wet, based on the wet boards, was around the post where I had mounted my camera.

Since it was a daytime eruption, it was crowded in the Cage. Before I abandoned it, I think it had filled with a Chinese tour, with too many people trying to get their selfies. Back on the walkway, things were a bit more civilized.

After about 45 minutes we started getting restarts. First it was Feather, then the Satellite, and finally Posthole was seen for the first time in years.

14:43:15	Mastiff surge, Bijou already off
14:44:30	SW Vents spit
14:44:57	SW Vents erupt
14:46:07	Feather push, Mastiff at ovfl
14:46:28	Feather ovfl
14:46:56	Feather
14:47:01	Feather pause
14:47:09	Feather restart
14:47:27	Catfish erupting
14:48:10	Mastiff below ovfl
14:48:34	Masfiff ovfl
14:48:46	Cave erupting
14:49:34	Mastiff front surging to 1m
14:50:05	Mastiff erupting
14:49:47	Bijou restart, Catfish quiet
14:50:12	B-C vent erupting
14:50:22	Rust erupting, Mastiff ovfl only
14:50:49	Mastiff front to 2m, then quiet
14:51:39	Catfish restart
14:52:30	Mastiff start
14:52:34	Feather Sat. erupting
14:52:37	Mastiff to 3-4m
14:52:50	Mastiff 5+m front vent
14:54:01	Giant vertical above cone
14:54:09	Giant start of eruption

15:39:27	Feather restart
14:43:10	Feather Sat restart
14:51:48	Posthole erupting

At some point, someone seems to have deliberately and slowly lowered my camera, so it no longer was centered on the platform. I did manage to correct it when I had to change batteries. I stopped recording at about the time the eruption ended.

All of signs moved this eruption. I especially enjoyed how the attempt to block the Giant sign into place failed miserably. It can be seen rolling in my Hot Period video. The Mastiff sign ended up under the Cage.

I left as the eruption ended because of what appeared to be nasty weather headed our way, rains which never happened. I also decided to not bother with Grand's upcoming eruption, so of course it not only has a short (less than seven hour) interval, but has two bursts.

Headed out at dawn for Grand, but first it was a quick, slippery, foggy walk down to the Cage as there hadn't been any reports from down there. Arrived to find it pretty much unchanged, with no evidence of any Hot Period or even strong Southwest Vents activity.

The wait for Grand continued to be foggy, so much so that I didn't bother to set up the camera. For an hour and a half, got a series of Turban eruptions. I did leave for a bit to go down to Penta to see a fairly powerful steam-phase eruption. The Grand eruption had two bursts.

2026-Sep-21 : 08:27:04 T2Q

 08:26:29	Turban	-0m35s
 08:26:48	Vent Ovfl	-0m16s
 08:27:01	Boop	-0m03s
 08:27:04	B1	--- d=08m59s
 08:29:46	Vent	2m42s
 08:36:03	P1	8m59s d=21s
 08:36:24	B2	9m20s d=36s
 08:37:00	P2	9m56s
 08:37:46	V&T Quit	10m42s

				     ΣB=09m35s	ΣD=09m56s
	* * * * *
 07:07:45			d=04m17s	
 07:26:15	Int: 18m30s	d=03m38s	
 07:46:49	Int: 20m34s	d=04m11s	
 08:06:34	Int: 19m45s	d=03m44s	
 08:38:31ns	West Triplet
		     Turban: 19m55s

It was still foggy for the next hour-and-a-half wait in the Cage, when suddenly the fog cleared and it was time to strip off several layers of clothing. During the wait there were several Mastiff surges, but nothing more.

Finally, there was a Mastiff surge when suddenly Bijou shut down. That turned into a Hot Period. Feather wasn't tall, but it lasted 1-1/2 minutes, and water was seen in Cave.

That meant there was probably several hours before another event, and time to head in and eat and get other things done.

Instead of going to the cage, I headed for Grand. From Castle, it was obvious that Rift was in eruption. That eruption continued for about 45 minutes. Right after that, we got another eruption of Oblong. It was huge, with bursts higher than the dead tree visible from Grand.

We finally got the One Burst Grand eruption after a 2-1/2 hour wait.

2026-Sep-21 : 17:02:59 G1Q

 17:02:45	Vent Ovfl	-0m13s
 17:02:56	Boop	-0m03s
 17:02:59	B1	--- d=11m22s
 17:03:02	Turban	0m02s
 17:05:42	Vent	2m43s
 17:14:21	P1	11m22s
 17:15:05	V&T Quit	12m05s

				     	ΣD=11m22s
	* * * * *
 14:40:17			
 14:58:49	Int: 18m32s	d=03m06s	
 15:16:26	Int: 17m37s	d=03m54s	
 15:35:12	Int: 18m46s	d=04m01s	
 15:54:42	Int: 19m30s	d=03m49s	
 16:12:22	Int: 17m40s	d=03m47s	
 16:29:35	Int: 17m13s	d=03m16s	
 16:45:36	Int: 16m00s	d=03m10s
		      Grand: 17m23s

From there, it was back to the Bijou Cage at around 17:00. Fortunately, had come out to Grand prepared to wait there until well into the dark. The moon illuminated the platform nicely, once it did get dark. Ended up waiting for five hours seeing nothing but periodic Mastiff surges, that resulted in no other activity.

