The day started with a 1d11h interval for Rift. The Grand Group had barely recovered from the previous eruption when this one started. Six hours later we finally got the One Burst Grand eruption starting explosively after several boops.
At first the Turban eruption intervals and durations got shorter as expected, but the last two eruptions had longer intervals and longer durations than earlier. The Rift eruption lasted about 2-3/4 hours, but it took three more hours before Grand finally had a long, strong fill. The Grand eruption lasted almost eleven minutes, yet Vent & Turban continued to erupt. It appears that the reactivation of Rift is finally having an effect on Grand.
During the wait, I did get to see Uncertain erupt. Others noticed that the vent was full and even overflowing while Sawmill was in eruption, so once one of the Turban eruptions ended, I walked down that way. As I passed Old Tardy, Sawmill ended. The Uncertain eruption took place within a couple of minutes.
Was going to wait for Castle after Grand erupted, based on the NPS prediction. But then several people started doing the math, and concluded that it would be several hours before Castle had a chance. That Castle was completely dead the whole time we were considering our options reinforced that conclusion. Castle ended up erupting over three hours later.
Grand is now seems to be in a mode where it is erupting three times a day, with two of the eruptions in the dark.
Went out at sunset for a Grand erupion in the dark. It was still light when we got a Turban Delay interval. Three Turban intervals later Grand had the One Burst Eruption lasting one second under ten minutes.
And why is it that family reunion groups staying in the Old Faithful Lodge Cabins have to be so loud and obnoxious? Do they not realize that not everyone is a part of their little clan?
Just after dawn, Fan & Mortar behaved much like I saw the other day. Went down there just in case. Turns out that Bottom Vent did not erupt, and the activity of the Fan vents was better than what I had seen.
Spent half an hour in the Bijou Cage, just to see how things were. Bijou was strong and never stopped. Right after I left, I saw Grotto Fountain starting to erupt. Grotto had one of the stronger and taller starts I've seen in a while, in part because I was upwind over in the corner of the boardwalk.
By then it was time to go to Grand. Arrived to find West Triplet in eruption. As this was almost too early for Grand to erupt, we ended up having to wait the 2-1/2 hours for the next West Triplet eruption. It appears that right now Grand is being strongly influenced by West Triplet, and it's in the mode where there is a West Triplet Window. If Grand doesn't erupt during or immediately after West Triplet, it doesn't even try to erupt for the next couple of hours.
The eruption itself was another One Burst Grand eruption. While waiting, there was an eruption of Uncertain Geyser. I watched it from the benches, and it appeared to be quite tall.
Beehive erupted in the afternoon, and afterwards, saw a couple of new little sputs I haven't seen before. One is probably "Borah Peak Geyser" while the other is located near the location of Dragon Springs and hasn't been seen before. The latter only erupts to about a meter at a severe angle and lasts for maybe 20 seconds. It looks like something that is erupting from a drained pool.
Grand was set up for a sunset eruption, but by then the sky was completely overcast, and was just going to turn gray and then get dark. When I arrived, I saw that some bison had passed through the formations between the boardwalk and the geysers, and left a couple large deposits of well used plant-life. These became a source of humor, especially when the One Burst Grand eruption started and began to erode them. The large one created a discolored streak that reached the boardwalk.
The eruption itself was during the West Triplet window. When West Triplet started, there was a sort Turban eruption interval. The next interval was much longer. Grand's pool slowly filled and stayed full, looking like it might be a Turban Delay interval instead. Finally there was an explosive start to the eruption. West Triplet ended during Grand's eruption.
Once again, was awakened by a call for Beehive's Indicator, this time before sunrise. Got over to Geyser Hill with plenty of time, but realized that I'd forgotten to bring my umbrella. Fortunately, didn't need it, as it was mostly calm and I could move fast enough to avoid the slowly migrating spray zone. We were the only two people over there.
