Category: 2019

Another pretty dull day.

Another day where I spent a bit of time out at Grand to see if the newest changes in activity are changing further, or going to stabilize for a while. It appears that it's the latter. Sput D (Delta Geyser?) still seems to erupt at about twenty minute intervals, but otherwise is independent of Turban. Sometimes I was seeing it in the middle of the Turban interval, other times at the end of Turban's eruption.

After Grand West Triplet will flow heavily for about four minutes, without any activity in the sputs. That's the last time it overflows, even as Sput D continues to erupt after Vent and Turban continue.

Other good new of the day were the two Two Burst Grand eruptions. There was also a delayed eruption that was preceeded by about a minute of Grand booping, including one that had to be well over two meters high.

Also got to see two Oblong eruptions from Grand. Didn't notice the first one in the morning until it was underway, but in the afternoon I noticed that the steam was more than a wisp from down there, and over the next minute or so it built in volume until I finally got a small surge. That eruption had at least one burst well above the top of the dead tree.

Also down basin it looked like Grotto had a Marathon eruption. Bijou was quiet most of the day. Watching the Grand Group changes is cutting into opportunities to check on Grotto and Giant.

Went out to Grand a little early, and almost immediately caught a full range of the new sput activity. Not only was there a nice eruption of Sput D, but the feature back in the rocks, Sput F2 was splashing, while Sputnik was sizzling and Sput A was also bubbling. The only thing missing was that West Triplet was low.

Caught a couple more eruptions of Sput D, and these camein the middle of the Turban eruption intervals. These eruptions were not accompanied by the other sputs. Based on the way the sunlight was hitting the runoff channel and not sparkling, I'm assuming that West Triplet still didn't overflow.

We finally got a Grand eruption after a delay that included well over a minute of Grand having heavy boils and small boops. When it finally started, it took Turban over a minute to start. It turned out to be a two-burst eruption, nicely against the clear sky of a warm morning. Even more interesting was that unlike most two burst eruptions I've seen the last few years, Vent and Turban didn't quit.

Waited around afterwards to see what the sputs and West Triplet would do. Activity was pretty much the same as the day before. There was a strong West Triplet overflow following Grand, with only some small splashing from Sput D. About 15 minutes later, as Vent and Turban quit, there was another bit of activity from Sput D, with West Triplet overflow. After that, there were a few more periods of activity about every 15 minutes.

The first post eruption Turban was almost exactly an hour after Grand's eruption, and wasn't accompanied by Vent. It was about that time that the Sput D/West Triplet activity quit. At the time of the next Turban eruption, West Triplet rose a bit, then dropped, and that was it.

I came out a bit early for the next Grand eruption, and saw Sput D in action without any overflow from West Triplet. But the runoff was wet, so it had done something recently. It appears that Sput D is in sync with Turban, as it was erupting about midway between Turban eruptions. It didn't look like there was any West Triplet overflow these times, but hard to tell as once the NPS eruption window for Grand opened, the benches almost immediately became full.

Grand itself waited just long enough to make in an official Delayed eruption. Afterwards again there was heavy overflow from West Triplet and a short period of Sput D sputtering.

Went out for one final One Burst Grand eruption before midnight. Didn't have to wait a Turban interval, so not sure what happened prior to the eruption, but West Triplet's runoff was dry. After the eruption West Triplet overflowed heavily for about 6 minutes. Only a few times did it look like the upwelling might result in water actually being thrown.

Since there was no reason to make the trek to Norris, slept in. Out to Grand for a steamy One Burst Eruption.

Then stayed around for a couple of hours to see what would happen next. Just before Grand's eruption Sput D erupted, and West Triplet overflowed. This happened about every twenty minutes until Vent and Turban finally quit. The overflows lasted about four minutes, and the activity from Sput D was at or just before it started, and then about the time it ended. On one of the overflows, Sput A was seen bubbling, along with frying pan activity in Sputnik (Sput B) and a new (or at least a hole I don't remember) bubbling about two meters from Sput D and to the right of A.

When Vent and Turban finally quit, West Triplet came up one last time, but not close to overflow, then dropped down into its tube. I left about 40 minutes after the last overflow.