Finally, Bijou paused before a surge was seen. This pause lasted almost five minutes. The Southwest vents finally started to erupt and pour out water, the first real activity seen since the Hot Period eleven hours earlier. And with that, it was time to head in.

I was surprised to see that Suzanne was still out in the Cage at 03:30. It seems that after I left, nothing much happened. The last Bijou pause was short and weak around 01:30, and after that, only one Mastiff surge. So I headed back out with extra layers and batteries and arrived at around 04:00. It was cold and damp, but there was no wind and the rains had ended.

For the next two hours, nothing happened. There was no moon, so dark, but I can usually tell when a Mastiff surge starts. Also, after most events, Bijou will have a period of steamy roaring, and we never heard any of that.

At 06:14, we finally got a Mastiff surge. At 06:40, Bijou finally paused, one lasting only 1m46s and we couldn't see any water in Mastiff. Less than an hour later we got a much better pause. This time Bijou was quiet for 3m40s, and the Southwest Vents erupted enough to refresh the puddles around the vents.

Events started happening more frequently, with another 100 second pause an hour later.

I left before the next opportunity for an event to go to Grand. I arrived with West Triplet in eruption, and twenty minutes later there was a short Rift eruption lasting just over 1/2 hour.

I thought that would be a good sign, that the group could recover quickly. Instead, over the next 2-1/2 hours and next nine Turban eruptions, there was no sign of an attempt at Grand erupting.

The there was a nice fill, with waves and even bubbling in Vent. Then Grand dropped giving us a Vent Delay. Two Turban eruptions later, Grand attempted to have a normal Turban Delay, but came up short, but it seemed that the system there was going to treat it as a Delay. The One Burst Grand eruption finally took place three Turban eruption intervals later , right after West Triplet started to erupt, for a 11-1/2 hour Grand interval.

2026-Sep-20 : 14:53:20 V5/T1C

 14:52:55	Vent Ovfl	-0m25s
 14:53:00	Turban	-0m19s
 14:53:13	Boop	-0m06s
 14:53:20	B1	--- d=10m00s
 14:55:49	Vent	2m29s
 15:03:21	P1	10m00s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=10m00s
	* * * * *
 10:01:01ie	West Triplet
 10:08:32			d=03m47s	
 10:20:05	Rift
 10:27:48	Int: 19m16s	d=03m50s	
 10:45:28	Int: 17m40s	d=03m38s	
 11:04:27	Int: 18m59s	d=03m34s	
 11:21:32	Int: 17m05s	d=03m35s	
 11:38:58	Int: 17m26s	d=03m21s	
 11:55:49	Int: 16m51s	d=03m43s	
 12:14:06	Int: 18m17s	d=03m21s	
 12:30:06	Int: 16m00s	d=03m23s	
 12:47:42	Int: 17m36s	d=03m12s	
 13:06:24	Int: 18m42s	d=03m40s	
 13:22:57	Int: 16m33s	d=03m06s V0 Vent ovfl: 13:23:30	
 13:39:27	Int: 16m30s	d=03m00s V1	
 14:02:58	Int: 23m31s	d=04m02s V2	
 14:19:20	Int: 16m21s	d=03m49s V3
 14:36:19	West Triplet
 14:36:55	Int: 17m34s	d=03m52s V4
		     Turban: 16m05s

Back in the Cage, the events were fairly frequent, about every 75 minutes. There was a sameness to them, but with variations. The shortest was 2m45s, with the longest just over four minutes. Something the Southwest vents would behave as if they were about to start, other times there was only a spit or two. By the evening, Bijou was pausing before Mastiff started surging, and something Mastiff would retreat slightly before reaching a higher water level.

By dark, I decided to give up and get a good night's rest.

Waited for the rains to end before heading out for the morning Grand. West Triplet started erupting as I arrived, followed by Rift. That was when Grand had a late fill and a long Turban Delay Interval. Ended up having to wait two hours and six Turban eruption intervals before the One Burst Grand could occur. On leaving, I noticed that Belgian Pool was perhaps as high as I've seen it this visit, with water well into the side lobe.

