Got out to Grand just before midnight. Riding past the lift station on the bikes we could feel the temperature suddenly drop. Daisy was erupting as we started the walk down from Castle. Over in the Sawmill Group, it appeared that nothing much had appened since the evening. Based on the twenty minute wait we had before Turban finally erupted, and the copious overflow in the middle of the interval, we got there just in time for the Turban delay interval.
Sawmill had a brief two minute eruption during our wait, but for the next five Turban intervals, the durations of Turban eruption slows decreased from five minutes to well under four. Daisy had an interval well under two hours, and then Grand finally erupted. A long one burst eruption at the last possible time. If it had waited one more Turvan interval, the moon would have set.
Slept in a little bit longer on the assumption that the next interval wouldn't be excessively short. Which turned out to be the case. Grand took its time after a Turban Delay interval that happened while we were still back in the cabin. The eruption had a nice build up to a Turban start, but it was another One Burst Grand. Afterwards, West Triplet had a strong overflow with a couple of splashes to qualify as an eruption.
Check on Fan & Mortar, where Angle mode continues. Went on to East Sentinel for a quick check. Arrived to see some activity along the north rim, along with heavy overflow. That activity increased for a while to include superheated boilin over the near part of the pool and splashing along the entire rim. Then the activity died down and the overflow stopped for a couple of minutes. Then activity resumed as before, with some minor cycling in the amount of boiling. Only spent about 15 minutes there.
Of course the call for Beehive's Indicator came over the radio just as we'd finished the preparation of lunch and started to eat. Quite windy, but still a nice tall eruption under excellent conditions. Afterwards there was a preplay from Old Faithful that lasted for at least 30 seconds and was huge. It took it almost a half hour to recover from that. In the cabin we heard the cheering when it finally erupted.
The wait for the next One Burst Grand eruption was only an hour this time. As earlier, it started with Turban. One thing I noticed is that the start of Vent still took over three minutes from the Grand start, when it should have been much shorter. Castle started shortly after Grand, and it was a major eruption.
It was fairly windy by now, but decided to check out he Daisy Group. As it turned out, the Daisy interval was still only two hours. The duration was short at 3m16s. After the eruption Splendid did show some nice boiling from both Side Boiler and the Main Vent, but there is no evidence of any increase in discharge from the pool.
Went out to Grand just before midnight with the expectation of another long wait. Stopped at Belgian Pool when I noticed that the water level was pushing into the side lobe. That's when I heard Turban erupting, and within seconds, so was Grand.
It was nicely lit by the moon, and there were hints of moonbows, but the eruption lasted, at most, 8m40s, which was quite disappointing. But almost immediately after we figured out that the eruption was over, I noticed the steam building up down basin. Just after midnight, and Oblong had just started. So we headed down that way to get a closer look. I got as far as Chromatic, but by then the eruption was being illuminated.
(While we were at Oblong, and it was lit up, someone drove down basin and then turned around and drove back. I assume it was NPS looking for someone or something else, because they didn't stop.)
Went out to Grand early. It was a nice clear, and relatively warm morning, and after yesterday's short interval, seemed like a worthwhile place to be. Arrive during a Turban delay eruption, so at least that was out of the way. I prefer the early delays. Since it occurs when Grand is highly unlikely to actually erupt, it doesn't seem to do any sort of reset on the system the way the later delays behave.
And that was pretty much the case here. The next Turban, as expected, was quick with no Grand overflow. The next few Turban eruptions were short intervals, and Grand finally erupted on D4. Turban started strongly, and the waves building up to a huge boil. No chance of any boops. The eruption was a typical short one burst, with Vent & Turban continuing.
West Triplet started shortly after. Those who have been here a while were surpised with the eruption did not stop after a few minutes. Instead, we got what I consider the normal sequence of activity-- Percolator rising and starting, and at about the half hour mark, Rift beginning to erupt. West Triplet lasted about 45 minutes.
After a few hours, still hadn't heard that Rift had quit, which was disappointing. So decided to go on out and wait for the end and for Grand's first overflow. Rift had just quit as I was tying down my bike over at Castle, for a duration of three hours. The first overflow was at 4h50m, which seemed to be a bit longer, but not excessive. Expected the eruption of Rift to have had an effect, and perhaps the effect on the rest of the interval would be minimal.
With a little time to kill, I went over to Giant, where I saw a platform that looked like it did in the early 1980s. The only water visible was some damp areas around Mastiff towards Giant.
Today I noticed for the first time that Solstice is actually visible from the benches at Grand. I do not remember seeing the obvious steam and spray in previous years, which leads me to believe that Solistice has become stronger and taller, or that maybe a blocking tree has fallen.
