geysers.org

Had a long wait for Grand that did not have a Turban Interval Delay. The day was cool, and got windy. Just a series of fairly ordinary Turban eruptions. During the latter part of the wait, Sput D was active. The Grand eruption did have two bursts, although Vent & Turban quit despite the whole eruption duration only being just over ten minutes. Right afterwards, West Triplet started.

While waiting, we did get to witness a coyote harvest a marmot. It came out of the trees at the top of the hill and grabbed one from the rocks up there. The coyote (or another one) hung around for a while, but no other successes.

Most of the rest of the day was spent seeing a Beehive in the wind, and spending some time at Fan & Mortar. The activity there had settled back into Angle mode for the duration. Did go and check on East Sentinel. No signs of any eruptions, but the boiling and surging seemed to be even stronger than during the last visit a few days ago.

Came out to Grand with Rift in eruption. Percolator was active when I arrived, but within a minute or two had quit and was not seen again, During that time, Sput D was active, intermittently. After about an hour, Rift quit, before Grand for once. About a half hour later, we got the One Burst Grand eruption. Ten and a half minutes, and Vent & Turban quit again this time.

Not having to go down basin for Fan & Mortar, it was a good day to go elsewhere. But first, did go out for a nice One Burst Grand eruption under fairly good conditions. Once again, this had Turban starting the eruption. Until only a few days ago, all of the eruptions were Grand starts, sometimes with Turban taking a minute to get going.

In the early afternoon, after returning, it was a pleasant surprise to hear the call for Beehive's Indicator. There was a strong wind, but it didn't shift around much, and it didn't seem to do much to shorten the water column.

That evening, went out for my first nighttime eruption of the year (one where I headed out in the dark, or near dark). No one else was out there. It was windy and smoky. The Turban interval preceding the first Turban eruption I saw could have been a Delay interval, but I can't be sure. The next intervals, though, definitely was one. So I wasn't surprised when at just under sixteen minutes, Turban started without much overflow. The surprise was when a few moments later, Grand started. It was a long One Burst Grand. Near the very end of the eruption lights appeared over at Castle and headed my way, but they didn't arrive until well after the end.

In the morning, the fog was thick. Could just barely see Rift erupting while approaching Sawmill. Arrived in the middle of a Turban Delay interval, but fortunately, we got the eruption instead of having to wait. It was a long, nearly 12 minute One Burst Grand, and Rift quit at some point during the eruption.

While we were at Grand, a raven attacked my bike. It took my goggles out of the front handlebar pouch and left them on the ground. It ripped several holes on the back seat and on one of the handlebars. I didn't find what it was looking for.

It was still foggy, so decided to make a quick trip over to Daisy. It was barely visible during the eruption, so had to concentrate on the sounds it made. It was also a short eruption, barely over 3 minutes.

Still foggy at 10:00 when went over to Geyser Hill to wait around for Beehive. Fog finally started breaking about a half hour later. The eruption itself was one of the taller ones, as there was no wind to speak of. The duration also seemed to be a bit longer than usual.

Around this time Sawmill was having a series of shorter eruptions separated by only ten minutes or so. We caught the last one headed out for the midday Grand eruption. The Sawmill Group was in a deep drain. While waiting, Sawmill had one more eruption, lasting about ten minutes. This Grand eruption also took place on a long Turban Delay interval, but only lasted nine minutes. Grand made no attempt to have a second burst.

With nothing much going on, we decided to spend some time at Great Fountain. Arrived before overflow. The overflow itself lasted 82 minutes, and Great Fountain didn't really pause. Between the start of surging until the first big burst was only 61 seconds, with constant activity. The eruption had a number of good bursts during both the first and third series.

Finally returned for the sunset Grand eruption. Sawmill was in eruption, and the Group water levels were pretty high, with Slurp in its noisy wet mode. There was a series of short Turban intervals, ranging from 16 to 18 minutes long before Grand finally erupted less than five minutes after the sun set. The top of the water column was tinged a little pink, but nothing spectacular. And once again, we got a short duration that was not followed up by a second burst.

Got a late start to the day. After Grand erupted at sunrise, there was nothing much going on, other than it was raining. So it was nearly 11:00, and time for the next Grand, before heading out.

It was early, but Grand cooperated with a short interval. And it cooperated with a short first burst and the first Turban initiated eruption I've seen this trip. At a little over 8 minutes, we had to get a second burst. Then again, it took 1m24s for the second burst to start, which is way on the long side for a pause duration. Then, of course, the second burst had to last over two minutes, insuring that we would not get a third burst.