2026-Sep-19 : 10:06:39 D6/G1Q

 10:06:34	B1	--- d=10m38s
 10:07:13	Turban	0m39s
 10:07:56	Vent Ovfl	1m22s
 10:09:30	Vent	2m56s
 10:17:12	P1	10m38s
 10:18:01	V&T Quit	11m27s
 10:23:51	V&T Restart	17m17s

				     	ΣD=10m38s
	* * * * *
 07:20:07	West Triplet
 07:28:05			d=04m02s	
 07:47:00	Int: 18m55s	d=03m41s	
 08:03:02	Rift
 08:18:19	Int: 31m19s	d=04m30s D0	
 08:36:17	Int: 17m58s	d=03m36s D1	
 08:56:31	Int: 20m14s	d=03m32s D2	
 09:14:08	Int: 17m37s	d=03m44s D3	
 09:31:23	Int: 17m15s	d=03m10s D4	
 09:48:24	Int: 17m01s	d=03m06s D5	
		      Grand: 18m15s

Then it was back to the Bijou Cage, where a half hour after arrival we got a Mastiff Bathtub where Feather overflowed and pushed water, and water was seen in the Cave vent. The Southwest vents poured out water. This event lasted about 3-1/2 minutes.

Later that afternoon there was another Mastiff Bathtub where the pause lasted 4 minutes, but Feather only overflowed, and the Southwest vents didn't do much.

I did leave the Cage to go to Grand, where once again I got to see West Triplet erupt. It was a half hour later that Grand again had a Turban Delay Interval. But this time, it took only two Turban eruption intervals to lead to the One Burst Grand eruption. This one had a false pause lasting several seconds at around the eight minute mark, so not surprising that there wasn't a second burst.

2026-Sep-19 : 19:03:35 D2/T1C

 19:03:31	Boop	-0m04s
 19:03:34	Turban	-0m01s
 19:03:35	B1	--- d=09m34s
 19:06:25	Vent	2m50s
 19:11:41	FP	8m06s
 19:13:09	P1	9m34s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m34s
	* * * * *
 17:03:28			d=03m45s	
 17:10:34	West Triplet
 17:22:10	Int: 18m42s	d=03m56s	
 17:39:47	Int: 17m37s	d=03m38s	
 17:58:27	Int: 18m40s	d=03m33s	
 18:29:14	Int: 30m47s	d=04m34s D0	
 18:46:22	Int: 17m08s	d=03m48s D1	
		     Turban: 17m12s

Then it was back to the Cage, where nothing much happened, just some Mastiff surges and a single Bijou pause with Mastiff water barely visible. I finally left just after midnight.

I wanted to get out early, because Grand may have had a long interval, or to check on Giant. But the rains caused me to take my time getting ready and head out about an hour later than originally intended.

As it was, Grand hadn't erupted since our wet observations the night before, and I ended up waiting 1-1/2 hours in light rain before the eruption. The first burst lasted over 9-1/2 minutes, and it was so steamy I assumed that I wasn't seeing water and it was just a short eruption. So was surprised when after over a minute, we got a nice tall second burst, nicely visible as much of the runoff steam had gone away.

2026-Sep-18 : 08:30:53 T2Q

 08:30:06	Turban	-0m47s
 08:30:53	B1	--- d=09m33s
 08:40:26	P1	9m33s d=01m01s
 08:41:27	B2	10m34s d=01m03s
 08:42:30	P2	11m37s
 08:43:14	V&T Quit	12m21s

				     ΣB=10m36s	ΣD=11m37s
	* * * * *
 07:13:25			d=03m32s	
 07:34:57	Int: 21m32s	d=03m22s	
 07:52:25	Int: 17m28s	d=02m46s	
 08:13:59	Int: 21m34s	d=04m07s	
 08:40:11	West Triplet
		     Turban: 16m07s

From there, it was down to the Bijou Cage. A Bijou pause started as I got to my bike, and was well over by the time I arrived.

Instead of leaving because there'd been an event, I decided to wait just in case something unusual happened. Over the next three hours there were a number of Mastiff surges, including a short, one minute long Bijou pause. Shortly after noon there was a three minute long Bijou pause that included Feather overflowing. After that, it was time to head in and have lunch and reconfigure, on the assumption that not much would happen in the next hour or so.

As it was, got to hear the best activity of the day on the radio in the cabin. During this pause, Feather surged as if it was trying to start erupting. I managed to get myself together and was just on the bike when the call that Mastiff had dropped and Bijou was on came. It was a bit of a relief to not have to bike fast down that trail in the middle of the day.

Went back to the cabin briefly, then headed back to the Cage. Over a couple of hours there were several Mastiff surges that had minimal water visible in Mastiff, but no pauses in Bijou.

After one of those events, I decided to go see Grand. I saw Turban start as I passed Chromatic, and the next Turban eruption interval was only about 16 minutes before we got a One Burst Grand eruption. This one started with about ten seconds of booping, and West Triplet erupted right after the end.