Returned about an hour and a half later to catch the first overflow. Has been years since I did that, and in previous times it was always about 4h20m except back when Rift had an effect on Grand. Then it could be six to seven hours. Arrived to find West Triplet's runoff dry, which would be a good indication there hadn't been any more overflows since I left.

The activity from the sput seemed to be synchronized with Turban at first, but after about an hour it was out of phase, then it quit entirely. It was next seen right before the time Turban would have erupted if it hadn't been having a Delay. When Turban finally did erupt, it was followed by more activity from Sput D, as well as another eruption after the next Turban. I wasn't in a position at that point to see what West Triplet was doing, but it didn't look like there was any runoff at any of these times.

So we got a One Burst Grand, and afterwards as I was leaving, saw West Triplet have a short, heavy overflow without any activity from the Sputs.

Spent the day at Norris. Wasn't a total waste.

There was a nice large minor as we arrived at 05:55, then another at about 09:00. Then nothing until 14:00, when they started coming about once an hour or so. We left unimpressed at 18:15.

Got back to the Old Faithful area to learn that Fountain had had an eruption duration over 38 minutes. So it was out to there to see what happened.

For the first time this visit, we had to wait for Fountain. About an hour after arrival, it finally started, to be joined 54 seconds later by Morning.

The eruption lasted well over 28 minutes, for probably the longest duration of this period of activity. While there were only a few tall bursts, there were lots of loud pops and wide explosive bursts. The three bright flashlights allowed us to easily see all the activity. We even attracted a couple of people who were driing by and had to come out to investigate the bright lights. (I noticed the previous night, when we left during Fountain's eruption, that the activity was bright from the parking lot.)

Speaking of the parking lot, we could hear what sounded like powerful steam coming from Clepsydra as we left.

Went out for the One Burst Grand eruption, but what was interesting was the other activity. Again West Triplet started, and within a few minutes, Sput D started, soon to be joined by Percolator I went down to take a closer look, and found that the filled in area of Sputnik (Sput B) was a bubbling frying pan. Also, higher up behind it in the rocks was another small sput. I don't remember seeing this one in a long time, if ever, and can't remember how I referred to it if I did. Waited for the end of West Triplet, and everything back there quit within a minute or two.

The rest of the day consisted of two trips out to Fountain. The first was late afternoon, and resulted in an eruption lasting 36m01s. That was long enought that felt obligated to come out to the next one. That was just before midnight, and a disappointment. In both cases, we didn't have much of a wait, but the second time we'd literally walked up and it started to erupt. Also, both times, there was a period of heavy boiling from Morning's Thief, but no real eruption. We left the midnight eruption before it ended.

A dawn drive to Fountain resulted in getting as far as Silex before we were informed that it had erupted and quit already. Not observed, so it could've been over an hour earlier.

So it was back to the cabin and then out to see another One Burst Grand weruption, backlit by the rising sun.

From there it was down basin for the first time this trip. I passed by Solstice, still in eruption. Grotto was active, and I saw some splashing from South Grotto Fountain.

Waited through the better part of a cycle at Fan & Mortar. It was well defined. For example, when the vents shut down, they stayed off. None of that blipping from Angle Vent that never seems to stop. Bottom Vent started splashing heavily, and Lower Mortar was so full the water level could be seen at about the time a new cycle start was expected. When High and Gold did start,they were powerful. But during the quiet time, and during the Bottom splashing I saw nothing from Main Vent. It was cool, and there was very little steam.

By then it was time for Daisy, and to take a look at Splendid. The latter didn't look any different from the way it did back in May. A few minutes after the refill start there was boiling from Main Vent which ususally shifted to Side Boiler. The first few boils were about a meter high.

As I left, I check on Grotto, and it had quit while I was up at Daisy.

By the time I returned to the cabin, Beehive had still not erupted. The Indicator was behaving the same way as yesterday according to radio reports. When it finally came up, I almost didn't have time to get over there from the cabin. I left as it started, and was passing the Observation Point junction when Beehive started. Fortunately, the wind was blowing the spray parallel to the walkway, so no one got wet. I also noticed when I got close that the Close-to-Cone Indicator was bubble as the main Indicator was quitting. It continued during the rest of Beehive's eruption.

