There wasn't a Turban eruption delay associated with the morning One Burst Grand eruption. Castle finally had a major eruption shortly afterwards, and then Oblong also erupted. So watched Oblong from near Rift, then went over to watch the steamphase on Castle.
Spent a few hours waiting for the afternoon eruption of Beehive. Was not hot and not windy, which made Geyser Hill actually pleasant.
There was a Turban eruption interval delay for the next Grand eruption. With the shorter Grand intervals, was hoping that this delay would only be for two or three Turban eruption intervals, but ended up taking five eruptions. Once again, it was a long One Burst Grand eruption that we saw, but with nice rainbows, especially after Vent started.
Decided to not try for the morning One Burst Grand eruption. Based on last night, pretty certain that it would be foggy and steamy.
Did head out a bit early for the next Grand eruption. Turned out that this one Burst Grand was preceded by a four Turban Eruption Delay. Once again, West Triplet overflowed heavily during and after the Grand eruption, but no actual bursting. During the eruption, an osprey, with catch, flew in front of Grand.
Also, as expected, Beehive erupted shortly before Grand. If the delay had been three Turban intervals, they would have erupted together.
Right after that we caught the start of Castle. Almost immediately, Castle started pausing, so no surprise when a pause shortly after four minutes ended the minor eruption.
On to Daisy, where at least the duration of the eruption was almost 3-1/2 minutes, much better than yesterday.
Went out around sunset for the next Grand, prepared to stay out after dark. Shortly after arrival we got another minor eruption from Castle. It wouldn't surprise me that over the next few years that minor eruptions become the normal mode, with steam phase eruptions being the unusual exception. Of course, that means Castle won't be as predictable unless someone finds patterns in the minor eruptions.
But Grand did cooperate. Only waited one Turban eruption interval, and the One Burst Grand eruption didn't start with a Delay. Over in the Sawmill Group, Belgian was high enough to have water in the lobe, and Slurp was weakly sloshing instead of steaming.
It seems that the longer intervals due to the influence 0f Rift and West Triplet is not as strong now. I was just leaving the cabin and missed the start of a One Burst Grand this morning because it was the shorted interval of the season, just over six hours. This after a couple of intervals less than seven hours long overnight.
Crystal Spring and Belgian were fairly high, with the latter only about 5cm below its rim. From Castle saw a long Bulger major eruption, but from there saw no evidence of anything out of Bulger's hole.
Since the rains were not forecast for several hours, decided to waste an hour down at Fan & Mortar. On the way down, saw a deer wandering in the Round Spring Group, and shortly after arriving at Fan & Mortar, heard an osprey fail to harvest a fish, but did see it fly away.
The only active vent on my arrival was Angle. For the next hour it never shut down, or changed much. For the next ten minutes, there was rumbling from Upper Mortar and splashing visible from Bottom Vent. Then the Fan River Vent started. Almost immediately Gold Vent and High Vent looked really good. Over the next fifteen minutes, they died down, only to come back to life. I was pretty sure that this activity was not going to go into an eruption, but decided that if I saw any steam from Mortar's Frying Pans, that was the sign to make a call. After about half an hour, the River Vent finally shut off, and all looked like when I arrived.
Checked out East Sentinel, and looks pretty much like it did when I last checked it a few weeks ago. Caught a Daisy eruption. The interval was well under two hours, but the eruption duration was barely over three minutes (3m07s).
Later on I went out to Grand during a slight rain. Thought it was a bit early, but the rain was supposed to pick up, and this morning's interval might not last long as the shortest of the season. From Castle (which had just had a short minor eruption), I could see a blue awning set up over on the walkway near West Triplet. It completely blocked the walkway, and I had to walk under it to get over to my preferred viewing location.
Awning at Grand
I have never seen anything like this done before. It was put there by a family reunion. I overheard that they had to wait several hot hours for Grand the last time they were here. So they knew how crowded things could get, even though today it was water instead of sunlight. Fortunately, the NPS had them take it down before it became a nuisance and before Grand erupted.
That One Burst Grand eruption lasted over 12-1/2 minutes, and started out steamy. I did see several boops well before the start, but this was not otherwise a delay.
The weather cleared after a couple of hours of steady rain, and a quarter moon was visible in what looked to be clear skies. But as we walked out beyond Castle, the clouds from the north moved in and there wasn't much light (other than the usual Inn parking headlights) the rest of the wait.
Arrived to a trickle of overflow, which ended. Then about fifteen minutes after arrival, it picked up, and my twenty-five minutes, was a flood. There may have been a boop, but in any case it was a Turban Delay interval. The next two Turban eruptions were standard, with no overflow from Grand for the first, and slight overflow the second time.