2026-Sep-18 : 16:23:17 T1C

 16:22:40	Turban	-0m37s
 16:23:08	Boop	-0m09s
 16:23:17	B1	--- d=09m51s
 16:25:47	Vent	2m30s
 16:33:08	P1	9m51s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m51s
	* * * * *
 16:06:36			
		     Turban: 16m04s

Back in the Cage, it was more Mastiff surges and Bijou not responding. Then at 18:15 Bijou finally stopped for about 2-1/2 minutes. Once again, there was activity in the Southwest Vents and Feather did show water.

After that, we waited four hours for the next pause, through a number of Mastiff surges. This time the pause was underway when we finally got lights on the Mastiff surge. It lasted nearly 4-1/2 minutes, with Southwest Vents pouring water down the embankment, and Feather overflowing nicely. The Vents continued even after Bijou restarted by roaring and the drop in Mastiff, which was almost at overflow.

At that point the Cage was abandoned by all.

With an empty crater and Turban erupting without Vent, I knew that Grand had had a short interval and erupted a while earlier. So it was down to the Bijou Cage as the rain started. Grotto was erupting as I walked past, and Rocket began as I got near the GIP.

Then ended up waiting an hour in intermittent showers until we got a Standard Bathtub that had a two minute Bijou pause. At that point it was time to head in for a bit. Of course the rains restated as I biked in.

When it was time to go out to Grand, I was greeted with Rift in eruption, and West Triplet drained and drying out. After half an hour, Rift also quit. An hour after that, Grand had a long Turban eruption interval for a Turban Delay.

By the time Rift ended, the rains had started. It wasn't too unpleasant, as there wasn't any wind, but hard enough that I never noticed that Castle had erupted until I heard the late steam. But after a couple of post-Delay Turban eruptions, the rain stopped and then the winds picked up. By the time that Grand had a second Turban Delay interval, they were strong out of the south, making it hard to see the pool or Turban. The long One Burst Grand started with what appeared to be a series of large boops, and I was never able to determine a start time on Turban.

2026-Sep-17 : 12:48:23 D3/D0/G1Q

 12:48:23	B1	--- d=11m57s
 12:51:08	Vent	2m45s
 13:00:20	P1	11m57s
 13:00:31	V&T Quit	12m08s

				     	ΣD=11m57s
	* * * * *
 10:31:09			d=04m08s	
 10:53:25	Int: 22m16s	d=03m57s	
 11:13:10	Int: 19m45s	d=04m15s	
 11:46:22	Int: 33m12s	d=04m13s D0	
 12:03:23	Int: 17m01s	d=03m29s D1	
 12:23:10	Int: 19m47s	d=03m30s D2	
		      Grand: 25m13s

Later in the afternoon, it was still breezy but the sun was occasionally making an appearance. I finally set up the camera in the Bijou Cage for the first time since Giant erupted. After an hour-and-a-half wait, I ended up catching a Standard Bathtub with Bijou not pausing.

Going out to Grand in the evening seemed like a good idea, but first I got to see and eruption of West Triplet, which ended without Grand erupting. Then the relatively nice weather turned wet, with a storm passing by. It was too late to make a run for it, and decided waiting it out was the better option than getting soaked by riding the bike back to the cabin.

After a couple of Turban eruption intervals, the rain stopped and the clouds disappeared, although there was a lot of lightning visible to the northwest. The next few Turban intervals were short, as was the One Burst Grand eruption.

2026-Sep-17 : 22:56:40 T1C

 22:56:05	Turban	-0m35s
 22:56:40	B1	--- d=09m11s
 23:05:51	P1	9m11s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m11s
	* * * * *
 19:14:51			d=04m23s	
 19:35:31	Int: 20m40s	d=04m11s	
 19:40:22	West Triplet
 19:53:32	Int: 18m01s	d=03m57s	
 20:14:05	Int: 20m33s	d=03m33s	
 20:34:06	Int: 20m01s	d=03m29s	
 20:52:43	Int: 18m37s	d=03m47s	
 21:11:03	Int: 18m20s	
 21:29:56	Int: 18m53s	
 21:46:23	Int: 16m27s	d=03m03s	
 22:03:37	Int: 17m14s	d=03m00s	
 22:21:34	Int: 17m57s	
 22:39:32	Int: 17m58s	d=03m47s	
		     Turban: 16m33s

It was well after dawn before I got out to the Bijou Cage. As I arrived, Rocket had a major eruption. That was followed by two hours of not much happening. At one point there was a big Mastiff surge, and I thought I might be seeing a bit of water through all the steam, and Bijou seemed a bit noisier afterwards, but that was it.