Back at Grand it was around the seven hour mark, we got a Turban Delay interval. After six more undistiguished Turban eruption intervals, we finally got good overflow from Grand. Grand started immediately after Turban. The eruption lasted over eleven minutes, and the last minute consisted mostly of large boils and weak jetting.
Sawmill had been erupting most of the day, with a perhaps one hour pause while we waiting for Grand's first overflow. So wasn't surprised to see that the Sawill Group was in a deep drain. What was surprising was how far down Belgian Pool and Crystal Springs were. Both were down 20 to 25cm from their respective rims. Oval Spring did not have any visible water, other than an ocassional splash coming from the northern vent.
Went out to Grand with the expectation of having to wait until dark for the eruption. The pack had nighttime gear, including a light, and dinner. As it turned out, saw Grand start while standing at Sawmill. It was a nice tall start, and noisy. Two bursts but the total duration was under 10 minutes.
Since it was still going to be daylight for over an hour, went down to Fan & Mortar to kill some time. Definitely in a garbage mode, as within a minute or two of River starting, Gold and High were getting continuously with some power. Then it all died down.
We were supposed to be in Rotorua, New Zealand this week, but the gov't there doesn't want people visiting. So as an alternative, we spent two weeks on the Island of Hawaii. The second week was spent in and around Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The Halemaumau crater in the Kilauea caldera has been showing periodic activity the last few months. Every week or so, the activity dies down for about a day, leading to the pools crusting over because there isn't any new lava being fed into them. There was a pause the day before we were scheduled to arrive, which meant we had a good chance of seeing lots of activity.
It's about 0.7 miles along the old Crater Rim Road to the only legal overlook where one can see the lava from the eruption. The lookout itself is a new roped off area well off the road, and about a mile from the activity in the Halemaumau crater. Since it's a road most of the way, it's an easy hike.
We made a total of six trips out there. The first one was in the middle of the morning, to scout out the location and to determine what and when we should go next. The road itself is still open for a way beyond the turn to the overlook. It takes one past Keanakakoi crater to a couple of old caldera overlooks, but the lava can't be seen them. The road itself is closed due to a wide collapse fissure. So there was no reason to go there again.
We didn't visit the northern rim until several days later, but there too the overlooks didn't have a view of the lava.
We got to the overlook while it was overcast, and over the next hour it cleared, and as it brightened, the activity became harder to see. That first day the view was of a couple of lava pools being fed by a larger, slightly higher vent. There were areas of red visible where the lava flowed most quickly. The first was where there was a drop from the vent to the first pool, the second being the constriction where the second pool was fed. There was also incandescence visible along some of the shoreline. During our hour out there, we could see the crust over the pools crack, and occasionally there would be fountaining from them.
To the left (south) of the vent area were two or three spatter cones, where occasional spurts of red could be seen. I was never able to get a good feel for heights of the activity or the cones, since I had no references and the distance was so great.
To the right (east) was another large area which might have been another lava pool, but other than some steam and smoke rising from a few areas, especially along the shoreline, we didn't see any activity.
Decided our next visit was going to be that night. The moon was at first quarter, so it was easy to walk the road without any lights, letting our eyes adapt. It was a lot like going out at night to see geysers, but much warmer, and no need to worry about bison or bears lurking in the trees. Halfways to the overlook we could see the red glow as the forest turned to open lava fields.
We arrived shortly before midnight, and there were still maybe a dozen people still there. But the flow was mostly in the opposite direction, and by 00:30 we had the place to ourselves. The moon was at first quarter, and set around shortly afterwards.
The activity may have been the same as during the daylight visit, but it was much more impressive. We could easily see the jetting from the spatter cones. The pools themselves were various shades of red, and there were all sorts of red spots on the larger lava lake to the right.
We also saw a lot of lights were there should be any lights, west and southwest of us well up on the crater rim. Probably various groups wandering along the closed road from the other end.
We decided that our next visit would be at dawn a day later. We arrived around 05:00, which is about an hour before twilight and sunrise was at 06:30 (Note-- unlike Yellowstone, twilight at that latitude is short, and sunrise and sunset don't vary much during the year. It's pretty much always 12 hour of daylight and 12 of night.) We arrived with no one there, but people started wandering in almost immediately. As it got light, we got people showing up more interested in getting their own pictures taken than in seeing the lava. At one point we had a who group of "glamor girls" well downslope of the rope line striking various poses and ignoring what was going on behind them.
As it got light, I noticed that not only can you see the summit of Mauna Kea, but a number of the buildings housing telescopes are easily visible without even binoculars. Mauna Loa at night looks like a long, low cloudbank, and both mountains were cloud covered during our previous daytime visit.