With no report on the overnight Grand eruption, I went out at around the twelve hour mark. Turns out I was a bit early, as I overheard some NPS personnel who were downloading data say it was at 04:04. After an hour of longer Turban eruptions, there a 36 minute Turban Delay interval. From there it was a wait of five more Turban eruption intervals before the One Burst Grand eruption. This was a 9-1/2 minute long eruption where Vent & Turban continued afterwards. During the eruption, West Triplet started to erupt, but finished before the Grand eruption ended.
Decided I should try and wait for something at the northern end of the Upper Basin, and as I rode up, Grotto Fountain was boiling up nicely. It didn't erupt, but I waited the hour for the next opportunity, where Grotto Fountain and Grotto did erupt. The wind shifted just enough so that my camera was not in the best place to record the activity, but I didn't want to move and adjust it while recording.
A few hours later arrived back out to Grand to find West Triplet late in an eruption. That turned out to be important, as over the next three hours Grand made no real attempt to erupt. There was a series of ten Turban eruptions where stayed pretty constant at around 3-1/2 minutes, with two exceptions where the durations were less than three.
Finally West Triplet started to erupt again and Grand went into a Turban Delay interval. At the 29minute mark, with the sun set, Grand finally erupted with an explosive start. This gave us an over 11 minute One Burst Eruption, followed almost immediately by the start of and eruption of Rift.
Rift erupted overnight, so not surprised to find that Grand had not yet erupted at dawn. Unfortunately, was preparing to head out when it did erupt. So went back to sleep for a few hours, then went out to Geyser Hill for the morning Beehive eruption.
Lion had been last seen almost 24 hours earlier, so decided I would wait over there. But it was cold and windy, and after about an hour or so, decided I'd had enough and headed in. Got as far as the Firehole River bridge when I heard the radio call for the Indicator. During most of the time the Indicator was erupting, the wind was moving the steam toward Plume, but as usual, it shifted to the north as the time for Beehive to start got closer. I decided to risk staying in place, and turns out I didn't have to worry. Being so close means that one doesn't notice the wind-sheared eruption as much.
After that, it was time to head out to Grand again, with the expectation of a longer wait due to Rift effects. But the interval was just over seven hours.
We've noticed recently that many Grand eruptions have Vent & Turban ending, with fewer where they continue. These Quit type eruptions are the result of either multiple bursts or long One Burst eruptions, while the Continue type eruptions are those that are a short One Burst Eruption. When we've had a shorter eruption, we end up getting a second burst that results in a Quit. That was the case again with this eruption, where the first burst lasted over 9-1/2 minutes and we still got our second burst.
Having expected to wait a while at Grand, decided to continue on down basin and see what Fan & Mortar had to offer. Went there also to test out some new features in my geyser logging application.
Arrived to find that everything was quiet. I thought I saw River and the other Fan vents start, but that activity only lasted a few minutes. Then Bottom Vent started splashing, and I saw splashes in Main Vent. The activity in Main Vent lasted for over thirty minutes, and some of the splashes were wide and as tall as the formations to the north/right. Bottom went into a full eruption that also lasted over half an hour.
The remainder of the cycle was anticlimactic, as the Fan Vents never came close to showing any good activity. The only good thing to note is that Angle Vent was quiet except during the period of time when it needed to be on after High and Gold were fully engaged in erupting.