Went over to Grand. Today it was warmer and with a normal summer breeze, as opposed to the imitation Iceland winds of the past few days. There were just a series of Turban eruptions until we were approaching two hours, when West Triplet began to erupt. This eruption ended, and there wasn't a followup eruption of Grand. Instead, on the next Turban interval, we got a 30 minute Delay, with an explosive Grand start. The steam was such that I was unable to catch the start of Turban. When the burst ended, at first it looked like the pool had drained, but it came back and after nearly a minute long pause, we got a nice second burst, much taller than the first.

2026-Sep-16 : 13:43:10 D0/G2C

 13:43:10	B1	--- d=08m22s
 13:46:02	Vent	2m52s
 13:51:32	P1	8m22s d=56s
 13:52:28	B2	9m18s d=43s
 13:53:11	P2	10m01s
Vent & Turban continue

				     ΣB=09m05s	ΣD=10m01s
	* * * * *
 10:43:36			d=01m20s	
 10:58:18	Int: 14m42s	d=04m17s	
 11:18:17	Int: 19m59s	d=04m10s	
 11:37:57	Int: 19m40s	d=03m52s	
 11:57:29	Int: 19m32s	d=03m37s	
 12:16:22	Int: 18m53s	d=03m47s	
 12:26:24	West Triplet
 12:36:15	Int: 19m53s	d=03m23s	
 12:54:48	Int: 18m33s	d=03m29s	
 13:13:10	Int: 18m22s	d=03m29s	
		      Grand: 30m00s

Back in the Cage, didn't have long to wait before a large Mastiff surge, one approaching two meters high. After a minute, water could be seen in Mastiff, but while Bijou did slow down a bit, it never came close to stopping. The Southwest Vents sputtered much more than their usual spits, and when Mastiff drained, Bijou had a nice roar.

With the long interval for Beehive, finally got over to Geyser Hill and make a Beehive video. Had to wait even longer, then we got a short Beehive's Indicator and a long Beehive eruption. The video was a success.

It was still light when I went out for the nighttime Grand eruption. The conditions were warm for the time of night, with no wind. West Triplet was erupting, and 25 minutes later Rift started. Rift erupted for just over an hour, and when it quit, Grand was having a strong overflow. The crescent moon had just set. The Turban interval was longer than usual, but not enough to be considered a Delay. Turban started fairly explosively, and Grand followed within seconds.

2026-Sep-16 : 21:21:34 T1Q

 21:21:30	Turban	-0m04s
 21:21:34	B1	--- d=10m38s
 21:24:30	Vent	2m56s
 21:32:12	P1	10m38s
 21:32:59	V&T Quit	11m25s

				     	ΣD=10m38s
	* * * * *
 19:47:50ie	West Triplet
 19:59:11			d=04m31s
 20:10:27	Rift	
 20:18:08	Int: 18m57s	d=03m38s	
 20:37:50	Int: 19m42s	d=03m43s	
 20:58:23	Int: 20m33s	d=03m35s	
		     Turban: 23m07s

Went out to the Cage for an hour-and-a-half at dawn. Walked up on the start of Grotto, then saw nothing much, other than some well spaced small Mastiff surges and one episode of Catfish splashing. Bijou never paused, although it seemed like it might have been trying to roar when I saw Catfish.

After breakfast, went over to Grand, where Rift was once again in eruption. It must have been near start, as West Triplet was also erupting. Rift finally quit after an hour-and-a-half. Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption following a minimal Turban Delay Interval.

2026-Sep-15 : 11:28:31 D0/G1C

 11:28:23	Boop	-0m08s
 11:28:31	B1	--- d=09m48s
 11:29:22	Turban	0m51s
 11:31:21	Vent	2m50s
 11:38:19	P1	9m48s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m48s
	* * * * *
 09:34:59ie	Rift
 09:37:01ie	West Triplet
 09:46:20			d=03m51s	
 10:06:02	Int: 19m42s	d=03m20s	
 10:26:32	Int: 20m30s	d=03m40s	
 10:44:12	Int: 17m40s	d=03m25s	
 11:03:04	Int: 18m52s	d=03m21s	
		      Grand: 25m27s

Then it was back to the Bijou Cage. Waited for two hours, and during that time Bijou never stopped. Once again, there were some well spaced Mastiff surges, and Catfish splashed a couple of times. Bijou finally paused about two hours after I had left.

(On the way to the Cage, at the bend in the biketrail near the river I encountered the better part of a flag-tour well off trail and all down by the river.)

Went out to the evening Grand with the expectation of seeing it in the dark. Instead, Grand actually cooperated, and the One Burst Eruption began about five minutes before sunset. If there had been a second burst, it would have only been illuminated at the top. West Triplet began erupting moments before Grand, but this eruption lasted only about 1-1/2 minutes. A second West Triplet eruption began during the Grand eruption. Did not wait to see if it resulted in a Rift eruption.

