Got up early this time, despite the snow on the walkways and still coming down. Walked out and managed to make it past the Rift walkway. Ended up waiting a couple of Turban eruption intervals, and then heard a boop just before Grand started. The weather cooperated, and we could see all the geysers. The activity ended after 8-1/2 minutes, and we got a second burst instead of One Burst.
Back in the cabin, we waited for a Beehive Indicator call, then headed over there when it came. Again, the weather cooperated, and we got a nice wind-free eruption. The little vent at the base was active again.
Headed out for Grand at mid-day, but first had to wait for the snow to decrease enough to make the walk tolerable. Once again, had to slide past Rift in about one inch of snow that wasn't there earlier. In the steam, heard what I thought it was Turban, but was actually a Grand Boop. This time, the eruption was long enough (almost 11 minutes) that we didn't have any question about a second burst.
In the evening, the sun was out until it was time to head out. But there was no rain, and no snow on the walkways for once. Passing by South Scalloped, it looked like it was maybe a centimeter or two lower than usual, with little runoff. Not sure if it wasn't just imagination.
The Grand eruption started with a nice sized boop, with the slight breeze pushing the steam toward the prediction sign. The first burst ended at just under eight minutes, and the sun came out at the end giving us a nice, wide rainbow. The second burst had one of the taller spikes I've seen, along with a resumption of the rainbow. Disappointed that the whole eruption lasted less than ten minutes.
Afterwards, I noticed that the Spasmodic Group was at its high water level. There were a few bubbles coming up from Oval's far vent, and Penta had water in the bottom vents. South Scalloped seemed back to normal, too.
When I looked at GeyserTimes in the morning, I saw that Jim Schrierer had just seen the third Turban eruption after a Delay. I decided that I didn't have the time to get out there. I was wrong, as it finally went at the end of the sixth interval, and there was even a second burst.
Also on GeyserTimes was a webcam operator report of Fan & Mortar possibly erupting. So we went on down there, to discover what had happened there. But first we had to get past about six bison grazing just south of Castle, on both sides of the bike trail. Finally the all moved to the side, and we could pass by. There was one, probably a year old, that kept eyeing me as I tried to pass. The rest ignored us.
Finally getting down there, we discovered that indeed Fan & Mortar had erupted overnight. The catch basins around Upper Mortar had water in them, and the boardwalk from Spiteful on north was still wet, despite being in the sun. The walkway south of there was dry.
At that point, got interrupted by a report of Beehive's Indicator, but I choose to not run down and see it. Instead, spent some time taking videos in the area, and caught the start of Grotto and an eruption of Daisy.
The activity of Fan & Mortar at that point was interesting. Bottom Vent had an eruption, and there was some splashing seen in Main Vent. When they started, Fan's vents were strong, and Bottom quit. It did look like a strong cycle, one that usually doesn't result in an eruption.
Caught the next Daisy eruption in the wind, and it did last 3-1/2 minutes. Splendid didn't look well at all before or after.
In the afternoon, caught the One Burst Grand Eruption. Started with a huge, sudden burst. No boiling or booping this time. The eruption lasted just under ten minutes, and about a minute after that, Vent started blasting and Turban became strong. Then they all quit.
Went over to Castle, as it had been almost 15 hours since the middle of the night eruption. It took its time, then erupted for just over four minutes. Starting at the two minute mark, we started getting increasingly longer pauses, until finally it just didn't even try to come back from the pause.
Because the wind died down and the snow wasn't too heavy, decided to go out for the sunset Grand. Or at least the gloomy twilight Grand. Instead the One Burst Eruption started as I was passing Crested Pool. Slowly made my way over to see the end of the eruption, and didn't slip and fall at Rift. (Although at one point I stopped moving, and could feel my feet starting to slide.)
It was late in Grand's eruption when Castle started, the eruption after the minor eruption we'd seen earlier. This eruption also had a number of short pauses as we walked back that way from Grand, and I was wondering about another pair of minor eruptions, but it finally settled into continuous activity and the steam phase.