It would appear shorter Delay recoveries are part of the shorter intervals. We got the eruption on the third Turban eruption. It was quite steamy, but the bright lights did illuminate the activity. West Triplet overflowed heavily during another long One Burst Eruption. By this time, it appeared that it was going to be a foggy morning.
With Grand erupting just before dawn, there was no need to be out until late morning. Went out early with the expectation of waiting for a few hours, and didn't even see a Turban eruption interval. Another One Burst Eruption with West Triplet starting during the Grand eruption.
Early afternoon saw another early afternoon Beehive eruption, with a long indicator.
For the early evening, Turban was erupting nice and regular, with longer intervals (19-20 minutes) and longer durations (over 4 minutes). West Triplet had an eruption, and once it quit we got the One Burst Grand eruption. The pool filled nicely without any of the recent variations (late fill, dropping and refilling, etc.)
After yesterday's excessively long interval, didn't try for the overnight Grand eruption. Which had another long interval overnight. So got out to the Grand Group mid-morning, and only waited an hour for another two burst eruption. West Triplet started during Grand, and that led to a Rift eruption.
Spent an hour at Fan & Mortar, because nothing else was going on, and it looked no different from any other time this trip.
Went back to Grand to see what was going on there, and maybe catch the end of Rift, but was interrupted by the call for Beehive's Indicator. The wind caused Beehive to soak the boardwalk from Plume on toward Sulphide Spring. By the end of the eruption, that area was devoid of people.
Going to Geyser Hill I noticed that Liberty Pool was below overflow. I've heard reports of this, but not seen it myself before this.
Liberty Pool below overflow
Rift ended with a duration just under three hours long. Shortly afterward, Bulger had the first minor eruptions I've seen in over a week.
With Rift active, figured on a longer interval, but hard to stay away when you know Grand has had intervals this short. So compromised and went out at around 7-1/4 hours. Saw Bulger erupting from Castle, and it was the first major eruption I've seen this trip. Then as we approached the bridge, saw Bulger's Hole erupting. There was a second pair of eruptions about 75 minutes later. The third major Bulger eruption we saw, also 75 minutes after that, was only Bulger.
Meanwhile, there was a series of non-descript Turban eruptipn intervals until we got a nice heavy overflow with an interval of over 21 minutes. That was followed by a true delay, another case where Grand's pool didn't start to fill until the 20 minute mark, and the overflow wasn't audible until 25 minutes. Grand never really had any waves.
Two Turban eruption intervals later the sun was about to set, and Grand looked like it might erupt, but instead waited for one more interval. At least the One Burst Grand happened while it was still light enough to see the eruption without a flashlight.
A trip to Norris, where nothing much happened for six hours. Activity from New Crater/Steamboat was decent, but nothing that required the camera to be deployed.
Returned to the Upper Geyser Basin, and learned that Grand had not yet erupted, approaching 7-1/2 hours. So rushed on out and waited another four hours. Got to see West Triplet erupt twice. Both times the Turban eruption after West Triplet ended resulted in a Turban Delay Interval. The first even had a small Boop five minutes before Turban finally erupted. Fortunately, unlike the seven Turban eruption intervals after the first delay, Grand erupted only two Turban intervals after the second. During that time, most of the Turban eruption intervals were under 17 minutes, including one that was under 15 minutes.
The Grand eruption had two bursts, with a pause of nearly a minute preceeding a second burst lasting over two minutes long. Vent and Turban quit immediately after the second burst ended.
Slept in again, and got out to the Grand Group just as West Triplet ended. Ended up having to wait through a late Turban Delay interval and another West Triplet eruption. By the end of West Triplet, it appeared that Rift was going to start, based on the large amount of steam coming from between the rocks. But that died down and we got a One Burst Grand eruption instead.
Decided to wait on Geyser Hill in case Beehive had a no-indicator eruption. Not a long wait, and a normal (for this year) length indicator.
Off to Grand later. Had expected Rift after this morning's Grand eruption, but West Triplet erupted with no Rift followup. Figured we probably would get Grand a few hours later, but the One Burst Grand came a bit earlier, with no followup by West Triplet.
Yesterday spent a few hours at Artemisia and saw nothing. Today went there and got an eruption within an hour. Thumps at the start were nice. The wind kept shifting the steam coming up the embankment, and sometimes it was way too hot.
Checked out East Sentinel, and the north rim boiling seemed even larger than previous days. That activity died down, and the pool then dropped well below overflow.