2026-Sep-15 : 18:55:00 T1Q

 18:54:54	Turban	-0m06s
 18:54:57	Vent Ovfl	-0m03s
 18:55:00	B1	--- d=10m40s
 18:58:07	Vent	3m07s
 19:05:40	P1	10m40s
 19:06:34	V&T Quit	11m34s

				     	ΣD=10m40s
	* * * * *
 17:49:22			d=04m08s	
 18:08:58	Int: 19m36s	d=04m18s	
 18:32:45	Int: 23m47s	d=04m38s	
 18:54:42	West Triplet maj,d=01m20s
 19:03:15	West Triplet
		     Turban: 22m09s

This day was much improved over the last few days. The wind was minimal, especially for the evening activity. The sky was completely clear for most of the day, and it felt much warmer than the upper 50s.

Going out at the 14 hour mark was excessively cold and excessively windy for the first half of September. Once the sun rose above the ridge, the cold did seem to moderate a bit.

West Triplet started to erupt as I arrived, and 45 minutes later, so did Rift. It was 2-1/2 hours from then that the One Burst Grand finally occurred. Once again, we got a fairly long interval without any observed delays.

2026-Sep-14 : 10:28:27 T1C

 10:28:17	Vent Ovfl	-0m10s
 10:28:22	Boop	-0m05s
 10:28:26	Turban	-0m01s
 10:28:27	B1	--- d=09m47s
 10:31:19	Vent	2m52s
 10:38:14	P1	9m47s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m47s
	* * * * *
 07:14:56	West Triplet d=49m06s
 07:21:00			d=03m34s	
 07:39:43	Int: 18m43s	d=04m03s	
 07:59:33	Rift d=01h01m
 08:00:07	Int: 20m24s	d=03m42s	
 08:20:16	Int: 20m09s	d=03m32s	
 08:38:20	Int: 18m04s	d=03m46s	
 08:58:04	Int: 19m44s	d=03m18s	
 09:18:06	Int: 20m02s	d=03m41s	
 09:35:54	Int: 17m48s	d=03m32s	
 09:53:58	Int: 18m04s	d=03m29s	
 10:11:18	Int: 17m20s	d=02m51s	
		     Turban: 17m08s

From there, it was down to the Bijou Cage, much later than I expected, to start the wait for the next Giant eruption. For the first hour or so I was disappointed in the activity.

I witnessed several Bijou slowdowns or short pauses that seemed to have no effect on any other feature. Bijou's activity also seemed weak, and not as noisy. There wasn almost no depth charging from the front of Mastiff, and the back was having small to medium surges every few minutes. Catfish was intermittently spitting. The Southwest Vents were barely steaming, and through the wind noise, I couldn't hear any gurgling. The platform was extremely dry, including in front of Giant itself. And across the river, it seemed like there was increased runoff coming down from the Purple Pools.

Then on one of the Bijou pauses, it stayed off, and water was visible in Mastiff. The water slowly rose until it reached about 20cm below overflow. Bijou was paused for about 3m40s, and once it restarted, that's when there was some roaring and activity by the B-C vent. The end of the pause also resulted in some depth charging from front Mastiff. And then I left to get out of the wind and cold and have lunch.

The evening was a repeat of this morning's Grand wait, except I arrived to what was probably the Turban Delay Interval. Before the next Turban eruption, West Triplet started, and its eruption lasted over an hour. Forty-five minutes later, Rift started, and it seemed like the largest back vent was even more vigorous than usual.

The Rift eruption lasted almost an hour, and by then the sun had set. One more Turban eruption on an interval of less than 16 minutes, and then Grand was ready to erupt. The One Burst Grand was notable because at just under seven minutes, it had a False Pause that all of us watching the eruption thought was an actual pause, and were amazed to see a pause so early in an eruption. (With the thought of "we're gonna get multiple bursts") Instead, the eruption settled down into a weak Big Sawmill eruption that lasted over eleven minutes.

2026-Sep-14 : 19:27:37 G1Q

 19:27:25	Vent Ovfl	-0m12s
 19:27:36	Boop	-0m01s
 19:27:37	B1	--- d=11m15s
 19:27:39	Turban	0m02s
 19:30:25	Vent	2m48s
 19:34:28	FP	6m51s
 19:38:52	P1	11m15s
 19:39:41	V&T Quit	12m04s

				     	ΣD=11m15s
	* * * * *
 17:03:28			d=04m49s	
 17:15:23	West Triplet d=01h06m
 17:21:29	Int: 18m01s	d=03m50s	
 17:39:55	Int: 18m26s	d=03m29s	
 17:59:29	Int: 19m34s	d=03m56s	
 18:00:33	Rift d=54m26s
 18:19:06	Int: 19m37s	d=03m34s	
 18:37:36	Int: 18m30s	d=03m20s	
 18:55:03	Int: 17m27s	d=03m02s	
 19:10:33	Int: 15m30s	d=03m19s	
		      Grand: 17m04s