It was a cold morning, so not in any hurry to get out and about. It was nearly noon before arriving at Grand, and as we walked up, we noticed steam to the left of Beehive's cone.
As it turned out, there was plenty of time to get to Beehive and back for the start of a steamy eruption. I saw Vent overflow, hit a button in the timer app, Grand started so I hit that button, and looking up saw Turban. So three button presses in about four seconds. As expected, Vent started in well less than three minutes. Most of the Turban starts I've seen this trip have been well after Grand started, with Vent sometimes close to 3-1/2 minutes after Grand.
Shortly after Grand started, Castle started its post-minor eruption. And a few minutes later, I noticed it was off. It continued to look like it was trying for restart, but by the time the One Burst Grand Eruption was over, so was Castle. The last two minutes of Grand were of the Big Sawmill style of weak bursting.
After that, it was on down to check Fan & Mortar, where there was still no eruption, and the incomplete cycle we saw seemed dull and ordinary.
The day was cold and blustery, but it was acceptable to go to Biscuit and spend an hour trying to see one of the large Rusty eruptions. Or at least a second one, as there was a large, Aurum-like eruption as the vehicle turned into the parking area. Most of the time there the small eruptions came regularly every two minutes, although there were some six minute intervals tossed in.
Finally, went out to Grand for the early evening eruption. Walked up to find West Triplet had just ended, and Grand in good overflow. Only waited five minutes for the eruption to start. The wind had died down, so I could actually hear (but not see) the boop that preceeded the eruption by a few seconds.
At just under eight minutes, Grand started to go into Big Sawmill, then quit completely. It was too steamy to see the pool until the second burst started. It was also disappointing that despite a duration of less than ten minutes, there was no attempt for a third burst that we could see.
With the cold and wind and occasional snow, it was a good day to be somewhere other than down basin.
Did stop in briefly at Norris. Was still strong steam coming from New Crater/Steamboat, and Cistern was just below overflow. (The footprints out to the formations were quite obvious, too.) Emerald was below overflow, and had a more blueish tinge, but hard to tell with the steam and snow obscuring the view. We couldn't see the little sputs nearby. With the snow, we didn't check out anything else.
Saw an Aurum from over by Castle as heading down to check on Fan & Mortar. No eruption overnight, and during the short time we waited, the cycle looked dull and uneventful.
At Grand saw West Triplet erupting while tying up the bikes. It was a while after we arrived before Turban erupted, and it had all the characteristics of a Delay. The next eruption was after a short interval with no overflow, so I classified it as such. From then we got a couple more normal eruptions before the One Burst Grand eruption.
Later in the afternoon, based on the earlier observation, decided that we should wait for Aurum. The wind was getting pretty strong, so we waited at the bench at Doublet Pool. While there, about five minutes after a thumping episode, suddenly there were wet, boiling, sputtering sounds coming from somewhere down Doublet's runoff channel. This continued for about a minute, then slowly died down. I could not figure out where the sound was coming from. After more thumps, I waited a bit for a repeat, but nothing happened.
After Aurum, whent over to Beehive, where the interval was already over 24 hours. It did a few desultory splashes, but did not look eminent. The wind finally drove us away. As we left, I noticed that the sputtering in Plume's closest vent seemed stronger, with droplets as much as 30cm above the rim at times.
I would have seen the next One Burst Grand if I had remembered to bring my notebook before heading out. There was a long delay, and I thought I'd try to get a start from a distance, but somehow ended up in "slo-mo" mode and the video was useless.
So walking back past South Scalloped, it was a surprise to suddenly see Beehive's climbing water column. There was no Indicator at the start, but it did join in briefly during the eruption. With the wind, the distant view was nice, with the entire water column creating a rainbow, yellow at the top, violet at the bottom.
Went out to Grand only to discover that the webcam observers had it wrong, and it wasn't even in overflow. So took the time to go down basin to check on Fan & Mortar. But first we had to wait for a bison to clear the bike path, and the more we tried to keep our distance, the closer it wanted to approach. Finally it went behind some trees and we could escape.