F&M Test_2024-Jun-04_1318
---------------
2024-Jun-04
13:18 All quiet F&M Cycle
13:20 River start F&M Cycle
13:21 Gold & High start F&M Cycle
13:31 Vents quiet F&M Cycle
13:32 River quiet F&M Cycle
13:34 Bottom splashing F&M Cycle
13:35 Main splash F&M Event
13:39 Main splash F&M Event
13:42 Main splash F&M Event
13:45 Main splash F&M Event
13:49 Main splash F&M Event
13:50 Main splash F&M Event
13:51 Bottom quiet F&M Cycle
13:51 River start F&M Cycle
13:51 Bottom start F&M Cycle
13:53 River quiet F&M Cycle
13:54 Main splash F&M Event
13:57 Main splash F&M Event
14:00 Bottom start F&M Cycle
14:01 Main splash F&M Event
As high as back formation
14:03 Main splash F&M Event
14:05 Bottom erupting F&M Cycle
Water has reached the river
14:09 Main splash F&M Event
14:30 River start F&M Cycle
14:31 Gold & High splashing F&M Cycle
14:36 Bottom end F&M Cycle
14:38 Gold & High start F&M Cycle
14:47 Angle st F&M Cycle
14:49 >>> Eruption Riverside
14:50 Gold & High quiet F&M Cycle
14:54 Vents restart F&M Cycle
15:02 Gold & High quiet F&M Cycle
Arrived out at Grand for the evening eruption just in time to see the first Turban eruption after a Turban Delay interval. From there we had to wait about two hours for the seventh in a series of similar Turban intervals and eruptions. When Grand finally erupted, Turban preceeded some booping by a few seconds, then the first burst lasted just over eight minutes. The total duration was just under ten minutes, which was short enough that Vent and Turban did not quit.
It was drizzly heading out for the morning Grand eruption, and it was getting wetter. Had to dodge a bison twice, as it was blocking the bike trail, and when I tried to use the gravel bypass, it had move to block that trail. I walked up on Turban erupting, and I took most of the Turban interval to get prepared for the increasing rain.
The pool was full when Turban had an explosive start, and stayed full. Grand finally started erupting almost 1-3/4 minutes later. The first burst lasted almost 9-1/2 minutes, which is long enough for a One Burst eruption, but as the steam cleared, water was visible in Grand's pool. A short pause, and we got a nice second burst.
The weather forecast said that the rain might subside in an hour. What the forecast left out was that the rain wasn't that heavy, but it was windy. Decided to walk instead of riding a bike to Castle to see the next Grand eruption.
Arrived just in time for the first Turban eruption after the Turban Delay interval. For the next hour, it was wet and windy and Grand showed no sign of trying to erupt. Then the rain started to let up, and we got a longer Turban eruption interval and waves on a full pool. Unfortunately, the Big Sawmill mode at around the eight minute mark didn't result in a pause, so we got a One Burst Grand instead. At least most of the walk back we only had to contend with wind.
A few hours later came a report of Beehive's Indicator. One look out the cabin window at the rain and wind and we decided that others didn't need our presence to enjoy the eruption.
Since Grand erupted during Rift's eruption last night, the expected long interval for Grand took place overnight. The first three observed Turban eruption durations were short, around three minutes long. Then we got a long Turban interval, but it wasn't long enough to qualify as a Turban Delay Interval. That Turban duration was a minute longer, as was the next eruption.
Grand finally erupted less than 16 minutes later. When the first burst ended at less than 8-1/2 minutes long, we were pretty sure of a second burst. Backlit by the sun with much of the steam cleared away, it seemed impressively high. And it lasted just over 1/2 a minute, which is short. Despite that, the pool quickly drained and there was no effort at a third burst, and a total duration of about 9m36.
Afterwards, in the Sawmill Group Uncertain was splashing. All the conditions looked good for an eruption. Waited a bit, and then suddenly Sawmill started. Despite that, Uncertain continued to splash, and a few minutes later it built into an eruption. This eruption seemed shorter than those I've seen in the past, but that may be due to erupting with Sawmill.
Later went out for the noon radio call for Beehive's Indicator.
In the early afternoon, went out to Grand a bit early, as not sure if the longer intervals due to Rift would still be in effect. Not a super long interval, but still longer than the day prior to Rift erupting. Had to sit through several small showers that were just enough to wet things down.
The first burst from Grand was long enough for a One Burst Eruption, but we were rewarded with a second burst. The pause was less than a half minute, and it looked like Grand's pool was down quite a bit when the bursting restarted. Usually I expect to see sloshing around for a while as the pool rises to near overflow. The second burst then lasted almost long enough to qualify as a Long Second burst, while the Vent & Turban restart took well over twenty minutes.