Also, it seems like some strange cult has invaded the geyser basins. They have this weird ritual where the hold a small slab in front of their faces, sometimes with both hands, and stare at it throughout a geyser eruption, deliberately avoiding looking at the geyser. As if the slab is intended as a protection to ward off evil emanating from the geyser. Sometimes a second person will face away from the geyser, and then block the slab from directly viewing the geyser while the blocker makes ridiculous poses and suspicious hand signals. Then at some point during the eruption, they drop the slab and walk away while the eruption is still in progress, never looking back. I think I heard that the slab is a representation of a holy relic called a "stultitia fabrica", which seems to translate into English as something like "stupidifier", but I can't be sure. But it's almost scary seeing all of them lined up like that along the boardwalk during a Grand eruption with their blank expressions.

Once again I waited less than a Turban eruption interval for the Grand eruption. It had lightened up quickly, and I was planning to set up the camera except the Grand eruption came first. I have now seen four eruptions of Grand with two bursts in the last four days, compared with seven over three weeks prior.

2026-Sep-13 : 06:33:48 G2Q

 06:33:48	B1	--- d=09m32s
 06:34:29	Turban	0m41s
 06:37:22	Vent	3m34s
 06:43:20	P1	9m32s d=21s
 06:43:41	B2	9m53s d=26s
 06:44:07	P2	10m19s
 06:45:01	V&T Quit	11m13s

				     ΣB=09m58s	ΣD=10m19s

Attempted to see an eruption of Great Fountain again, without success. Were way too early and the winds were just beginning to start up, so returned.

Eventually headed out to Grand. The wind wasn't up to Iceland levels, but was still enough to make sure everything didn't blow away, and cooling enough to require a jacket. Arrive to an early eruption of West Triplet. When it ended without a Grand eruption, knew we were in for a long wait.

A fifteen Turban interval wait. The intervals slowly got shorter. At one point we had an interval of less than 15 minutes, only to be followed by a couple of intervals of more normal length.

West Triplet started erupting again, and Grand finally looked good early, and didn't drop. The One Burst Eruption tried to pause at around the eight minute mark, without success. Then after 9-1/2 minutes, we had a false pause, followed by a few more seconds of jetting from Grand.

2026-Sep-13 : 17:09:05 G1C

 17:08:59	Vent Ovfl	-0m06s
 17:09:02	Boop	-0m03s
 17:09:05	B1	--- d=09m43s
 17:10:05	Turban	1m00s
 17:11:57	Vent	2m52s
 17:18:44	FP	9m39s
 17:18:48	P1	9m43s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m43s
	* * * * *
 12:55:47			d=03m29s	
 13:10:56	West Triplet
 13:16:21	Int: 20m34s	d=03m43s	
 13:34:02	Int: 17m41s	d=03m05s	
 13:53:29	Int: 19m27s	d=03m28s	
 14:12:18	Int: 18m49s	d=03m10s	
 14:30:29	Int: 18m11s	d=03m22s	
 14:49:23	Int: 18m54s	d=03m00s	
 15:06:52	Int: 17m29s	d=03m53s	
 15:25:24	Int: 18m32s	d=03m33s	
 15:41:45	Int: 16m21s	d=03m29s	
 15:56:26	Int: 14m41s	d=02m58s	
 16:15:09	Int: 18m43s	d=03m21s	
 16:35:42	Int: 20m33s	d=03m56s	
 16:52:16	Int: 16m34s	d=03m43s	
 16:56:20	West Triplet maj
 17:43:48	Rift
		      Grand: 16m49s

An eruption of Rift followed, and I didn't wait around to get the duration of West Triplet, which by then was well over 45 minutes.

For double intervals on Grand, I've been trying to get out around the 14 hour mark. So I arrived at Grand about that time, finding West Triplet in eruption. Almost immediately there was a Turban eruption, followed by a long Turban eruption interval lasting over 30 minutes. The pool didn't drop but kept rising, and stayed high when Turban started to erupt. No Vent overflow, however, until a moment before the One Burst Grand Eruption started. It was steamy, but nicely backlit and visible from the north end of the walkway.

2026-Sep-12 : 09:46:18 D0/T1Q

 09:46:03	Turban	-0m14s
 09:46:17	Vent Ovfl	-0m00s
 09:46:18	B1	--- d=10m56s
 09:49:15	Vent	2m57s
 09:57:15	P1	10m56s
 09:58:14	V&T Quit	11m56s

				     	ΣD=10m56s
	* * * * *
 09:19:21			d=03m41s	
 09:16:52ie	West Triplet
 10:00:51ns	Rift
		     Turban: 26m42s

Right at the end, with West Triplet still erupting, Rift started. I did not stick around to receive the blessings from Lord Rift, but headed back in order to go to the Lower Geyser Basin for the first time this visit. Got to Great Fountain in time to encounter people returning from there, and over in the Fountain Group the large steam cloud showed there was no reason to battle the parking there. Returned to the Upper Basin and got to enjoy getting through the parking areas at Midway and Fairy Falls.

