Category: 2020

Discovered the hard way that the bike trail to Fairy Falls beyond the Grand Prismatic overlook is closed because of bear activity. Gotta remember to chec the signboards at the trailheads. (In this case, the incident was two days ago, and didn't get publicity until today.) So returned and did a loop of the Lower Basin to find that pretty much everthing of interest was in the middle of its interval. Did finally stop by and see a full Flood eruption, but the attempt to video record the eruption was not successful due to operator error.

Spend a few hours at Three Sisters to learn more about how things work there. Got to see a major Mugwump eruption (one lasting 25 seconds with multiple bursts) and what was probably the last minor (one having a single large burst, lasting about 10 seconds). Three Crater also seems to have multiple modes, from a single large boop to multiple distinct bursts over a period of five or more minutes, but I haven't quite figured it all out.

Did see three more One Burst Grand Eruptions. Two of them came on delays. The last one of the day went into Big Sawmill mode for the last few minutes, with multiple false pauses.

A final indignity was to wait for a West Triplet to finish. It lasted nearly 35 minutes, but Rift didn't start and wasn't even steaming. So I left. Looking back from the walk up to Crested, I could see the steam from an eruption of Rift starting.

Rift started about the time we were tying up the bikes at Castle. Then we got a Turban delay. Grand overflowed heavily for about 20 seconds, and there were even some boops before the start. Then Turban took well over a minute to start, and Vent was 3m06s. It was the first One Burst Grand of this visit.

Afterwards, with Rift still erupting, Sput D and Percolator started up. Sput D appears to be much larger than last year's activity, and stronger. It stopped once, and so did Percolator, for about 30 seconds. That's something different that need to be confirmed. After the restart, I noticed a wet frying pan in the gravel at the site of Sputnik. It didn't last long, and I didn't stay around much longer.

After seeing a number of eruptions on the webcam, it was time to try and see Mugwump in person. So it was nice that it erupted within a couple of minutes of our arrival. The eruption lasted 25 seconds, and consisted of a number of large bursts that put out waves into the wash zone to the northwest of the vent. It was also preceeded by a burst from Three Crater, but was there so short a period of time that am not sure it was an isolated burst, or the last of a series.

Waited for another eruption, and started to piece together what to look for. After about ten minutes Three Crater started erupting. This consisted of a long series of distinct bursts about 5 to 10 seconds apart, ranging in height from a meter to maybe 2 or 3 meters high at times. There's a small spot of convection near the edge of the pool closest to the road. The activity from Three Crater made the surface of the pool rough, but it appeared that the convection died down while Three Crater was active. After Three Crater finally stopped, the activity inthat area slowly built up. Eventually there was a second area of convection well behind it in the pool. When that activity picks up, that's when it's time to start the video recording. This eruption looked like the previous, and even put a stream of water into some runoff channels.

The final eruption of Mugwump was different. It came on a shorter interval, lasted maybe ten seconds, didn't reach much height, and the water never made it into the wash zone. Others have reported only seeing these small eruptions, none of the bigger ones. So there appear to be some modes in the behavior which futher study will be needed to understand.

Stopped at West Thumb on the way home. In terms of thermal activity, nothing to report. Lots of craters with opaque hot water at the bottom, more deep holes discharging boiling water, and nothing even splashing or sputtering or even sizzling.

What was noteworthy were the number of elk. Saw at least five or six hanging around in the thermal area and parking lot, including a mother and fawn right next to the boardwalk blocking southern access to the lakeshore, requiring a lot of backtracking. Then I heard one bugle off beyond the parking lot.

Was thinking about going out to Grand in the night, but while the moon was bright, it looked like the clouds were coming. Decided to not go out. I woke up again about the time of the eruption, and that proved correct. And the interval was closer to seven hours, which would have made for a long wait.

It was a short wait at Grand. The eruption was perhaps the best of the trip, with what little wind there was pushing the steam up the hillside, so all the vents were visible and the water column and jets were nicely backlit. In addition, there was a second burst.

I couldn't go up on the south side of Daisy as there were five bison bedded down in the area near the trail between Bank Geyser and Bonita Pool. After the Daisy eruption, I watch Splendid for a while. After about four minutes from the end of Daisy, the Side Boiler finally started small. With twenty seconds or so, the activity shifed to Main Vent and stayed there. After a few minutes there were even a few strong surges to about a meter.