Since it was clear, and tomorrow is supposed to be cool and wet, we went out after sunset for another Grand eruption. The wait was uneventful. The One Burst Grand eruption had a false pause after a minute or so of Big Sawmill mode, then continued on for almost three more minutes.
Was awakened by a radio call for Beehive's Indicator again. This time it was daylight and I had been thinking of getting up and moving about then. There was just enough of a breeze to push the spray to the north, giving those standing along the railing a full double rainbow for most of the eruption.
Went back to the cabin to immediately head back out to wait for Grand. Only needed to wait for one Turban eruption interval before we got another two burst eruption. It was quite steamy, and the second burst was a bit of a surprise as the first burst lasted over 9-1/2 minutes, and the pause quite short. But that burst was tall, reaching well above the ground fog.
There wasn't much else going on, and it was a nice, sunny day, so made the decision to visit Great Fountain. Got out there and the pool was low, about 30cm to 50cm below overflow. Spent an hour and a half there with no change other than occasional rises of about 10cm or so. So returned to the Upper Basin to see the next Grand eruption.
Arrived to find that West Triplet was below overflow. Ended up waiting less than an hour for a One Burst Grand eruption. After the eruption, West Triple was in heavy overflow with heavy boiling up. It took a couple of minutes for the first bursting to start. That's the first post-Grand activity I've seen this visit, and left with the expectation of a Rift eruption to follow.
Didn't wait as decided to head back out for Great Fountain. Arrived well into the overflow, and waited only twelve minutes for the eruption. It was perhaps an Adequate Fountain, as while it went into full eruption without a pause, none of the burst were very big or voluminous. I was disappointed in how small the waves across the catch basins were.
At the start of the third burst, left to go to Fountain where there had been a stall while we were on our first visit to Great Fountain. Waited less than an hour for the eruption.
Was planning to head out to Grand after sunset, but at around the 5-1/2 hour mark got a report of Rift in eruption. At the same time, Beehive's Indicator started again. So rushed out for Beehive and gave up the idea of going to Grand.
Turns out we should have gone, as despite Rift erupting, Grand had another short eruption interval.
Just after midnight we heard the radio call for water in Beehive's Indicator. Had plenty of time to get out there for a nicely illuminated eruption that started with a huge surge of water, maybe 10meters high. With no wind, the water column went straight up and then straight down.
Later went out for a half-hour of undistinguished Turban eruption intervals, followed by a nice two burst Grand eruption. The first burst lasted 8m21s, which has been known to be the duration of a One Burst Grand eruption, but not this time. Instead we got a second, 2-1/2 minute long second burst. Both bursts didn't seem to be very tall.
It was after Grand when the trail closures were lifted. Since I hadn't really had a chance to go down basin, finally got to do so early in the afternoon.
Got to Daisy in what was the latest part of the published window, only to find it completely dead. Having nothing better to do, decided to stick around see the build up to the next eruption. Turns out there was a double interval of about 1h45m for each. The duration was still 3m22s, but it does seem that the intervals over the years are getting a little shorter.
(When I arrived, there was a raven working on the remaining bits of a small animal located just behind the bench.)
During the Daisy eruption the call came over the radio for water in Beehive's Indicator. So once Daisy had finished, I rode down to the overlook, after dodging a bison grazing where the trees and the warm ground meet. Beehive started as I passed through the little grove of trees.
The wait for the evening Grand eruption was also uneventful. The lighting was nice, and the wind had finally died down. The first burst lasted just under nine minutes, but the pool looked full once the steam cleared. This time the burst heights seemed taller than earlier. In both cases, Vent and Turban restarted within ten minutes.
Afterwards there was a long Bulger eruption, but not even steam from Bulger's Hole. Spasmodic had been overflowing earlier, but was dropping. This is the first time in years, since Sawmill reactivated, that I have seen that. Would like to see Sawmill overflow before erupting, because I think that would indicate a Penta major eruption could finally happen.
