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.