Like a few nights ago, got out to Grand shortly before midnight only to find Rift erupting. Came back in.
The parade of animals in the Lodge Cabin area continues. Earlier it was a pair of bull elk, then a bear, then sandhill cranes across the river. Today it was a fox that is probably habituated to people. We did see it try to harvest a ground squirrel, without success.
As expected, it was several hours until Grand erupted last night, well after midnight. When in the morning I saw the eruption time, I decided that I could get out for the early morning eruption.
Castle had a minor eruption as I tied down the bike. It was cold, with frost on the bridge and on the boardwalk past Rift. Only had about an hour to wait for the One Burst Eruption. Of interest was that the Turban eruption durations were well over four minutes, in contrast to yesterday's durations.
From there, decided it was not too late to head for the Lower Basin. Before getting to Fountain Paint Pots, stopped by Midway despite (or because) it not being the best time to view. Amusing to see that the runoff down from Excelsior was inundating a corner of the walkway with hot water. As we left, an NPS crew was starting to try to divert the flow under the walkway.
Got to the Fountain Paint Pots parking lot just as the lines were starting to form, but with a bit of waiting, got a parking spot. Went on out to the overlook, and didn't have long to wait before we got a Morning's Thief eruption. That was quickly followed by Fountain, and several more Thief eruptions. The wind was just enough to blow the Fountain steam over the walkway, but the view of the Thief eruptions were good. Fountain lasted almost 30 minutes, in contrast to some of the shorter eruptions of the past few days.
Was just about to head for Grand when the call for Beehive's Indicator went out. Went over to Geyser Hill to see that eruption, and didn't miss anything at Grand.
An eruption of West Triplet came and went, and I was expecting to now wait for the next time West Triplet was ready for Grand to erupt. Instead, we got a One Burst Eruption of Grand about three Turban eruption intervals (an hour) later. After a series of nondescript fills, suddenly Grand was overflowing heavily.
Following that, went to Artemisia, where nothing happened for several hours. A quick check of East Sentinel showed no change there.
Thought we were headed out to Grand a bit early, but that wasn't the case. Ten minutes after we arrived, following several minutes of good, heavy overflow, Turban started with some weak splashes. but ten seconds later, the One Burst Eruption of Grand started. Nice to not have to wait in the cold and dark for several hours. Around the nine minute mark, Grand even had a false pause of sorts, but otherwise it was just another 10-1/2 minute eruption.
Did a quick check of north Upper Basin Features in the morning. Artemisia was full and overflowing, and that was the extent of what I knew about it. East Sentinel seemed to be wetter around the main area of activity along the north rim. Fan & Mortar was unchanged, although it seemed like the area just below Bottom Vent was wet.
From that, it was on to Grand. The morning had been breezy, but by now, as noon approached, it was getting windy. Over the next five hours, it got windier. Also during that time Turban was regularly erupting about every 17 to 19 minutes, with duration lengths dropping from just under four minutes to just under three. Then there was a Turban Delay interval, followed by the second West Triplet eruption of the wait. No Rift eruption, and now the Turban intervals were shorter, less than 17 minutes and durations about 2-1/2 minutes.
Finally, after a 14-1/2 minute Turban interval Grand did erupt. The first burst was surprisingly tall considering the strong, gusty wind. At a couple of times during the eruption, Grand slowed down such that it appeared to be stopping, only to come back strong. It was as if we almost had another three burst eruption. The interval was the longest of the season so far, 11h37m.
During the first few hours of that wait, Sawmill was erupting. Toward the end of Sawmill's eruption, Tardy was also having a tall and steamy eruption, and from the benches at Grand, it almost looked like Uncertain. After Sawmill finally quit, there was a short eruption (perhaps five minutes long) about fifteen minutes later.
Well after dark I went out to Grand on the possibility of there being a short interval. Instead, I saw Rift well into an eruption (West Triplet was dry). Decided it would probably be well after midnight before Grand finally erupted, so I left.
A good day to do something other than watch One Burst Grand Eruptions. Since the parking was surprisingly easy, stopped into Norris to watch New Crater/Steamboat for half an hour. Nothing to get excited about that I could see.
Did go out after sunset. Looked like West Triplet had finished erupting recently, which could mean Grand would wait the two hours for the next West Triplet eruption. Got the expected early Turban delay interval, but Turban was strong and sustained. It was just light enough to see Grand booping well after the two minute mark, so the start of Grand's eruption wasn't a surprise.
The first burst lasted 7-3/4 minutes, so not surprised that there was a second burst. The surprise was that the second burst lasted less than a minute, and at that point the whole eruption was just over nine minutes long. The third burst made sure that Vent & Turban would quit, and fairly quickly. West Triplet did nothing during or after Grand's eruption.