No change at Fan & Mortar, so caught the start of Riverside, and just missed Daisy. Over at Grand it was now late enough that it could possibly erupt. So Beehive's Indicator started about then. I decided to stay put. As it turned out, it was possible to get to Beehive in time. At the same time, Turban had a Delay overflow. The pool was full at 20 minutes, and stayed that way. Right after Beehive ended, it became apparent that it was going to erupt.
But first it had a couple of boops before Grand started. The eruption lasted just over 9 minutes, and through the steam, for a bit of time we thought we could see water sloshing over the vent. But it ended up being just another One Burst Eruption.
With nice weather and some free time, and little to no traffic, a quick run to Fountain Paint Pots was in order. The area around Fountain looked too dry to have erupted recently, but there were still large puddles out there. Spent a whole 45 minutes there, and no Jet eruptions during that time.
Stopped at Flood on the way back, as I'd like to get video of it, and my attempts keep failing. It started as we walked over to the overlook, and in my fumbling, I failed to get the camera properly started in time. We'd seen a number of eruptions on the drive back from Norris last week, so maybe the intervals have shortened.
The evening Grand eruption was nothing special. Saw Turban erupting from the bike racks at Castle. Waited for a short Turban interval and got to see a short One Burst Grand eruption. The only interesting things were how Grand slowed down so much around the 8-1/2 minute mark that we thought it was quitting, At the end, I thought Vent & Turban had quit, despite the One Burst Eruption only lasting only 9m37s. But the activity quickly picked back up.
Relief that we could sleep in and not have to make the commute to Norris today.
Instead, based on extrapolating three intervals, went out to Grand around 08:00. Then we saw that better info on the last eruption time was available, and we were actually out there at the right time. West Triplet was in overflow as we walked up. It started erupting a couple of Turban eruption intervals later, well before Grand.
Grand itself had several boops before finally starting. Despite the steamy conditions, the complex was easily visible. Unlike yesterday, we only got one burst, and there was no doubt that we weren't going to get the second one.
West Triplet was still in eruption, so the start of Rift a few moments later was not a surprise.
At that point, it looked like a trip to Geyser Hill was in order. It had been about 21 hours since the previous eruption. Went out from the Lodge, and back around behind Giantess. Infant is higher than its rim, and seems not quite as murky as I remember it. Aurum had all its side sputs active, but it just didn't feel close to erupting.
By then the winds had picked up despite the partly cloudy day. It wasn't warming up. So we decided that more wind resistant clothing was needed, and headed in. The Indicator got called just as we started heading out.
During the Beehive eruption, I saw something I can't remember ever seeing or even hearing about before. At the base of the cone, there was a small sput splashing out water a few centimeters high. This continued during the eruption, quitting about the time that the Indicator ended. It is located at the far right as seen from the railing nearest to the cone.
Sput at base of Beehive's cone (highlighted)
The wind died down a bit for the eruption, so it was nice and tall, but the little sput distracted me from watching too closely.
Checked Aurum again, and it hadn't changed much. As it turned out, it finally erupted about 1/2 hour after we left.
Later went out for another Grand eruption. Only had to wait for two Turban eruption intervals. The second Turban eruption had no overflow from Grand, and the interval was short, so not sure what was going on out there.
This time we didn't get the booping, but a nice solid start. And it was two bursts even though the first was well over nine minutes. Turban quit shortly after Grand did.
Down at Fan and Mortar, it appears there could have been an eruption during our time wasted at Norris. Had to tell exactly, and will probably need to have the electronic recorder confirm or deny this.
Awoke to find at least an inch of snow on the ground. So decided that we should wait a few hours before venturing out onto the roads. Then I noted that Grand had been seen on the webcam after midnight, and the next opportunity would be during that wait. So it was out to see what Grand could do.
By then there was at least three inches of snow and the boardwalks were slippery. I took a nice dive just beyond Rift. But we made it to the benches as the sun was coming out, and the breeze made Grand's pool visible. Only had to wait for one short Turban eruption interval, and Grand started erupting.
