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.