Beehive had a long interval, and the Indicator wasn't reported until it was in full eruption. But made it out there in plenty of time to see the eruption.
It was a cold, windy day. Made sure I got out to Grand early as I expected to have wait behind the Rift barrier, but it was decided to move it back to where it was yesterday and make the benches available. Turns out the carcass was not a bison but a cow elk, and it was getting attention from all the smaller scavengers.
That was good, as we needed them. Grand never had a Turban Delay interval, but never showed much in looking good or like it was trying to erupt. Then the Turban intervals got shorter, and Grand still didn't try. Finally, at just under ten hours we got the One Burst Grand eruption. (after quite a bit of booping). Went back in to get warmed up.
Went out to Grand before a cloudy sunset. At least the wind had decreased to a more tolerable level. The second Turban eruption we saw resulted in a couple of boops from Grand and a Turban Delay interval. The fourth Turban eruption after that was strong, and it sounded like Grand could start at any moment, but it didn't. Instead we had to wait two more Turban eruption intervals before we finally got our eruption. And as a reward, there was a second burst.
Got out as far as Castle where, at 05:00, I was able to see Vent in eruption. Turns out the eruption time got reported about then, and I was a half hour late.
A few hours later, Rift was reported in eruption. I saw it still in eruption when I went past at 09:00. What got me out and about was a report of a wolf feeding on a bison carcass. The carcass was located just upstream from the Oblong bridge on the west side, almost in the river. It was reported to be still fresh and bloody, and stripped down. One wolf was seen near it and it's leaving is the only reason anyone would know about it.
As usual, the NPS reacted by closing trails, then overreacting later by extending the closure to include Grand and the Sawmill Group.
At first, they put up barriers at Castle on the bike trail, at Grand just after the northernmost benches, at the "Daisy" trailhead and at Biscuit Basin trailhead toward Artemisia. (Note they never mentioned the fifth entrance to the basin…)
While that was going on, I saw eruptions of Tilt and Bulger's Hole from Castle. I was considering going back in when there came a radio call for the water in Beehive's Indicator. So I walked over that way in plenty of time to get well upwind of the eruption.
Coming back I saw that Rift was no longer erupting. Both Belgian Pool and Crystal Spring were way down. Belgian no longer filled the western lobe, while Crystal was several centimeters below the overflow rim. Slurp was noisy and steamy, while earlier in the week is was using being flooded out by Crystal.
The wait at Grand was wet as a couple of bands of showers passed through, but the rains stopped by the time we got to see the One Burst Grand eruption. Other than being over eleven minutes long, there wasn't much to distinguish it.
Later in the afternoon, the NPS moved the barrier from Grand to "Sawmill". I assumed that meant the junction and the loop was closed.
It was cool, cloudy and a bit windy, and I considered not going out for Grand. But then decided I should investigate what sort of view was available. Turns out the closure was at the junction of the loop by Rift, so it was possible to see Turban eruptions start, just not see Grand's pool or get accurate durations.
The Sawmill Group was in a Deep Drain, with water as low as I've seen it in various features like Belgian, Crystal and Oval. Bulger was almost constantly making noise with an occasional splash.
Waited for a few Turban eruptions, but was getting dark and rain was headed our way and decided to leave. (That location was also directly downwind from Grand.) Saw an eruption of Tilt, then decided that since it wasn't quite a windy there, might as well stick around for the next Turban start. So watched a 9-1/2 minute One Burst Grand eruption from there.
On the walk back to the Lower Ham's parking lot, heard a frog to the left. It's been years since I've heard one. Back in the 1980s the swampy area to the right of the trail was quite noisy with frogs.
As I was leaving Grand, I saw a rabbit appear from beneath the boardwalk beside Sawmill. It kept ducking under the boardwalk and finally ended up beside Belgian Pool. A minor eruption of Bulger distracted me, and I did not see the rabbit again.