Around the seven minute mark, I noticed that Grand was acting like it wanted to go into Big Sawmill mode, or even quit. So not a surprise when that happened a minute later. A short pause, and we got a short second burst. So then the question became, are we going to get a really short two burst eruption? As it turned out, it was a longer pause, but we did get the third burst, the first I've seen since 2019. I was hoping, because the eruption was so short, that we'd get a four burst, but less than a minute later, Vent and Turban had quit.
During the eruption, West Triplet started to overflow slightly. By the end of Grand's eruption, it was starting to thump and burst as we left. I also took a quick photo of Sawmill, showing the rings of snow-free areas around the vents of both Sawmill and Turban.
Snow-free areas around Sawmill and Uncertain Geysers
So then it was off to Norris. The roads were still slushy in spots, but nothing to worry about, and the sun was helping to melt even that. We arrived as it was starting to cloud up, and about an hour later, the snow started. Over the next hour we got between one and two inches of the stuff. Fortunately, there was no wind, so it wasn't unpleasant being out in it, and once the snow stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sun quickly melted all that accumulation.
On the other hand New Crater/Steamboat still looked like previous days. There was one big surge around 14:00 that got recorded on video, then nothing much until about 19:00. It was then that we noticed that the water flowing down the runoff was more consistent, and a bit heavier down at the bridge. South wasn't having any large splashing, but was consistently putting out water. On the other side, North Vent was going strong, and it seemed that a lot of the activity was concerted. The flow of water was still fairly good as we left at sunset.
Today was a slight improvement at Norris, with some notable surges in the early wait. The one at 1214 was about 1-1/2 hours after the previous one, and there were several followup surges over the next ten minutes, and another at 1240. Then nothing for almost three hours.
At 1535, the activity picked up so much that I got out the camera and started recording. Over the next eight minutes, we had multiple surges so strong that we thought it was starting on at least a couple of occasions. Then, as quickly as the activity started, it all died down and was back to the splashing around we've seen the last few days.
Four hours later, nothing much had changed as we left.
The weather was sort of an improvement. Early the breeze was toward the lower platform, but was down channel most of the day. There was only one slight sleet shower, and the wind wasn't quite as obnoxious.
Another day at Norris. The activity was pretty much the same as the previous two days, if not a little worse. Kept expecting some sort of change as the day wore on, but nothing. It was cold (upper 30s) and windy, and we finally gave up at 17:30. Turns out we didn't miss anything.
Arrived at Norris at sunrise. The last big of boardwalk, from the blatform junctions on down, was a bit slick, but otherwise the day seemed nicer than expected.
The New Crater/Steamboat activity seemed better than yesterday when we left. About an hour and a half after arrival, we got a camera worthy surge out of it. The only problem, other than not leading into an eruption, was that it just didn't last long. We got several more of these about an hour apart, with the last one at 11:23. Then it just reverted to the type of activity we'd seen the day before. That lasted until 18:30, when we did get another surge that ended too soon. That was followed by an hour of practically nothing from either vent.
We left at 19:30 as the weather finally got nasty. For the past couple of hours, the sky to the north and west was an ominous gray, but not getting anything wet. All afternoon it was windy. But when we left, the lightning was starting, and we were the last vehicle to leave the Norris parking lot.
The rain stopped before Madison Jct., but unfortunately, the bison are now on the move. We encountered a small herd heading south just before the Firehole picnic area, and saw another, larger heard at the Mallard Creek trailhead.
Eleven hours at Norris, and no real change during the day. It was a nice, dry day but a bit windy. Activity was better than the earlier visit, but not by a lot. There was a continous flow of water down the runoff, and occasionally it looked like the vents wanted to do something interesting, but that activity immediately died down. I could read a book's whole chapter without the sound of the activity changing enough to get me to look up. So at this point expect to go back tomorrow, or wake up to find out the eruption took place a few hours earlier.