Went out to Grand a bit early to try to beat the crowds, so of course it not only has a delay, but take three Turban intervals to finally erupt. But I did get to see the activity I saw the other night in the daylight.

It started almost immediately after West Triplet started. I will have to check my old maps, but I think it is actually what I called "Sput D". It was to the left of Sputnik. Sput A was a small hole in the flat runoff channel area, and this is farther back. Percolator also started with West Triplet, and both stopped when West Triplet ended shortly after the One Burst Grand eruption.

Made another trip out to see what Morning might do. There was boiling at the back, but nothing came of it when Fountain started. There were also two periods of heavy boils from Morning's Thief, but again, that was all that happened. The eruption itself was shorter than the previous, only 32m10s this time.

The moon was past full, but at 01:30 it was high up in the sky. As expected, the wind had died down and it hadn't gotten really cold yet so we headed out to Grand. It was also late enough (or early enough) that no one would be out there with a light.

Rift and Turban were both erupting as we approached. From the usual spot over Grand's main runoff I noticed a lot of steam back in the Sputnik area, and went down to investigate. Back there Sput A, the one in the runoff to the left of Sputnik at the site of North Triplet was erupting a thick plume of water about 1/2 meter high every few minutes. This is new activity to me. It and Rift quit about fifteen minutes after we arrived. Just four minutes later, Grand erupted,

It was so calm that the steam was making it hard to see at times. This One Burst Eruption at least lasted well over 11 minutes.

On our way back, while walking past Castle, it sounded like there were voices nearby. Over in the trees across the trail from Castle there was also a bright spot that didn't look like moonlight through the trees. I illuminated the area and saw at least a couple of people about 25 yards off the trail back there. I think they were trying to camp. In hindsight, I shouldn't have done that. Because it probably warned them to clear out.

Then I called the Comm Center, and for once they were able to dispatch someone to check things out. We talked for a bit, and I described what we'd seen. A companion arrived and then went on to check the area out, but didn't find anyone. At a minimum, I hope that somebody's night was ruined, and word got around that if you are going to camp in the thermal areas, you need to be more discrete.

Went out for the next Grand eruption. The boardwalks down from Crested were frosty, and there was the usual nasty slickness on the walkways past Rift. There was a Castle minor during our wait, which this time was for two Turban intervals. It was another One Burst Grand, but the backlighting, especially at the start, was quite nice.

It seemed like a good idea to head over to Beehive. Ended up seeing a couple of Old Faithful eruptions during the 2-1/2 hour wait. The South Bubbler was erupting about 15 minutes, and it looked a lot like what I'd seen from Sput A earlier in the dark. Then water was visible in the Indicator. This lasted for almost an hour until the indicator finally started.

But the eruption was quite nice. By then the breeze had picked up, and it had warmed up. I was standing on the northern side, and quite often the falling water looked like it was coming right at me, only to veer off to the south. It wasn't until near the end that the crowd at my end had to panic because they were getting wet.

For the noon-time Grand wait, it was standing room only because there was a terrible prediction on the board. Someone had calculated it an hour early, and the windows are already skewed too early. So a lot of people wasted a lot of time there.

It was another One Burst Grand, lasting a little under 10 minutes. But after draining, Grand's vent refilled and pulsed and acted like it was trying for a second burst for about 75 seconds. Vent started blasting away at about the minute mark. Then there was a sudden drain and Vent and Turban went silent.

Went out to see what Morning might be doing. Arrived in the parking lot in time for Fountain, but since we got a parking spot almost immediately, walked out to see the rest of the eruption. The conditions were ideal-- warm and dry and sunny blue sky and just enough breeze to move the steam away from the walkway.

The evening brought a Turban delay at Grand, which probably made the eruption better, as it allowed the sun to drop closer to the horizon. Another Turban interval and the sun would have been below the ridge. This time when Grand's vent refilled, it managed to give a second burst.

After dark headed back out to Fountain, and this time we had to wait a few minutes for the start. The duration was 34m30s, which means that we need to be back out for the next eruption, as things are looking good for Morning.

Of course was greeted by a 9m11 One Burst Grand eruption, after a wait of only one Turban interval. That was the only geyser activity we saw. The walk out was unusual in that I don't assocate a strong wind with the time of day (just before sunset). Was told that that it was actually much nicer than earlier in the day, when Beehive looked more like Daisy.