The next night time trip was about an hour later, well after midnight. Instead of being alone, this time there were a number of people there. It being Saturday night probably had something to do with the numbers. Either an organized tour, or several large families all appeared shortly after we arrived. They were noisy and despite being there for over half an hour, spent most of their time taking pictures of themselves (with flash) instead of viewing the activity. They were even taking group photos with nothing in the background. There was also one woman who was telling people how to get to the overlooks in the closed area, who kept yammering away like a certain geyser gazer we all know, until another women there said that going out there would be "stupid."
But finally, they all left, it got quiet again. The volcanic activity was pretty much like the other views in the dark. One thing I did notice is that as the moon got lower, it became easier to see the ledges and cliffs down in the crater.
Another advantage to being alone is that one can actually hear the activity. There are a number of fumaroles that are roaring in the distance, and the occasional huffing sounds, some louder than others. All that gets hidden by the noise, not just of people talking, but of people walking on the gravel. It also helps that much of the nights were calm (or at least calmer) with less wind noise. It was hard to correlate the whooshing sounds with activity down in the crater, because we were so far away. I never did figure out exactly what was making it, but I believe it was from the spatter cones acting as vents.
Went out another time at even later so as to avoid people. The final night there was someone leaving just as we arrived, leaving us alone. This time the activity was perhaps the best yet. We could see the lava cascade into the first pool. The spatter cones were frequently and vigorously active. Not much fountaining from within the pools themselves, maybe because there wasn't much to crack. There were also red cracks in the eastern pool, and lots more red spots, probably skylights. I was also seeing what appeared to be a sort of small spatter cone.
Maybe it was from that spatter cone, because this night we heard a new type of noise. It sounded a lot like a deep mudpot. A low bass sound that reverberated and echoed with a definite liquid sound to it.
It never rained on any visit, although this last night the fog suddenly got so thick there was an easily visible moonbow. The steam from vents in the caldera wall, just below the overlook were hard to see most times, but now they were putting up a fog wall helping too obscure the view.
For the daytime trips, and hikes in other areas, we noticed the number of people suddenly increased around 10:00. As in Yellowstone, it appears tourists don't like to get an early start, and the main tourist areas are at least an hour's drive away.
The volcano paused at about the time of our last daytime visit. We hadn't intended to go there, but it was early morning and for some reason, the trailhead we had planned to go to had its gate closed. But because it was before tourist arrival time, the parking lot was half-empty. Could tell something was different with the activity, because in the first, earlier daytime visit (the first one to check out the area), we could see fountaining, and this time wasn't any of that. Found out later that we had arrived at the start of a pause. So we timed things perfectly.
There was some areas of red at the inlets of the pools, but no activity from the cones. I was also able to confirm that there was some sort of cone-like formation where I was seeing the spurts the night before, a cone I don't remember seeing during earlier daylight visits.
During that visit, with several dozen people at the overlook, some guy started setting up his drone. A tourguide told him that was illegal, but the drone operator said that the rangers gave him permission to fly it. Then he had it lift off and fly down in the crater and back. At that point, I walked over and reminded him that he didn't need to see the lava himself, and just down the road there were several viewpoints whose railing were visible where he could launch in peace because no one would go there. The guy actually packed up and left, and a bit later I think I saw him doing just that. I do hope his YouTube videos get so may views that the NPS will ask for a takedown.
We never saw any rangers out there. At some point I figure the NPS is going to have to do some nighttime patrols and make a few examples of people with the lights and drones, or things are going to get out of control. So far the only fatality this year was a 75 year old man who fell over a cliff at the northern closure.
Halemaumau Crater in the Kilauea Volcano Caldera, 2022 Mar 10
I didn't take much video, and only one still shot. I had to zoom it to x5 or x6 to get any detail, and at that point things are grainy and jump around a lot. If you want to see video, that from a drone is going to be better anyhow.
Here's a series of photos showing some of the activity of Link Geyser and the Chain Lakes Group during the activity in October 1983. Over a period of five days, Mary Ann Moss, Marie Wolf and I got to see several dozen major eruptions. We missed much of the activity of the first day.
Mary Ann took these photos, and as you can see, it was cold, damp and gray that week, which made seeing the eruptions difficult at times, but it didn't snow or rain. For more details on the activity, see my article in one of the early GOSA Transactions. Think of this as a supplement to that article.
Runoff from Link Geyser eruption in Oct 1983. Photos by M.A.Moss.
Here's what we saw of one of the first eruptions we witnessed. A lot of steam coming from opaque water. The ruts produced by the runoff channel didn't get much deeper or wider over the next few days, which supports our conclusion that the first few eruptions that no one saw were even more voluminous and powerful than what we saw.