The day started with having to dismount the bikes near the curve on the bikepath. It was blocked by icy snow drifts one to two feet high with narrow paths over them. Then the trail past the Round Spring group was a minefield of bison deposits.
Arrived at Grotto, and it was obvious that the Pressure Pool was full, as was Grotto Fountain. Almost immediately, Grotto started erupting. Spa was full and overflowing heavily, but I didn't see any convection or boiling in the minute or so I was there.
Went on to check out Fan & Mortar. Nothing exciting, so off to Giant. Looked like last year, with the platform dry and Bijou on strong for about half an hour.
It was time for Daisy, so went over to take a look at the Group. Splendid doesn't seem to have changed, either. The duration of the Daisy eruption, however, was only 2m54s, which is much shorter than I'd like it to be.
Finally it was time to head to Grand. Got over there and after a one Turban eruption interval, got a nice, short One Burst Grand eruption. Joked that I expected 8-3/4 minutes and got 9m06s, and no attempt to refill as far as I could tell.
What had to be the strangest part of the day occurred just after the Grand eruption. As we were leaving, we saw Bulger start. So of course we had to wait to see what would happen in Bulger's Hole. (Nothing). While standing there, I thought I heard someone singing over behind the trees at the Grand benches. I turned to look, and there were two people walking past the tree toward me approaching the Rift bridge. Behind them, on a bike was a man with a guitar slung across his front trying to pass them. He didn't make it, sliding on that slippery plastic walkway, with the guitar and him at least staying on the boardwalk. He took his time getting put back together, then proceeded to slowly ride the bike past us while being informed that he was supposed to park his bike. He got over to Spasmodic, blocked the walkway while flipping over his bike and starting to investigate the front wheel, like it was no longer straight.
Finally, Bulger ended and I went over toward Oval to get some photos of Oval. He started running toward me, asking if I had sunscreen. I told him I wouldn't provide it too him. He went back to the bike repairs. Got my pictures of Oval, and Sawmill, and left the area. From Crested, it appeared he was still working on the bike.
As for Oval, it has heated up. There is now only a band of orange and black around the high water mark. Sawmill is also showing signs of heating up down in the vent.
Oval SpringSawmill Geyser
If it was just Oval heating up, I'd be concerned that it means Spasmodic is asserting even more control over the Sawmill Group. But Sawmill is also showing signs of recovery, so this may be good.
By then the Beehive eruption interval was getting pretty long, so we knew we needed to head over that way. Did a quick trip around Geyser Hill to find Aurum in between eruptions. Got back to Beehive and it wasn't long before the Indicator started. The wind cooperated, pushing the spray over Plume, allowing a nice close view of the water column.
Plume itself is interesting. The water level and the splashing seems higher than what I saw after the first Giantess eruption last year. The water level was visible most of the time, and some of the droplets were going as much as 1/2 meter above the rim.
Farther down, it appears Bronze Spring has changed from what I remember. It is now a large, cool pool, much larger than the old sinter rim, with heavy overflow down a couple of channels in the still green grass. I haven't paid much attention to it, so it could have been this way for a while, but the runoff channels seem new.
Bronze Spring on Geyser Hill
Later it was time for Castle. It turned out it ended up having an interval of over 14 hours. So I saw the start from Sawmill, which seems typical for me. And because of this, I walked up onto first West Triplet in eruption, and then Grand starting as I was taking notes on West Triplet. This One Burst Grand eruption was less than nine minutes long. West Triplet quit shortly after Grand, and other than Percolator, I didn't seen any activity in the sputs at the base of the hill.
Since it was a nice day, it seemed like a good idea to check out Fan & Mortar again. First we saw an nondescript cycle lasting just under an hour. Near the end we saw a start from Riverside, and were about to leave when we noticed heavy steam from the Main Vent. Then there was splashing, so now had to stay.