The best Grand eruption of the trip had to be followed by the worst. It was still partly sunny when we got out there, but we could see the clouds building to the west and north. It got progressively cooler and windier until we could hear some thunder.
By that time Beehive's Indicator started. By the time Beehive erupted, Turban had some sort of delay eruption. It was hard to tell through the steam, but it was probably a Vent Overflow delay. Turban started strong and vigorous, but lasted less than 3-1/2 minutes. Grand's pool level dropped more than normal.

By then, the rain started, and the wind really picked up. It was two Turban intervals later that Grand finally did erupt. A One Burst Grand lasting 8m53s. It was around that time that the wind died down and the rain slowed to a shower.

With Grand having an over eight hour interval overnight, there was nothing to do in the morning. So visited the Lower Basin again. A Fumarole was back to being a fumarole, and the Fountain Paint Pots had thickened up enough to make some nice mud cones. There was still a slightly bluish pool over some of the white mud area in the center.

Great Fountain overflowed sometime during the half hour we went to the Paint Pots, so there wasn't much of a wait. And the "Big Boil" lead directly into a decent eruption. I tarped my truck just in case, so there wasn't any target for a superburst.

Back in the Upper Basin we had a short wait for the next One Burst Grand Eruption. There was almost a delay, with a Turban eruption interval of 24m59s. But Grand erupted on the next Turban. During that eruption Castle started, and had another major. I haven't seen a minor this trip.

The Firehole River is still high, with water well over the step at the base of Sawmill's unused runoff channel.

The evening was pleasant, although a bit windy, and would have been a great sunset eruption of Grand. But instead we got Rift starting (with Belgian down about 1-2 cm) and a Turban Delay. Grand showed no desire to erupt until after the sun finally disappeared behind a thick cloudbank above the ridge. Then our D4 One Burst Grand eruption happened. Rift quit at about the same time as Grand, with a duration close to two hours.

During the Rift eruption Belgian had risen back to the rim, and at some point Slurp had also risen and was discharging water along with occasional spits. I'm pretty sure this was not Crystal Spring runoff, too.

Riding out in the morning I had to follow a coyote up the hill to Castle. I was headed out in the morning to enjoy what I expected would be the last quiet morning of the spring. The roads in from Montana were opening at 10:00, and figured there'd a fair amount of pent up demand to visit the park, especially today.

So first went to see an eruption of Daisy. Over by Pyramid were 8 bison bedded down. It was a nice, normal Daisy. I didn't stick around to watch Splendid as usual, because I wanted to get over to Castle to catch the next eruption after the one we saw the previous night. I saw Castle start just as I got onto the main bike trail. There was one long pause about four minutes later, and then continuous activity leading into the steam phase.

From there I saw that Rift and West Triplet were erupting. When I arrived in the area, West Triplet had quit, and Belgian looked full and normal. Bulger was having a series of minors. While waiting on Grand, did see a huge eruption of Rocket, well above the trees. Also saw Percolator for a while.

The One Burst Grand came after a Turban delay. Rift continued to erupt during the eruption. Percolator had quit, but Sput D was active. Then Bulger finally had a major eruption. It only lasted a bit over six minutes, but the Hole showed water twice-- at about three and five minutes. The first time there was even a splash or two but the water level never rose higher than about 40cm below the surface.

Went down basin to confirm that there was no reason to pay close interest to either Fan & Mortar, or to Giant. It was near time for Riverside, so we were there when we heard the call for Beehive's Indicator via the webcam. It was a nice view from across the river.

Later it was back out to Grand. Not long to wait for another One Burst Eruption. The crowd wasn't much bigger than what we'd been seeing for the past week. The mass of people I'd expected to rush in from Montana appears to not have materialized.

The webcam people are starting to annoy me as an observer actually in the basin. They seem to be unable to have one report of activity, but must have at least three for every geyser. So many that I've had my "in the basin" reports superceded. They really need to figure out how to arbitrate their little competitions for "Level 5 Geyser Guru" and make one posting.