Link Geyser eruption, October 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Here's one of the better photos, showing some of the details of the jets. I would estimate the height here at around 15 meters. We think we saw higher, more angled jets at times.
Link Geyser runoff, Oct. 1983. Photos by M.A.Moss.
A couple more views of the discharge from an eruption.
Next are a series of close-up views of the drained vents of the Chained Lakes.
Clasp Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
North Chain Lake Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Vent between North and Middle Chain Lake Geysers, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Middle Chain Lake Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Bottomless Pit vent, Oct, 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Link Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss
Link Geyser vent, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss
Eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Firehole River just after eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Aftermath of eruption of Link Geyser, Oct. 1983. Photo by M.A.Moss.
Note the debris washed onto the bike trail. We never saw an eruption put out enough water to reach that far, which again supports our assumption that the first eruptions were even larger.
And that's J.Randolph Railey watching the eruption.
Decided that I needed an early morning Grand eruption, so headed out just as it was light enough to not need the headlight. Wasn't foggy like the previous dawn eruption I went out to see, but the walkways were slippery with frost. Waited for three Turban eruption intervals and got a short One Burst Eruption where Vent & Turban didn't quit.
Heard a report of possible Oblong eruption, so went out early to check it out. Shortly after noon I was able to see the empty crater. Also, in the background, I noticed that Solstice was in eruption, the first I've seen it this year. From the Bijou cage, I could see that there were wide runoff channels coming down from it, so it had been erupting for a while. On the way back, on the extreme northernmost part of Oblong's crater I noticed a small jet of water just above the rim.
The Giant Platform seemed to be in a marathon recovery mode, as Bijou was almost off. Every dozen seconds or so a few droplets could be seen coming from it, while the platform itself is as dry as I've seen it. No runoff from Mastiff, no damp spots in the catch basins, and little steam.
Back at Grand, I'd seen a Turban eruption as I tied up my bike. So I was surprised when I saw Turban start about 32 minutes later. Seemed like a Turban Delay Interval. The duration on Turban was well over five minutes, and the next Turban eruption had no overflow from Grand, which tends to confirm my suspicions. But then we got another delay, this one also well over thirty minutes. As the overflow started to look really good, we got a boop out of Grand, followed by over a minute of nothing happening. Then the waves built backup, and then we got a nicely explosive start to a One Burst Grand eruption. The duration was ten minutes and Vent & Turban quit.
Afterwards, went to check out Geyser Hill. Little Squirt had just started, and I wanted to observe the frying pans I'd seen back in May. It was obviously too warm and too soon for there to be any activity. About an hour later, it looked like there might be some steam coming from the main area, but that could have been just wishful thinking. Also on Geyser Hill, caught a weak Depression eruption that mostly had heavy upwelling and strong overflow until it suddenly dropped about 40cm.
Before sunset, the Sawmill Group was in a deep drain. As I was walking up the hill, Sawmill had a "Big Tardy" eruption with a duration of around 25 seconds.
Over at the Grand Group, Sput D was periodic. After about a half hour, that lead to West Triplet erupting, but not followed by Rift. Once the pool of Grand looked good, it took its time while the waves on the pool slowly got stronger. The sun had already set, but there was still enough glow in the sky to nicely illuminate the burst, which quit at 8m10s. It was steamy, and hard to tell at first, but we did get a nice, tall second burst. At around the 45 second mark, Grand didn't go into "Big Sawmill" mode. It went into "Big Tardy" mode. For about 15 seconds the height of the jets were 10 to 12 meters, at most. Then it finally quit, and for the next minute, it appeared there was water in the pool as the jetting from Vent got stronger and stronger. Finally, after about 90 seconds, the pool appeared empty, and Vent quickly died down and ceased entirely.
With no reports on Grand and it being at almost eight hours, made a quick trip out to check on it. Was one of the foggier days for this trip, and I could tell Sawmill was erupting from the runoff, but I couldn't see it. Wasn't until I got to Rift that I found a quiet, empty crater at Grand. So probably erupted as much as two hours earlier.
Was coming out for the next Grand eruption, but first I got to see a less than four minute long Castle minor eruption. No Turban Delay, but did have to wait through several Turban eruption intervals before Grand started. The first burst lasted almost nine minutes, and the pause between the bursts was short. Unlike a number of the recent two burst eruptions, the behavior in Grand's pool was leaving no doubt of a second.
Did a check on East Sentinel, which is unchanged. Still having 19 minute cycles, although the first heavy overflow I saw was not followed by any activity from the South Rim. From there, spent about 45 minutes at Fan & Mortar, and decided that it was in garbage mode and since it was so soon after the previous eruption, I was wasting my time there.