Over the next hour and a half we saw Bottom Vent slowly put water down its runoff channel. But it never had an eruption, instead surging at the same time Lower Mortar surged. The splashing in Main Vent continued through a couple of long, River Vent pauses. That activity finally ended as the Fan Vents took over about an hour into the cycle. They started out slow, but with high, visible water levels. But they never looked too good. For good measure, the Frying Pan and the steamvent inside Mortars amphitheater were active too. Then the whole system just sort of died down.
At around 5-1/2 days, I didn't expect New Crater/Steamboat to look promising, and it wasn't. Spent about 20 minutes in the area. The activity was mostly steamy North Vent, but there was some South splashing with joining in with it. There was runoff, but the South Vent splashzone was dry. At the bridge there was a trickle of water flowing out into the debris fan.
Cistern appeared to be overflowing heavily in all directions not obscured by the steam.
There wasn't as much change it damaged area as I expected. There may have been more trees behind the vents missing their tops, but that was about it. Last year there was debris all over the bridge at the bottom, and nothing like that this year. The North Vent runoff channel didn't seem changed much, either. The steaming tree trunk is still standing.
There were some large glaciers, as high as 1/2 meter, in the shaded areas between Dr. Allan's Paint Pots and the bench, and down below beyond Cistern. there it was higher than the bench, and made getting through interesting. The bottom of these ice blocks were solid, not just compressed snow.
I don't expect anything to happen there for a couple of days, so let's see how wrong I am.
Passing through Long Valley, Calif., so Suzanne and I had to visit Hot Creek. My last visit there was thirty-five years ago, so things have changed. We spent a bit more than an hour there.
The walkways and access is now completely different. Back then, there were trails down near the creek next to the erupting features, and a bridge across the creek. Swimming was also permitted back then. This time the area is fenced off, and signs on the road announced that the area was closed at night.
The previous visit, all the activity was on the south bank of the creek. One of the craters was erupting as much as seven or eight meters high, and there were several other hot pools near it. Those craters are now all dead, with the geyser showing greenish water well below the rim.
In line with those craters, on the north bank was where there was activity, There are three pools that were not there during the previous visit, two of them hot and blue. They appear to be on a linear trend line from the old activity. The water levels of the blue pools were different, with the higher pool, about a quarter to half meter higher. It was continuously pouring water into the lower pool, and all three were pouring that water into the creek. We saw no change in the flow during our visit, although one time, due to the way the runoff can be hidden by the surrounding ground, I thought it had quit because I couldn't hear the runoff.
There were also at least two areas that appeared to be convection in the creek itself. Again, didn't notice any change in the brief time of our visit.
On the way out, stopped at the Casa Diablo powerplant. It too is changed, not surprisingly. The old US-395 road is now blocked off, and where the old hot ground and steam vents were on the northeast side of the road is now occupied by a generator complex. There's no good views of the area. Within the fenced in area, near where the old Casa Diablo Geyser used to be was something steaming heavily. This activity seemed to vary, but again, fences prevented any good views. There is still one area of thermally altered ground open to the west of the complex.
This morning we checked out Woodside Geyser. This feature is located on private property, part of the old town of Woodside and now completely off limits. Based on memory and satellite maps, we figured our best opportunity to see anything of the feature would be from the Union Pacific railroad embankment to the west, just north of the bridge across the Price River. Photos online of the geyser from a few years ago show it erupting quite high, maybe 40 feet, which would mean it should be easily visible. Reports back then also made it sound fairly frequent, something in the range of two hours.
The old route of U.S.6 used to run right next to the geyser. It's location seems to be visible on the satellite map, and we eventually figured out where that area was visible from our embankment vantage point. It was between a couple of abandoned buildings.
Unfortunately, that area seems to have changed, It seems to have been torn up, with the tan formations disturbed and broken up. It seemed like there was some new (as in the last year or so) piping and plumbing around there, along with a couple of unweathered power poles. This is in contrast to the rest of the area, which has that weathered look. A tree visible in the photos from then appears now must be a stump. And nowhere did we see any evidence of water flowing or pooling or even damp areas.
Were there about 90 minutes before finally coming to the conclusion that the geyser there has been considerably altered, if not destroyed. No point in sticking around.