Rabbit beside Belgian Pool
Over at Crested Pool I saw an eruption of Tilt start. I noticed that not only was there no water going into it from Crested, but there was no runoff on that entire west side. It appears that Crested has dropped just enough so that the water only flows out one channel on the east side.
Crested also appeared to be a bit quiet. As the boiling along the west edge picked up, in the low light from sunrise I could see pulses of water pushing into the formation, raising the level just slightly. When the boiling quieted down about a minute later, the pulsations stopped as did the water level. Didn't stay long enough, but a project might be to see if this behavior can be quantified.
Crested Pool
Later went out for the mid-day One Burst Grand eruption. Was a dull wait for an interval just under eight hours. The only item of note was that the durations of the Turban eruptions and the intervals between them slowly decreased. The last couple of minutes of the eruption consisted of Big Sawmill mode.
There was only six minutes between the Beehive's Indicator radio call and the eruption, so I saw the start from Sulphide Spring. It was a bit windy, so I got a good view of the curtain of water extending across Geyser Hill.
After, went out to Grand, but over the next hour storms started to develop to the west. With the radar view and the start of raindrops and it getting dark, decided that the odds of anything but a One Burst Grand meant it was time to leave.
Traveling north at 06:00, we'd just passed Fountain Paint Pots and were about to start across Fountain Flats when I noticed a truck-camper stopped in the road at the Thud Group. Next I noticed there was a bison standing right next to the road. I thought it odd that someone would be stopping for a lone bison at that time of day, considering that they'd probably seen many bison the day before.
As we approached, it continued on its way. Next to the bison, maybe 20 feet away, was another shape that I initially thought was a calf. But it was the wrong color, and the wrong shape. It was a wolf, intently staring at the bison. I too stopped for a minute, then we continued on our way. In the passenger side mirror I saw a calf next to the bison, and realized what was going on. The wolf was looking for an opportunity to get today's meal, and the bison wasn't going to let that happen. (Or the wolf was waiting for a distraction)
Arrived at Norris at 07:10, and twelve minutes later New Crater/Steamboat had a small minor eruption better than anything we saw yesterday. It had the look and feel that it could be the start of an eruption, but then it started to die down. There was little to no activity after than for quite a while.
Over the next few hours, there were a few smaller such minor eruptions, but each were isolated, and not part of a series that looked like something could be building. For the last few hours of our stay, things were about as quiet as yesterday. After a stay of six hours, we left.
Back at the Upper Geyser Basin, went out to Grand at the six hour mark. Saw a Turban eruption, and unlike yesterday, were all the Turban eruptions were well under four minutes long, this one lasted over four.
The follow up did not look good, at the twenty minute mark the steamy Grand Pool looked full, but it also started to look like we were going to have a Turban Delay interval. But fortunately Grand had an explosive start at 23m16s.
This burst ended just as abruptly a bit over 7-1/2 minutes later. We were either going to get more bursts, or witness perhaps the shorted eruption recorded. It was a quick, twenty second pause, and then Grand restarted. This burst lasted just over the 1m15s that qualifies as a Long burst. For the last 30 seconds or so, Grand was in Big Sawmill mode. This was a bit disappointing, as now the eruption was long enough that it could be over. Instead, the forty second pause resulted in a third burst. This one too qualified as a Long, lasting 2m22s. By the time it ended, the duration for Grand's eruption was well over 12 minutes. As expected, there was no attempt at a fourth, and Vent and Turban quickly shut down.
Around sunset, went out to Geyser Hill to check on Beehive. The interval was well over 17 hours, so it might erupt any time, including a No Indicator start, which seem more common on longer intervals (I'll leave it to someone else to confirm or refute this observation.) But an hour later it still hadn't erupted, so I headed back in.
Went to Norris just because it's been over 50 days since that last New Crater/Steamboat eruption, and there have been some reports of it having minor activity that looked encouraging. Arrived at 07:30 to clear skies, and by the time we left four hours later, it was cloudy, windy and starting to rain.