Found that I can get from the cabin to Fan & Mortar in about seven minutes. Only came close to hitting one person who "had their head up their app". (Old Faithful was in eruption. A whole line of people lined up along the fence along the Inn, except one geezer who had to stand in the middle of the trail to get his selfie, and immediately look at himself in the little screen.) Got there with little time to spare. Didn't drop my pack or get out the raincoat, as by this time Upper Mortar was already having large minor eruptions about a minute apart. After the second minor that I saw, Angle vent looked strange, as if it was in a steamphase, while there was no activity from Gold and only moderate from High. After the third huge minor, when all of Mortar was quiet, suddenly Fan's East Vent kicked in, and then all the vents joined in.
This was the third Fan & Mortar eruption in a row that seemed to come with little warning. The prior activity of Fan did not have the intensity of the previous eruptions, since this time Mortar was dominating. But in each case, there was something about the activity that said that this was not a normal event cycle, and that people needed to be informed.
Following that excitement, went out for a sunset Grand eruption. In the Sawmill Group, the water levels were high enough that Slurp was quiet. Belgian and Crystal were way down, about 6cm.
I believe I saw the Delay eruption when I arrived, as it was a long eruption, and the next Turban interval matched the usual behavior -- no overflow. Also, Turban initiated the eruption, which seems to mostly happen only after a Turban Eruption Delay.
That One Burst Grand eruption was also right at sunset, so the water column of Grand was nicely tinted (and not from smoke) as the sun shone through a gap in the clouds. During the wait, West Triplet also had a short, less than seven minute long eruption, which shut down the other sputs for a bit, but they were back to erupting after the Grand eruption.
Wasn't planning to head out in the morning, but just as breakfast was ready to eat, got the call about Beehive's Indicator. Had plenty of time to get out to see the Beehive eruption which was in dead calm conditions. I didn't see the Base Vent do anything during the eruption.
After that, did head out for Grand, a ten minute One Burst Eruption followed by West Triplet erupting.
With nothing much else going on, went out to Lone Star. Arrived at the end of the first minor eruption. Twelve minutes later, another eruption started. About a minute in, the size and power seemed to increase dramatically, and water could be seen coming from the small vents on the left size. Then, after only two and a third minutes, it all quit. It was 26 minutes before the major eruption started, which was an interval of about 3h15m between the major eruptions.
Back at Grand, arrived with Percolator in eruption. This is moderately unusual, and indicative of West Triplet starting soon. But West Triplet didn't start until an hour-and-a-quarter later. During this time there were just a series of non-descript Turban eruptions.
Grand started shortly after West Triplet. The One Burst Eruption lastest 10-1/4 minutes, and there was water in Grand's vent for about twenty seconds before it drained. Then right after the end, Rift started steaming, so we stayed around to watch the water start down the runoff and go under the walkway.
Over at the Sawmill Group, there was a deep drain in progress. Tardy was having a series of single bursts, two or three per minutes, followed by a longer eruption lasting about a minute with a similar pause before the start of the next series of single bursts.
Did get to see Tilt start while waiting for Castle. Castle waited until the sun had set before erupting. We had left maybe a couple of minutes earlier.
Went out to see the midnight One Burst Grand Eruption, which lasted about eleven minutes. As expected, Belgian and Crystal had risen to near normal height, in response to Rift, and were starting to drop again.
If we had gone up to Norris, we would have probably been exiting the Gibbon Canyon when New Crater/Steamboat erupted. I had just arrived at Fan & Mortar, and it was a relief to get the message from Suzanne, knowing we didn't need to worry about Norris for the rest of the trip.
It had rained overnight, and was still mostly overcast. Cool and damp, as it didn't have a chance to get cold overnight.
As it was, I was on the phone with her when suddenly Upper Mortar had a nice rumble. The High and Gold Fan vents were looking good when the call started, and now, moments later, they looked great. I hung up and actually got on the radio to issue a "heads up" call.
The activity looked a lot like the previous eruption, but Angle was not active, and Bottom vent had been splashing when I arrived. Even if it was early in a cycle, people needed to be informed. Over the next ten minutes, the vents only waned a couple of times, then immediately came back strong. Finally, Angle joined in, and by then High was as high as last eruption's preliminary activity. When the Frying Pan finally started, there was little doubt that something was going to happen.
Upper Mortar never really surged until, suddenly, East Vent took off like last time. Unlike last time, the other vents quickly joined in. Unfortunately, the wind, which had been blowing the steam toward the river, shifted and was now toward the benches. So Mortar was clearly visible, but Fan was lost in a mass of steam.