During Grand, West Triplet started, which is also a bit different from what I've seen so far this trip.

Since it was an overcast, cool day, decided that it would be a good time to spend a little time in the Bijou monkey cage. Spent about an hour and a half, and didn't see much. Bijou was slowing down every six to eight minutes, and that was about it.

I was considering leaving, but I finally left when another event started at Fan & Mortar. Unlike the other ones we've seen the past few days, this looked and felt like a real event. Main Vent was putting out huge splashes, and when the Fan vents started, they were strong. And Angle took its time in finally joining in.

For the better part of 15 minutes the activity built up. The Fan vents would get weaker on occasion, but High never really stopped, and each resurgence seemed a bit stronger, with more water pouring out that the prevent surge cycle. Finally, from my vantage point over by Spiteful, I could see steam pouring out of Main Vent and even the East Vent. But it still took over another minute to build into the major eruption.

I's been almost three years since I last saw Fan & Mortar erupt, but this seemed stronger than most that I've seen recently. The water from Main vent landed well beyond the walkway on several occasions, and the vertical play also seemed taller. I can't say much about Mortar, as I was not in position to see it, and it was so steam later that it was still hard to see it.

Up to this point, the day had been nice. Despite the overcast, the sun was getting through enough that at Bijou I was feeling a bit warm. At some point during the Fan & Mortar eruption, though, the wind shifted, it got cooler and worst of all, suddenly it was smoky. I noticed this especially riding the bike back. Was wondering if it was something new that started nearby by the morning's thunderstorm. It sounds like it's from something in Idaho.

During the Fan & Mortar eruption, a bear was sighted along the trail to Solitary. This caused The Bear Patrol to search the area, but the bear had wisely left the area. Still, I think I will be careful out at Grand at odd hours.

It was time for Grand, so went out there in much cooler and smokier conditions. After a couple of Turban eruptions, we got one whose interval almost qualified as a Delay. It was a strong Turban eruptions, and a long one. It was followed on the next interval by a Turban eruption without any Grand overflow. It was at that point that the rain started. Hoped that we could get the eruption on the next Turban eruption, in effect having a two Turban eruption delay. But instead Turban erupted after only 17 minutes. But it was the next interval that gave us the Grand eruption. A One Burst Eruption lasting about 10-1/2 minutes.

For once, the rain let up, instead of intensified, when we got on the bikes at Castle. We probably should have waited a little bit, as about fifteen minutes later, it had all stopped.

The call for Beehive's Indicator interrupted breakfast, but was worth it. The sun was low enough over the ridge that we got rainbows from the water column and the shower downwind to the north.

Over at Grand, there was some confusion over when the overnight eruption was recorded by the monitor, but that got straightened out before the Turban Delay occurred. This time we only had to wait for three more Turban intervals (an hour) before we got the One Burst Grand eruption.

It was at that point, approaching noon, that we got a call about possible event at Fan & Mortar. I grabbed Daisy eruption time while heading down for what turned out to be nothing much. Which pretty much describes the rest of the day. I did check out East Sentinel, which was a bit more active than yesterday.

Finally went over to Grand for the next eruption window. Got there with Percolator in eruption. A few minutes later, Sput D erupted for a couple of minutes. Every ten minutes or so, it erupted again. Percolator never stopped,. This is the first time I've seen them active independent of West Triplet. So it was no surprise that about 50 minutes later West Triplet started.

It was then that there was another call from Fan & Mortar. And this time, it actually sounded like there was something that could build into an eruption. So abandoned Grand. Over at the bike rack at Castle, I noted that Rift was now in eruption, which helps explain the prior activity over there. And of course, just as I left Castle, Grand started. It was another One Burst Eruption, so it wasn't so bad.

The event at Fan & Mortar turned into another dud, although for the first time in several days, we saw part of the Bottom Vent runoff channel wet. Headed in for dinner and to avoid the incoming rain.

Headed out to Grand at dawn, with the expectation that Fan & Mortar would dominate the day. Got to Grand in time for what appears to have been a Turban Delay eruption. The following eruption of Turban had no overflow and the interval was short, which tends to confirm that. Grand erupted on the subsequent opportunity, showing that it can still have Two Turban Delays. This eruption had two bursts, with the first burst lasting nearly nine minutes. The pool drained and Vent & Turban quit immediately after.