After a string of long intervals, Grand had some shorter ones. The first was during the foggy dawn, and I was just getting ready to head out when it started. The next was midday.
Spent an hour down at Fan & Mortar because there wasn't much else to do. If there is any cycling, it's so short as to be wishful thinking by the observer. Also checked out Daisy, which had an interval of 110 minutes.
So of course the next Grand interval was longer. No Turban delay intervals while I waited, just a nearly eight hour Grand interval that seemed to be waiting for West Triplet to get ready. Eight Turban eruption intervals all about 18 minutes long with a 3-1/2m duration eruption. The Turban eruption after sunset, Grand erupted followed almost immediately by West Triplet.
It also seemed to be "take your dog through the basin" day. I counted at least five around Castle and Grand during the day.
The sky was mostly clear when we went out at 02:00, but as the wait progressed, the moon slowly disappeared. West Triplet was erupting as we arrived at Grand, and when West Triplet ended without Grand eruption, knew that there was going to be a wait. During the next three hours, we saw pretty much everything except Grand-- Castle and a couple of Daisy eruptions and even a nice Oblong.
Grand finally erupted as the sky was starting to lighten up and the moon almost invisible behind the clouds. We lit up the eruption, but after the first couple of minutes, the lack of wind meant that not much could be seen of the One Burst Eruption. West Triplet started during that eruption, but we didn't stick around to see if Rift followed.
Rift waited for the next West Triplet before erupting. The Rift eruption lasted almost three hours, and we ended up with an interval almost as long as yesterday's. There were no delays, just a long series of short Turban eruptions. Once again, we got a One Burst Grand Eruption.
Beehive's Indicator was called just before Grand's eruption, and the two of them erupted at the same time. Due to the boardwalk between Sawmill and Lion being blocked by a bison closure, several people who wanted to be on Geyser Hill were forced to see Grand instead.
Before the next Grand we finally got a real thunderstorm, which started with hail. It was late enough in the day that everything stayed wet after sunset. Went out to Grand at around the 6-1/2 hour mark, and waited a little over an hour for a steamy, foggy One Burst Grand eruption that took place just before moonrise.
It's beginning to appear that unless Grand erupts on a Turban Delay interval around the 6-1/2 hour mark, it will not erupt until after eight hours or so. When there is a Turban Delay interval, the days of a quick two or three Turban interval wait are also long gone.
Woke up to report of West Triplet and Grand with an interval over seven hours. The expected eruption of Rift didn't happen, and neither was there a Turban delay interval. Five Turban eruption intervals we did get a delay, but fortunately Grand did erupt.
There was a relatively short first burst under nine minutes long, but was did get a second burst. one that lasted two and a quarter minutes.
Midday there was a Beehive eruption with an indicator long enough to get me from the cabin to near Plume.. Decided to wait there based on the wind. Of course it shifted and I needed the umbrella.
Came on out to Grand on a warm, sunny afternoon. Half hour later, right after an eruption of Oblong, we got a Turban delay interval that included a small Grand boop about five minutes before the pool dropped.
Four Turban eruption intervals later, we got a West Triplet eruption. but it took a total of eleven Turban intervals before we got an attempt at erupting by Grand. During that time it clouded up, got quite windy, and there were even some sprinkles. Like the night before, there was a late fill by Grand. Unlike the night before, Grand didn't erupt.
Finally , two Turban eruption intervals later, Grand finally had the One Burst Eruption. It lasted almost twelve minutes, and the final five minutes or so consisted of Big Sawmill.
After last night's fiasco, decided to not try too hard for a short interval. Woke up to a report of West Triplet in eruption at about seven hours into Grand's interval. So went on out, and finally rewarded with a short wait. The sun was high enough that the top of the water column of the One Burst Eruption was backlit.
After that, decided a trip to Norris made sense. The activity at New Crater/Steamboat was uninspiring, but did spend some time in Porcelain and saw eruptions of Constant and Whirligig.
After a return trip where it took 45 minutes to get from north of Fountain Paint Pots back to the cabin, went out to Grand in time for the Turban Delay Eruption. Shortly after, West Triplet started, and at the half-hour mark, Rift joined in. By then, we'd had a thunderstorm scare, but that had passed by with only a few drops. So right after Rift we got another One Burst Grand Eruption.
Back at the cabin, I headed over to the indoor plumbing. As I always do, I look over the thermal area across the river, and saw a black bear there. Went back to the cabin, got my camera and found that it had moved across the river and was just below the housing cabins along the river. After a few minutes, it wandered off upriver. Nearby, next to the river, was also a bison engaged in some digestive relief.