After the eruption, a quick check at East Sentinel showed no real change, other than the one overflow I saw was not followed by any boiling from the South Rim.
The morning Grand was the second observed two burst eruption in a row. It started three Turban intervals after a Turban Delay Interval. There was a definite false pause about 1/2 minute before the end of the first burst, and the whole eruption lasted just over ten minutes.
Later in the day, came out to a Sawmill Group that had relatively high water. Slurp was completely quiet. Penta was splashing slightly, and Belgian and Crystal were both down about 5cm. West Triplet, Percolator and Sput D were also in eruption as I arrived.
The first Turban eruption I saw had an unusual explosive start. Suddenly a thin jet of water was propelled about three meters above the rim, followed by several seconds of quiet before the usual boiling surges began.
Another fifteen minutes after that, Rift started. At that point Grand was full, but stalled out for the next fifteen minutes, giving us another Turban Delay Interval. Fortunately, Grand had its third consecutive observed two burst eruption just two Turban eruption intervals later. At first it was hard to see the pool as Grand paused, then the steam parted with the pool full of churning water. As with this morning, the second burst was short.
Following that, spent some time in a Sawmill Group that still had high water. It had been higher earlier, as the runoff from Spasmodic was still wet. Watched Penta splash around for a while.
Finally, from the bike rack, watch a Bulger major eruption, but no indication of any activity out of Bulger's Hole.
Went out to illuminate a nighttime Grand. It was a One Burst Eruption after Delay that cause the eruption to be two Turban eruption intervals later, and the eruption lasted less than 9-1/4 minutes.
Got out at dawn to find Fan & Mortar didn't erupt overnight. But over the next few hours, I ended up going back and forth between there and Castle because it insisted on looking good enough. Watched Turban and Sawmill start from the bike racks, just in case needed to run back north. When I did head over to Grand, I saw the One Burst Eruption start from Sawmill (and would have recorded it if I had hit the right buttons).
Also did a spot check of East Sentinel, and it looked unchanged.
A windy day, so went up to Daisy at a four-and-a-half hour double interval, and still needed to wait a half-hour. Otherwise everything there seemed normal, with Daisy lasting 3-1/2 minutes.
Mid-day wait for Grand had West Triplet start before Grand. We did get a second burst, one lasting over two minutes
After that, part of afternoon was spent at East Sentinel, where it still looked unchanged from the last few days.
Fan & Mortar didn't do anything after the morning's events until it was time to head to Grand, when it had a weak event. I watched a couple of Turban eruptions from the bikerack again, just in case it picked up, but it didn't.
Over at Grand, both Percolator and Sput D were active. West Triplet was not near overflow. This has been a sign of Rift in the past. After about an hour, West Triplet finally did start, but it was a short duration eruption and Rift stayed quiet.
Grand itself was getting into that weird mode where it had a Turban eruption interval of less than 16 minutes, and where the overflow starts much earlier than usual. Fortunately, there had been no delay, so the interval for the One Burst Grand eruption was about 7-1/4 hours. It was a twelve minute long duration, which helped drain the batteries of several lights.
Spent three more hours at Norris, confirming that nothing much has changed with New Crater/Steamboat. Just as we were about to leave, of course there was a nice minor. We waited another ten, just in case there was a followup, but nothing happened.
We took our time in the parking lot, putting things away and getting organized. I had just backed out of the parking space and was weaving my way among the people waiting for others to leave when we heard a radio call for another good minor. Made the executive decision that there was no way we were circling around and parking and heading back out. Was the right decision, in that after a couple more nice events over the next hour, nothing much happened.
On the way back from doing laundry and grocery restocking in West Yellowstone, decided to stop in at Great Fountain. It appears it started just after we'd passed that spot on the road where it and White Dome are visible, and by the time we arrived at the parking area. Miraculously, there was a parking spot right across from the walkway. So watched the rest of the first series, and the next two. The second was poor, while the third was adequate.
But the most pathetic thing about that eruption that several hours later, I noticed that no one had reported anything about the eruption, so I had to add in our arrival time to GeyserTimes.
A bit later on, went down to check on East Sentinel, which hasn't changed in activity since the major activity earlier in the week. Still cycling every 19 to 20 minutes with all the activity along the North Rim.
Returning from there, I noticed that the Frying Pan was steaming at Fan & Mortar, and there was the appearance of the end of a normal cycle. So I headed off to Grand.
Walked up on another deep drain the the Sawmill Group, with even Slurp quiet. Saw Old Tardy start, and saw Percolator and Sput D erupting. Then Sawmill started.