During Grand, Penta had a steam-phase type eruption. I didn't see much of it, just the ending strong steam activity. The group was in a deep drain, with Sawmill rumbling, Spasmodic quiet, Slurp a fumarole, Churn out of sight and Oval erupting in the north vent.

From that it was time to head north to Fan & Mortar. All morning there had been no change in activity-- Angle Vent was on, with the other two Fan vents showing occasional, cyclical activity. After seeing some of this, I went over to East Sentinel. The activity along the north rim was taller and wider than yesterday, but there wasn't any evidence of an overnight eruption.

Following that, I got a Daisy eruption. It was short, 3m18s. Over at Splendid, the activity from Side Boiler started about 7 minutes later, shifting over to the Main vent about a minute later.

In the afternoon, went out to Grand and found Rift in eruption. Sput D and Percolator were also active. Sawmill was quiet. About 40 minutes later, Percolator shut off, while Sput D continued.

It was about then that I looked over toward Sawmill, and saw Uncertain in eruption. This was probably within a minute of the start, as Suzanne had been looking that way just before. What I saw of the eruption lasted maybe another 60 to 90 seconds. Sawmill started about 20 minutes later, and I saw that eruption end after the upcoming Grand eruption, for a duration of almost 40 minutes.

The One Burst Grand eruption followed shortly after Sawmill started, and lasted just under nine minutes. During the eruption Rift quit. We also got the Beehive Indicator call during the eruption.

As mentioned above, Sawmill quit shortly after Grand. At that time Belgian and Crystal were high, so Slurp was erupting as a geyser.

At this point, Fan & Mortar had their only change in behavior of the day. Angle vent finally quit for a few minutes, and a few splashes in Main vent were seen. Then it was back to the previous activity for the rest of the day.

Went back out to Grand at sunset. Sawmill was erupting, with the rest of the Group back in drain mode (low Belgian, Slurp fumarole, etc.)

About a half hour after I arrived, Turban appeared as if it was going to erupt. The lighting made seeing a little difficult, but it appeared that Vent overflowed during this time. The short Turban eruption duration tends to confirm an eruption attempt, as does the next Turban interval, which had no overflow from Grand.

The next Turban eruption looked like the one two earlier. This time Grand followed through. The first Turban start I've seen this visit. It was dark enough that the flashlights were out, but my attempt to see the start of Vent were thwarted by the steam. The first burst only lasted nine minutes, so a second burst wasn't guaranteed, but we did get one. There was no attempt at a third, even though Vent & Turban continued.

Was a bit surprised to arrive at Grand and find the pool full. It was about 16 hours since the last observed eruption, and I had expected there to have been a couple of eruptions during that time, and I'd arrive to find the pool refilling and not at overflow.

Over in the Sawmill Group, a deep drain was in progress. Sawmill and Uncertain were gurgling at depth. Slurp was roaring and Penta also rumbling. Spasmodic's main pool levels were not visible. Oval was down deep and erupting from the northern vent. Penta's Sixth Vent was a frying pan of sorts, probably full of rainwater with steam forcing its way through and causing the bubbling.

Saw a Turban eruption shortly after I arrived, and the next Turban was 34 minutes later. Shortly after that we got an eruption of West Triplet along with Percolator and Sput D. Half hour later, West Triplet ended without Rift starting.

Grand itself waited three more Turban eruption intervals before it erupted. A nine minute first burst was followed by a typical 3/4 minute second burst. Vent and Turban even continued despite the total duration being well over ten minutes long.

After this we learned that the electronic recorder for Grand showed only one eruption during the night, about five hours before my arrival. The other interval was well over eleven hours long. This seems extremely long, and seems like it could be a pair of short intervals, but the recorder's graph clearly doesn't show it. Will have to wait and see if Grand does something like that again.

From there it was down to Fan and Mortar for the first event of the day. Lots of Main Vent splashing while Bottom Vent erupted for well over half an hour. Then nothing much.

Went on down to check on East Sentinel. It seems that the boiling along the rim wasn't as active, and appeared to be cycling over a period of a minute or so. Didn't expect much, but will keep checking on it in conjunction with Fan & Mortar trips.

Another Fan & Mortar event took place just before it was time to go to Grand, so I went there instead. Was similar to the earlier event, and didn't result in an eruption. As I left and headed to wait at Grand, I got to see the eruption from the bike trail at the curve by Oblong. So went up to Daisy instead, were I got a pretty standard eruption lasting just over 3-1/2 minutes.