For double intervals on Grand, I've been trying to get out around the 14 hour mark. So I arrived at Grand about that time, finding West Triplet in eruption. Almost immediately there was a Turban eruption, followed by a long Turban eruption interval lasting over 30 minutes. The pool didn't drop but kept rising, and stayed high when Turban started to erupt. No Vent overflow, however, until a moment before the One Burst Grand Eruption started. It was steamy, but nicely backlit and visible from the north end of the walkway.

Right at the end, with West Triplet still erupting, Rift started. I did not stick around to receive the blessings from Lord Rift, but headed back in order to go to the Lower Geyser Basin for the first time this visit. Got to Great Fountain in time to encounter people returning from there, and over in the Fountain Group the large steam cloud showed there was no reason to battle the parking there. Returned to the Upper Basin and got to enjoy getting through the parking areas at Midway and Fairy Falls.

Saw the noontime Beehive eruption following the radio call. Was windy, but steady so after the initial dousing, no one got wet.

Later went out to Grand with the expectation of having to wait until dark. Instead it erupted on the first opportunity after my arrival. It was another One Burst Eruption, but being able to go back in and having the evening free and wind-free was nice.

2026-Sep-12 : 16:32:30 G1C

 16:32:30	B1	--- d=09m35s
 16:32:59	Vent Ovfl	0m29s
 16:33:16	Turban	0m46s
 16:36:18	Vent	3m48s
 16:42:05	P1	9m35s
Vent & Turban continue

				     	ΣD=09m35s
	* * * * *
 16:11:36			d=03m45s	
 16:40:29	West Triplet
		      Grand: 20m54s

And being set free, went over to Sawmill Group to wait for Uncertain. It took over an hour of waiting, but we were finally rewarded with a dual eruption with Sawmill.

Back in the cabin, I put together a response to a flag on the Giant eruption entry from the other night. It seems some of the NPS personnel objected to being officially called out on their behavior that night. I didn't post anything about that at the time, as I try to let such annoyances slide off me any more. Problem is that I was recording the eruption, and caught audio of them talking amongst themselves, laughing at some of the inappropriate things they had done or do. Here's what I posted in the comment--

---

1) This is an inappropriate and malicious use of a flag, and should have been a comment.

Flag text as of 19:27:

Giant was such a spectacular eruption. I am glad everyone was able to experience the joy. Even if others want the natural beauty to themselves, as it seems by this interesting comment. It’s funny how many NPS employees were running that .9 down the bike path yet you drag everyone by saying these things. The two vehicles were ON DUTY, IN uniform pertinent NPS employees that are able to use this road. I am thankful we were all able to experience this amazing event together.

GeyserGAYser

2) I recorded this eruption starting with the Mastiff surge, through the hot period, and the start of the eruption. I let the camera run until the battery finally ran out of power, about 75 minutes later. At one time when I went to check on the camera to see how much power was left I noticed a "gaggle of giddy" NPS employees gathered nearby in the Cage. There were at least a dozen, gathered in a circle, with few to none actually looking at the waning moments of the Giant eruption. I noticed no one in uniform, but it was dark and I didn't look specifically for that. I never did see anyone in uniform that night.

I ended up recording clear audio of them, so loud that it seemed to overwhelm the sound of the geyser at times. I also picked up a number of them loudly boasting, to laughter, of their sarcastic responses to visitors, to insulting visitors, to intentionally misleading visitors, and generally inappropriate or offensive behavior while performing their official duties. At this point, they were "experienc[ing] this amazing event" only because they were physically in the Cage, blocking others from enjoying the eruption due to their boorish behavior.

(Also note that they were there only due to the efforts of gazers, since the NPS will not allow access to their electronic recording devices.)

According to the recording timestamp, they arrived at this location by at least 21:50, 35 minutes into the Giant eruption, and stayed there the rest of the recording (22:17). I expect to capture conversations in the audio of my videos, but not for this length of time.

I said nothing at the time, but I was annoyed that their behavior was ruining my recorded audio of a rare and spectacular geyser eruption. It was an example of their inappropriate behaviors toward visitors in this national park. This behavior and the comments are especially inappropriate if coming from persons in uniform.

(I can make this video publicly available to anyone upon request).

---

I was asked to take that comment down from GeyserTimes, and have done so. But it will remain here as I don't want this to slide all the way down the Memory Hole. And that video may still appear sometime later this year...