Twenty minutes after I had passed by Fan & Mortar, Suzanne was doing the same when she saw splashing in the Main Vent. Even though it was a little over two days in the interval, I left Grand because I know Fan & Mortar can have intervals that short, and it's been doing strange things this year. Turns out the Main Vent splashing went on for a long time, and during that time Lower Mortar was showing the first "fuzz ball" activity in several intervals. The Frying Pans and East Vent were also steaming slightly. Bottom Mortar had a series of eruptions, but when the Fan vents started, they didn't look encouraging, and by the time the Frying Pan started, it was obvious that there was not going to be an eruption.
With Fan & Mortar out of the way, it was a day to waste at Norris.
Arrived at dawn, and left twelve hours later. There had been delayed, days old reports (which no one had seen until yesterday) which said that New Crater/Steamboat was looking good. That wasn't what we saw. Infrequently there would be a short, strong minor with lots of water coming out of South Vent, but in only one case was there a follow-up within ten minutes. The "bounces" and "vertical" from North Vent happened a lot, and seem to be of no consequence. Toward the end of the wait, these minor eruptions were happening about a half-hour apart, which resulted in our staying an extra hour. Just in case.
Once again, got up while still dark to check on Fan & Mortar, and once again, they hadn't erupted. So sat myself down to watch and listen to Angle Vent chug away for an hour, until it was time move over to Grand.
It was another double interval, so may have gotten there early. But the second Turban eruption was a Delay Interval. The only good thing about it was that it meant that the eruption would be under less steamy and brighter conditions.
It only took two Turban eruption intervals before the start of another One Burst Grand Eruption. And the conditions were excellent, as even the smoke hadn't settled in yet.
After reconfiguring and having some breakfast, went back out to Fan & Mortar. Still nothing much happening. The big entertainment was about a dozen duck appeared down river, and made their way to where the North Chain runoff channel used to be. There they landed and then settled down to sleep. They were leaving as I was leaving, about 1-1/2 hours later.
Went over to Grand for another eruption, and probably arrived at the end of a Turban Delay Interval. This eruption had a long duration, and the next Turban eruption had no overflow from Grand. Grand finally erupted on what was probably the fourth Turban interval, and the streak of One Burst Eruptions continued.
From there, we considered going back to the cabin, but instead decided to return to Fan & Mortar and kill some time there. Tara Cross was the only other person there. We killed some time as an uninteresting cycle progressed out at Fan. But about twenty minutes into the activity, Fan's High vent suddenly seemed to pick up. So much so that we decided that everyone else spread around the basin (from Artemisia to Grotto to Geyser Hill and the Lodge) needed a "heads up" alert, just in case this resulted in an eruption.
A few minutes later we saw a splash from Main Vent. This is the first time I can remember anything like this happening, which also meant that I had no idea what could happen next.
We saw another splash as the activity from High Vent became strong and continuous. Gold Vent was also pouring out water and itself nearly continuous. High was acting and looking a lot like Vent Geyser as it starts. I started taking video, as the activity continued on for about three minutes. By this time High was erupting to about six or seven meters high.
Then the water in East Vent welled up and it was erupting to at least ten, if not fifteen meters high. This activity lasted (according to my video recording) about 22 seconds, when first Lower Mortar, then Main Vent, and finally Upper welled up and out and into full eruption. This activity started about nine minutes after the first radio alert.
The wind could have been a little better, as the walkway from the middle of the bridge to Spiteful got soaked. I got soaked, and the initial surges from Main are still quite warm.
At some point Spiteful stopped, and became calm. At one point after Fan & Mortar had ended, it had a brief eruption from the back vents, with the rightmost vent throwing water horizontally a couple of meters to the left beyond the rim.
Later in the day, I went out for the early night eruption of Grand, only to walk up on Sawmill starting as I passed Scalloped. Then as I got up to Sawmill, I saw the start of a Penta steam phase. The group was in a deep drain. There was a lot of noise from the Main Vent, and the bottom Right Vent was occasionally spraying water onto the walkway. This activity lasted about four minutes.
The last Grand of the day was another One Burst Eruption. Again, based on Turban durations and intervals and Grand's lack of overflow, I guess that it was a Two Turban Interval Delay. Also, the eruption only lasted a bit over nine minutes, and even with the bright light, I saw no indication of a second burst.
Got up while still dark to check on Fan & Mortar. They hadn't erupted, and in the brief time I was there, all I saw was splashing from Angle Vent. So it was off to Grand.
It was light enough that the flashlight was no longer needed, and warm enough that the walkways were not frosted and slippery. It was another One Burst Grand eruption but it also closed a short double interval.