In the evening, we got a third Fan & Mortar event. This one even featured a short River Vent pause, and all the vents started moments after River restarted. For a while the eruptive activity looked good enough to start preparing to get wet, but after a while, things died down. At no time today did I see any surging in Upper Mortar, although Lower was quite active.

Expected Grand to wait until after dark to erupt, but instead it cooperated and gave us a nice start while there was still plenty of light. Was another duration over 12 minutes, so no chance of any second burst.

Back in the cabin, heard the call on the radio for Beehive's Indicator, so rushed out in the dark to see it start as we walked up on Anemone. A good number of people there considering it was dark. Again, I tried but didn't see any activity from the little crack in the base of the cone.

Got out as far as an erupting Castle when Grand started. Decided to watch the One Burst Grand from there, although I did wander down the the bridge when Sawmill started toward the end of the Grand eruption. Was amusing to see that there was still some debris that could be pushed along at the head of the runoff. Also, Castle sent nicely into steam.

Despite the poor weather, decided to head on down to Artemisia. Sitting under the tree at the south, I had just seen an eruption of Atomizer. In the Artemisia fog, I could hear the bubbling in the vent before the water column was visible. So I was surprised that right after, off to the left/south, I could hear rumbling. The radio had announced that Beehive had just started, and I was hearing the eruption. When I mentioned it, a bit later Suzanne could hear it too. After a few minutes, it disappeared and i didn't hear it again.

Must be some unusual "whisper gallery" effect, where the sound is amplified at some locations by the reflections and echos. It was an overcast, damp day, so conditions might make a difference. Something to consider the next time someone gets a radio call of a Beehive eruption there.

Left before the eruption, because was starting to not like being so far from dry shelter. But decided a little side trip was in order, and needed to see what East Sentinel looked like.

At first, I thought it didn't look all that encouraging, although more active than last year when the pool was completely calm. Then I noticed all the dead vegetation. The large mound of grass just to the left of the formations was brown and all bent upstream. Farther beyond, in the alcove to the let, was more dead vegetation and what even appeared to be water flow marks. Some of the dead plants are about 10 meters from the vent. On the cone, a couple of catch basins had water in them.

About 36 hours ago, we did have strong rains, and the catch basins could be still holding that. But the dead plants seemed fresh. In any case, East Sentinel needs some observing this season.

Arrived at the early afternoon Grand just in time to see the boops of a delay Turban interval well over 35 minutes long. It took seven more Turban eruption intervals before we finally got the One Burst Grand eruption. During that time the crowd grew bored with the wait, which ended well outside the NPS window. It didn't help that the weather was much nicer than the forecast said. (We didn't get rained on.)

With the rain supposed to come in, and nothing much expected, we didn't go back out. Turns out the rains really didn't start until it was time for the next Grand eruption, after sunset.

At dawn it was foggy. The Sawmill Group was high enough that Slurp was being drowned, with little noise and occasional droplets that were visible. Grand was at the twelve hour mark, and I expected a wait and an opportunity to do some reading. THe eruption was less than ten minutes later. Started with a boop in the fog that sounded like Turban, until we realized that it was not followed by more sounds. Grand finally erupted about 15 seconds later.

It was a good day to leave the Upper Basin, so did a loop through the Lower Basin. Got to Fountain and discovered I'd left the notebook pouch back in the truck. Did see a Jet before I headed back. Got back and as I passed Silex, Fountain started. Did see the second Morning's Thief eruption, and it turned out Jet was frequent during the whole eruption. And then quit when Fountain did.

When it was time for the next Grand eruption, came out to find Sawmill and Rift in eruption. The Sawmill Group was high, with Belgian full and Crystal overflowing into and drowning Slurp. The Turban eruption I saw was the start of a Delay interval. Unlike the other day, there was only a two Turban eruption wait. During this time, Rift continued to erupt, and Sput D joined it, erupting with Rift until it ended later. The Grand eruption was a nondescript short one burst. Rift ended sometime during Grand.

Before we could leave Grand, water in Beehive's Indicater was called. Got over in plenty of time for the eruption. I did not see the little sput at the base of Beehive's cone that I saw back in May, but the Close-to-Cone indicator could be seen to be active once the Indicator proper ended. This bubbling continued after Beehve ended. Sawmill was still erupting as we went back for the bikes, a duration of at least 2h20m.