For us, wind started as we crossed north on US-287 into Wyoming at around 09:00. It was a headwind, and we had it the entire drive to Old Faithful.

Also of interest was the drive from the South Entrance. The line there wasn't that short, but it seems like every vehicle ahead of us was paying in cash, so we waited at least a quarter of an hour to finally show our pass. But once we were back moving, we made it to Old Faithul with the cruise control set at the speed limit almost the whole way. I did have to pass one car north of Lewis Falls, and was briefly behind a Jeep that turned into Isa Lake. For late afternoon, this felt more like early morning. I also noticed not a single bus headed south or away from Old Faithful.

And I'll hold my rant on the latest stupidity from the NPS until I get to partipate in a wait at Norris.

Since is was the day to leave, there wasn't much time spent in the thermal areas. Set a deadline for Beehive though, and it cooperated.

There was a report of the South Bubblers, so we went out to wait until the deadline. Then nothing happened for quite a while, maybe half an hour. At about 15 minutes before the deadline, there was a huge surge from Beehive, as if it was about to start, but nothing came of it.

But when the indicator did start, it was only 1m02s before Beehive itself started. Of course the wind shifted, so we had to dodge the water or start the drive home wet. And the duration of Beehive was much longer than I've seen recently, 5m17s, when most are well under five minutes.

Yet another nice day which started with a Grand eruption. But before that, I found the Sawmill Group with water levels high enough that Sawmill was within millimeters of overflow. But about ten minutes later it was obvious that it was dropping.

Also of note is that during an eruption of West Triplet I saw Sputnik (or one of its associated vents) bubbling. At the same time Rift was steaming heavily, but it never did erupt, with the steam dying down after West Triplet quit. West Triplet erupted again after the One Burst Grand eruption, for an interval of about 2-1/4 hours.

After that, made one last visit to the Lower Geyser Basin. Arrived at Fountain about half an hour after Fountain had completed an eruption on a four hour interval. So went over to Great Fountain, where the water in the crater was at least 25cm below overflow. So that was a complete waste of time.

The next Grand eruption was another One Burst Grand, with nothing much to distinguish it other than all of the afternoon eruptions have had sunlight on them, enhancing the contrast with the gray clouds forming the background.

Down at Grotto waited for a start, and saw first a powerful Central Vent delay, and then a small Grotto Fountain which preceeded Grotto. Also this was the first time this year that the mosquito repellent became necessary, as I killed several of the little monsters while waiting there.

Going out to Grand in the morning and we got Castle starting right as we walked past Crested. Stopped to enjoy a major eruption under excellent conditions.
Over in the Sawmill Group, there were eruptions of Bulger and Old Tardy before we continued on in that direction.

Rift started just as we walked up, so spent a little time watching the water creep down the runoff channel and under the walkway. After several decades, that runoff channel looks the same despite every eruption moving a bit of gravel closer to the river.

Waited for a couple of non-descript Turban eruptions then got a strong Grand start. It also gave us a sudden stop at a little over nine minutes. Perfect duration for a possible second burst, or long enough for one burst. But over the next minute the pool did fill and we got a sun-lit second burst. That lasted nearly three minutes, turning a short eruption into a long eruption.

For the first time in quite a while, stuck around to see the restart of Vent and Turban, which took nearly 22 minutes. From there, did a quick survey of the northern end of the basin, noting that Solstice was still in eruption.

In the afternoon, we got a Turban Delay that included a half-meter Grand Boop about four minutes before the Turban start, It took two Turban interval to recover from that, and this time the burst lasted over 11 minutes, so there was no chance of a second burst.

The day ended with it getting cloudy, but still fairly comfortable. Went out at sunset and caught West Triplet and then Castle. Stopped paying attention, so it was about twelve minutes later that we all noticed it was far too quiet, that Castle had had a minor and we missed the end. During part of that time, there were quite a few flashes of lightning, and some thunder, but nothing came of it.

It started to sprinkle a bit just around the time Grand started. The wind also did its shift so that the central part of the benches got a spray soaking too. Another one burst eruption, illuminated by several bright lights.