Watched East Sentinel for a bit, long enough to see a cycle of about 20 minutes between heavy overflows. Then spent three hours at Fan & Mortar. At first it was garbage mode, but everything got quiet for about eight minutes before Fans vents turned on. Later there was a hit of steam from the frying pans, and what seemed like heavy steam from Upper Mortar, but nothing much came from that. Then it was back to garbage mode, with Angle having minor blips every minute or two, and the other vents coming on strong for a minute, then quitting for a few minutes.
The midday Grand eruption had a Turban Delay with a small Grand boop followed by about five minutes of the pool slowly dropping. It was three more Turban eruptions before Grand started, and unlike many Delay starts this year, it was initiated by Grand.
The rest of the afternoon was devoted to killing time down basin. Toward sunset, it was time for Grand again. This time there was not only no Turban Delay, but the One Burst Eruption started with the sun still barely above the horizon.
Visited East Sentinal early in the morning for about 40 minutes. The North Rim vent cycled every 15 to 20 minutes, briefly having a heavy overflow and some surging, then dropping back down for the next cycle.
Over at Grand, the walkways were icy, especially in the shaded areas (or where shaded by people sitting on the benches). I think Rift may have erupted a few hours earlier, as both Crystal and Belgian were high, and Slurp was in a wet eruption.
While waiting, I saw Bulger start, the first activity in days. A bunch of us quickly went over there and got to see Bulger's Hole fill and erupt. It still does its spitting and pausing. It also made noises as it drained.
Grand itself was another One Burst Eruption, starting at the end of a Tuban Interval Delay. A ten minute duration resulted in Vent & Turban quitting.
Then spent a couple of hours back at East Sentinel, where it still didn't do anything, just more cycling as seen earlier.
Grand then had a long interval for no good reason. It finally erupted on a 32 minute Tuban Interval Delay, where the pool seemed to be dropping at Turban started. It then came up and started flooding the area. A nine minute duration was enough for the pool to briefly refill before dropping for good. At least Vent and Turban continued.
Thw walkway past Rift had a nice coating of frost in the morning, as did the benches. It got heavier as I waited through the Turban intervals after a long Turban Delay Interval. It wasn't warming up as there was a thin layer of clouds that had replaced the smoke. But the One Burst Grand was nicely visible as the steam was being pushed to the south.
Toward noon, I decided that checking on Fan & Mortar was a good place to waste some time. Over 45 minutes I saw what appeared to be "garbage mode", where the Fan vents come and go, look good at first, but there's never any prolonged gap or activity from Mortar. So decided that I should check on East Sentinel, then head in.
As I approached, I saw a larger than usual steam cloud from East Sentinel. It appeared that I was seeing the activity between minor eruptions. The vent was empty as I arrived, while there was some jetting from the south rim toward the north inside the vent itself. There was steam coming from the small vents to the south of the crater.
Empty crater of East Sentinel
Over the next few minutes the activity of the vents picked up, leading to a small minor eruption from an empty crater. About ten minutes later there was a second such increase in activity.
Then water became visible at the bottom of the vent, rising quickly. It got as high as about 1-1/2 meters from overflow, then started fluctuating. Around this time thumping could be heard. The pool finally rose to about 1/2 meter below overflow, when the activity shifted from the south to the north.
Now some horizontal jetting could be seen well under the shelf. The small vents to the south had stopped steaming by this point. After a while with no change, left the area on the assumption that it was in a refilling mode.
From there it was time for Grand, and another One Burst Eruption. That was immediately followed by the start of Beehive's Indicator, so a quick trip to Geyser Hill was in order.
A few hours later I decided to check on East Sentinel and Fan & Mortar again. I arrived at East Sentinel to find that the activity had shifted again, with the south rim boiling vigorously. Over the next few minutes, the water level in the crater rose as the activity increased. Water was pouring out of the runoff slot, while the south vents were jetting a couple of meters in height, including some horizontal activity to the east (the mostly dry channel at the front).
This activity lasted about three to four minutes, then the water level dropped and the boiling subsided. Over the next hour, the water level would rise to overflow, then drop. Eventually the overflow was so heavy that the runoff notch couldn't contain it, and water started running south over a low spot in the rim. At that point, surging started again, and we got another eruption, stronger than the previous. This one lasted under three minutes, and once again the crater water level dropped about 30cm at the end.
East Sentinel minor eruption
Following this the rising and falling started again, but I decided that it would be nearing dark before the next attempt, and left.
Did go out for the after sunset One Burst Grand eruption. This one lasted over twelve minutes, and featured a couple of false pauses, one at around the 8-1/2 minute mark, the other a few seconds before Grand finally quit.