Late afternoon Grand was a short wait of a couple of Turban eruption intervals. Sawmill was erupting again, but I was also seeing Tardy erupting during the wait. The Grand eruption had a long second burst, followed by an immediate quitting by Vent and Turban.

During the eruption, a deer appeared from the trees behind Rift. It seemed to completely ignore Grand erupting, and disappeared behind the water column from my vantage point, only to appear again behind Turban. The marmots on the hillside seemed to object to its being there, as they put up a bit of racket. The deer continued to graze on the hillside after we left the area.

With nothing much else going on, went out to Great Fountain, arriving with it well into overflow. Only waited a half hour for the eruption, that started with a large burst and flood of water. Not much else happened after that, although the third burst started with a nice explosion.

Got the full long Grand treatment. First a Turban delay interval of well over 35 minutes (didn't see the Turban start, just in eruption.) Followed by at least two more series of the strong, vigorous Turban eruptions that are themselves followed by no overflow eruptions. A total of eight Turban intervals, stretching the Grand interval to almost 8-1/2 hours. The eruption itself was short, and we had almost a minute of the pool trying to refill, only to lose out to Vent & Turban, who immediately quit.

But the long interval had a good effect. Many saw the Grand eruption from Sawmill, as Uncertain was splashing frequently and fairly heavily all during that time. As I left Grand, saw a couple of those surges as passing by Bulger. So stuck around and was almost immediately rewarded with the first observed eruption of Uncertain since the dormancy started. It seemed the duration was shorter than I remember, only about 2-1/2 to 3 minutes, depending on how you measure the end (and that I spend so much time fumbling to get the camera running I didn't get a good start time.)

Stuck around after as Sawmill was still rising, as were Spasmodic and Penta, but after twenty or so minutes, suddenly Sawmill's water level dropped, at least 30cm, and out of sight.

There was a call for Fan & Mortar event as I was leaving Castle, so headed down there to see lots of Fan's Main Vent splashing, and then twenty minutes of Bottom Vent erupting. When the fan vents finally started, they weren't all that interesting.

Headed out to the late afternoon Grand with the expectation of getting rained on. So was wearing my raingear when the eruption started, with the wind coming right at the benches area. Another non-descript one burst eruption.

That's when the rain started up, but let up enough to let us get back to the cabin without getting wet. Started fixing a dinner when another report of Fan & Mortar showing signs of life came in. Because the rain was getting harder, tried to ignore these reports, until it was too late and we realized we were in the wrong place, and should've headed out earlier.

Started the day in a foggy Grand/Sawmill Group. Was out because it was a longer than average interval for Grand, but arrived right at the end. Did get to see the Sawmill Group in a deep drain mode, with Oval erupting down deep from the north vent, and Slurp a noisy fumarole I could hear walking up past Scalloped.

Came in to get more organized, and got back out to see my first Sawmill eruption in years. The group was still well below overflow otherwise. Tardy started about ten minutes after I arrived, quitting a few minutes later. Within a couple of minutes, Sawmill did the same. That is the sort of behavior I remember from the Group when Sawmill was having short low pool eruptions.

Saw another Sawmill eruption before the next Grand wait. That eruption featured activity by Percolator, Sput D and West Triplet leading into an eruption of Rift. The duration of West Triplet was short, only about one half hour, with the start of Rift around the 23 minute mark. That is much shorter than I am used to seeing. Then we got a Turban Delay interval.

Grand erupted two Turban intervals later. It was an eruption that lasted over 13-1/2 minutes. Sawmill started, again, just before Grand. It appears that Sawmill is quite frequent.

Got the call to go down at Fan & Mortar. Got to see strong, intermittent activity from the High vent, with steady overflow from Gold, but nothing much came of it. It appears this year it's not unusual for the Mortar frying pans to be quite active, and for Upper Mortar to surge but not build at the end of a good cycle like this one.

The rains kept threatening during the late afternoon, but we never got more than a sprinkling or two. Finally, after the six hour mark, I decided to risk getting wet and headed out to Grand. There we got a short, strong and vigorous Turban eruption which acts as if there was a Delay interval. That was followed by a Turban interval with no overflow from Grand, which pretty much confirmed things. It ended up being two more Turban intervals before Grand started.

It was an explosive start from a pool that had small waves, but no booping. In contrast to the earlier eruption, this one was short, just over nine minutes. At the end, Turban and Vent were exceptionally strong, but we never saw any evidence that Grand even tried to fill back up.

And shortly before Grand, Sawmill started again.