The day pretty much started out the same as yesterday. Nice and sunny, so went out to Grand where it started to cloud up. After the One Burst Grand, went to the Lower Basin to see what might be going on at Fountain.

Unlike yesterday, we got there after Fountain had a short interval, and with a short duration of 29m, there was no reason to stick around, or even head back later in the day. The only noteworthy thing is that there was a bison blocking the boardwald between Silex and the Paint Pots, and the warmer weather is bringing out the aroma of the buildings next to the parking lot.

Back in the Upper Basin, at least, we arrived just in time to head for Geyser Hill for a Beehive eruption. Nothing out of the ordinary there, either.

Later in the afternoon went out to Grand for another One Burst Eruption. Nice conditions, but the wind shifted at the last moment to obscure Turban and Vent when before the wind was headed toward Rift.

After that, realized that a Daisy eruption had probably been missed, and we were about an hour or so from an eruption. Which was good, because I wanted to see what Splendid might do (if anything) well before an eruption. There was water coming out a lobe to the north, enought to support orange slime, which was an improvement over previous years, when the water didn't even exit the rim.

What it did was nothing, until after Daisy. Around the eight minute mark or so, the Side Boiler did make an appearance, and a few minutes later we saw the Main Vent. The latter reached perhaps a meter high boil, which was actually about the best I've seen from it in years. At about the twenty minute mark, Main Vent died down and all we saw for a few minutes was the Side Boiler, getting a bit less vigorout. So Splendid is a long way from being active again, but at least it's slowed it's evolution into a hot spring.

The weather was finally nice all day. Went out to see the One BurstGrand for the morning eruption, and had to wait for an interval of over six hours. But by then had learned about the early morning Morning eruptions, so that was our next destination.

Arrived around 11:35 and ended up spending about ten hours sitting at the overlook. By sunset, Morning was nice and high, but we also started getting Morning's Thief boiling. Not a good sign.

Then we got a series of huge Thief eruptions about 12 minutes apart. This continued for about 45 minutes until Fountain finally started. Even then the Thief wasn't finished, as there were three more eruptions over the next seven minutes.

It was head out first thing in the morning for Fountain Paint Pots. It was also clear overnight, so I had to scrape the frost off the windows of the truck, and then drive in the fog to get there. Fortunately, that mostly cleared out north of Biscuit Basin, and there were no bison on the road.

But there were bison in the parking lot. We were the third behicle there, and I didn't see them until I had packed up and was about to head out. Suzanne never saw them. They were right in front of the vehicles, maybe ten feet from the walkway. Just settled down there, comping away, and they ignored me.

The interval for Fountain wasn't unreasonably long, and we got a couple of Morning's Thief eruptions before it started. It lasted about 35 minutes, so we knew we were not going to be coming out for the next one.

So a few hours later we arrived at Grand with West Triplet and Percolator erupting. Which led to a Rift eruption. Which didn't really seem to matter. Although Grand did have a delay, and several large boops as much as 1/2 minute before the One Burst Grand eruption finally started.

After, I went down basin for really the first time this trip to see a Grotto and Grotto Fountain start. I got both, but was a bit disappointed that Grotto Fountain got to about three meters at most, and Grotto started within a couple of minutes.

From there I noticed that Link was having a minor eruptions, so I stopped by to watch it. It wasn't long before I felt and heard a thump. That was interesting, because I've never had that happen before during a minor, only during those major eruptions I saw in 1983. Then it happened again. For the third time I finally figured out what was happening. It was from the people slaming the door of the Riverside Pit Stop.

And here's what the new view of an eruption of Riverside. It belongs on a calendar sold by "Yellowstone Forever".

Arrived for the afternoon Grand just in time to see Turban have an eruption lasting 7m30s. This was undoubtely caused by a delay. It was three Turban eruptions later when the One Burst Grand eruption finally occurred. The only different thing about this eruption was that the restart was quick, about 8-1/2 minutes.

Later went over to Black Sand Pool for some more thumps, this time from a real geyser. There were some good, strong ones, and they didn't ever seem to correlate with the heavy boils the pool was having.

Went out for one more Grand eruption after it got dark. This too was one burst, with nothing to distinguish it.