The other problem is that some people insist on posting useless observations like Pump Geyser. The excuse cited is that "it's to show that the geyser is active." So I decided that it's not just pump, but other features like Tortoise Shell, Comet, Spasmodic and Witches Cauldron that deserve the same treatment. Better yet, those camera watchers should actually spend some time on Geyser Hill and actually watch Pump for a while to learn what it normally does and what sort of activity is worthy of being reported. (They could at the same time see about getting 100 consecutive Sponge eruptions.)

Day started out warm and breezy. Arrived to see West Triplet and Percolator erupting, but no Rift to follow. The Grand eruption about two hours later did have a second burst, and was even so short that vent & Turban didn't quit. Belgian pool was lower when I left than when I arrived, which was interesting.

Later went over to Geyser Hill and caught Beehive eruption. By then the wind had gotten stronger, and of course, as we waited, it shifted toward our position over by Plume. As it turned out, we were right on the edge of the wet zone, and that little corner remainded dry.

Over at Grand Rift was erupting. Belgian was down even more and Slurp was making noisy, sloppering noises but not putting out any water. Bulger was having a series of minors. During the One Burst Grand eruption Rift quit, and Belgian had risen back close to its rim.

Made a quick trip out to Castle to catch an early evening eruption that I saw mostly by myself. It tried to stop once around the four minute mark, but otherwise contined a nice series of mostly major eruptions. (At least what I've seen.)

As the sun set the wind died down, so the wait for the next One Burst Grand wasn't unpleasant. But first we had to have Turban delay, which made sure that it was completely dark. With the quarter moon giving just enough light to see the eruption, that delay may have made the One Burst Eruption more interesting.

A fourth day like the third, although this time there were a couple of moments when it appears that there was going to be an eruption. But in the end, it was another day wasted.

Did get to see a bear on the drive up. It was walking up the road toward Gibbon Falls. I saw this dark lump there, and wondered if it was a small bison. Then it started running and was obviously not a bison. It kept running as we approached, then jumped over the rock wall and was running up the fenced in path. Last we saw of it, it was still running on that walkway.

A third day of things looking better at Norris, but not looking good enough. At 13:28 there was an unexpected push that sure looked like New Crater/Steamboat was starting, but after about 30 seconds, it died down. Nothing much the rest of the day other than a couple of vertical episoded early and a couple near the time we were leaving.

The bison were really out in force. Near Tuff Cliff was a herd of about a dozen cows, each it seemed with a calf. Several other places along the way we had to slow down or stop for bison on or near the road.

A second day at Norris pretty much like the first. The activity was a bit stronger, especially from the South vent where there were numerous bursts to 10meters putting out lots of water. But until 1903, nothing much out of the North vent. Then there was the usual increase in activity just as we were leaving. This time there was a sustained minor with some North vent vertical. Then nothing much for 20 minutes.

The drive back was amusing. Between Madison Jct and Biscuit Basin, encounter a bison in the exact center of the road. Then beyond Midway were flashing lights and someone talking to a ranger. Around the curve were more flashing lights, and a semi-tractor trailer. Then just before Biscuit, just as the sun was about to set, were two bicyclists headed north. And it looks the the one lane restriction on the overpass at Old Faithful is about to start.

A day spent at Norris, where nothing much happened. Steamboat/New Crater looked pretty much the same when we left at 19:20 as when we arrived at 05:50. Seemed like good water coming from the South vent, but North vent was initiating most of the activity, and only once, in the middle of the day, did we see anything approaching vertical.

Had decided to not come out for the pre-dawn Grand eruption, so it was a bit of a surprise to find it erupting shortly ater 08:00. That meant that most likely that there were two long intervals overnight. It also meant that I wouldn't be getting out until later.

Did go out after noon, and watched a series of similar Turban eruption intervals. Unlike previous days, there was no hint of any sort of delay. So it was nice to also be rewarded with a second burst, although the eruption was just under ten minutes long and Vent & Turban did quit.

Went on over to Geyser Hill again, to check on Beehive but not stay. It was having minor splashes, but nothing that looked imminent. Over by Aurum and watched and felt a episode of thumping by Doublet Pool. With few people on the boardwalks, it was easy to feel them. Then Aurum erupted just as I was getting ready to leave. Better behaved than in my previous attempt at seeing an eruption.

The day ended with a report of Beehive's Indicator starting. It was a long one, giving us plenty of time to get within view. And again, the area was far quieter than usual. Old Faithful had just erupted, so there were a few families wandering about