The moon had just risen as I went out for the next Grand. It was hidden behind a bank of clouds, but as it got higher, the clouds disappeared. There was heavy overflow from Grand when I arrived, and for the next Turban eruption Grand had no overflow, so I might have just missed a Turban Delay interval. In any case, it was only two more Turban eruption intervals later that Grand started to overflow heavily at the 25 minute point. The moon was still low, but positioned such that it was directly behind Grand's vent if one was standing at the northernmost bench. The start was tall, but quickly the slight breeze hid the water column.
It was an eleven minute long One Burst Grand eruption that never showed any signs of wanting to stop. The moonlight was too low for any moonbows, too.
Woke up about 6-1/2 hours after the previous Grand eruption to see a report that Turban had erupted about a half hour earlier. Made the assumption that this meant that Turban was in the middle of a Delay interval. Had earlier decided that it made sense to skip a short interval. But with the delay , it mean that we had plenty of time to get out to Grand and see the eruption.
Turned out that could've slept in another hour or more, because it took nine Turban eruption intervals before Grand finally erupted. Another One Burst Grand that lasted just under ten minutes.
Did get a bonus, as Castle started while untying the bikes. The first few minutes of the eruption were filled with pauses, then around the six minute mark the play became continuous, and we got a nice major eruption.
The next Grand interval did not have a Turban delay that anyone observed. But it still took almost two hours of Turban eruptions that never looked promising. Then we got an early fill and a One Burst Grand eruption that lasted 8m16s. After the burst, the pool held water for maybe ten or fifteen seconds, then drained. At least Vent & Turban made no attempt to slow down and stop.
Next it was over to Geyser Hill to see what Beehive might do. Waited about 45 minutes, and there were a few nice splashes from Beehive, but nothing much to get excited about. Then there was a large surge, maybe 5 meters high, followed immediately by another surge that lifted into a full eruption. The water column for the first 20 seconds or so appeared to be shorter than most starts I've seen, then it climbed up to full height.
The Indicator joined in briefly during the middle of the eruption, and the duration was longer than normal, perhaps because of the less powerful start.
During the wait, Lion had made several weak surges. It was about time for another series to start, so headed in that direction. Got to Lion just as the initial eruption of the series started, and had to make sure to not be downwind.
During the eruption, I saw something which may or may not be normal. In Big Cub, I caught on video a blip of water, maybe a few cm high. It was not any higher than the back rim of the vent. A review of the video shows that I wasn't imagining things, but it lasted only a few frames.
Big Cub blip
Saw the next One Burst Grand as I was passing the Inn on my bike. Watched the rest of the One Burst eruption from Castle.
After the quick wait last night, it was disappointing that in the morning Grand had a ten Turban interval delay. Got out at sunrise and was three hours later when Grand finally erupted. Several of the Turban eruptions were not preceded by any overflow from Grand.
The pool finally filled nicely, with Vent overflowing before Grand initiated the eruption, with Turban following a second later. The burst duration of 9m20s was short enough for a One Burst Grand, but after about 80 seconds, with lots of sloshing about at the end, we got a second burst. That burst lasted two minutes.
I've noticed that when Vent & Turban quit at the end of an eruption, as in this case, the pause before the restart is fairly short. And the activity quickly become quite vigorous. In this case, it took quite a bit of heavy steam before water started jetting in Turban.
Six hours later, I was back out at Grand. This was the short interval that was expected in the morning. Grand's pool was filling nicely, and completely full, but waves or other variations. Then suddenly, we got a 10 meter boop to start the eruption. Was the most sudden start that I've seen in a while. It then took Turban a minute to start, and Vent almost four minutes before it joined in. This One Burst Grand eruption, at least, lasted about 10m20s.
There was still a bit of glow in the sky when we headed out again. After a couple of Turban eruptions, we got a delay interval. It was interesting in that the overflow didn't start to really pick up until about 22 minutes after the previous Turban start.
Three Turban intervals later we got another interesting delay interval. The overflow could be heard at around the fifteen minute mark, but then decreased a few minutes later. But Turban did not erupt, and around the 23 minute mark, the overflow picked up again. When Turban started at 33 minutes, it started out strong, but Grand didn't follow through. It finally started 68 seconds later.
The burst lasted only 8-1/2 minutes. So it was a relief to get a second strong burst, nicely lit by the moon. After that, Vent & Turban tried to quit, but over the course of the next few minutes, the activity picked back up and by then, Vent was roaring away.