The overflow down from the South Vent is continuous, with frequent surges much of the time. At the bottom the bridge is just above the debris, and the runoff is stained chartreause by the plant life growing in it. But we never saw any good, strong, and sustained activity while waiting.
BWe made it back to the Old Faithful area with only one small delay due to a solitary bison standing on the road's shoulder just north of the Mallard Lake Trailhead. There we found that the window for Grand was open, so we headed out.
Only to find Rift in eruption. And Grand having the first of several Turban Delay intervals. As the summary shows, we ended up waiting five hours with little indication of an eruption. Rift stopped erupting about an hour after arrival, and that coincided with one of the Turban Delay intervals. There was another an hour later.
During this time Bulger was active, with several short but powerful eruptions from Bulger's Hole. During one of those eruptions, about 2-1/2 hours after Rift ended, it suddenly started putting our steam under considerable pressure. It looked like it might be trying to restart. An hour later there was a second such period of activity, but not as strong.
The rains started with the first Turban Delay that we saw, and became pretty much continuous by the time Grand erupted. That eruption was preceeded by a strange Turban eruption. It lasted less than 2-1/2 minutes, but emptied Grand's pool such that it looked like there had been a longer, Delay-type eruption.
Fortunately, Grand finally released the five poeple who were still waiting for it on the next eruption of Turban. The wind was such that we could at least see the start, but the eruption abruptly ended at 9m15s. The hope for a second burst was ended when the wind finally blew away enough steam that the empty crater was visible.
Waited less than a Turban eruption interval for the first One Burst Grand eruption of this visit. The wind was pushing the steam uphill, so at least it was pretty.
Did a quick visit down to Economic. It was full and convecting, and obvious that there had been some activity. East Economic was also full, and looked like there wasn't much slime over the vent area. The rest of the features of the area, from Key and Shoe to Crack looked unchanged from previous years.
With eruptions of Daisy and Riverside during our short time out there, and will Beehive and Castle having erupted during our drive, there wasn't much reason to stay out.
Months ago we made three reservations in southwest Texas. Two were in the path, near the centerline. Because these were AirBnb or Vrbo type accommodations, we made a third reservation, at a commercial motel in Sonora, just in case. For one reason, we got the accommodations pretty cheaply, and we figured that the owners weren't aware that there might a reason for demand for rooms that weekend.
Turns out that was a smart move, as both reservations canceled out on us. The first was six months before the eclipse, and we were told it was because the current tenant decided to stay an extra month. Okay, that's believable, but inconvenient. It was replaced with a second, nicer reservation but at a location where we'd probably have to drive to get a good totality length.
The second one just canceled on us. A little Internet search turned up that we weren't the only clients getting dropped. The booking agency agreed, and told us that we could replace it, and they would reimburse us for the difference and bill the original seller.
A week to ten days before the eclipse we started to get the long term weather forecasts, and they weren't good. All of Texas was going to be overcast, as was much of the Midwest. One had to get to Ohio or farther east before for even the possibility of clear skies.
So we made arrangements and reservations as far east as Buffalo, as we figured we should be able to get that far. Then more forecasts came in, and the northeast started getting worse, while the central area in Illinois and Missouri were the best of a lot of poor choices. More reservations were made, and remade giving us options all along the path.
We left at dawn on Saturday, and as we crossed Colorado, the wind began to increase in strength. By the time we got into Kansas, the truck was bucking along due to a 40+mph wind from the south. Passing the large trucks was sometimes an adventure. On at least one occasion I thought the truck in front of me was listing a bit too far into my lane.
The wind also had the effect of causing a 20% reduction in my gas mileage. Which meant getting into our intended refueling spot with the low-fuel light on for the last 15 miles. Fortunately, that usually means I have about 30-40 miles left. Our policy for the rest of the trip was to refuel at half-tank.
That night in Higginsville, Mo., we made our final decisions on where to go, and a bunch of reservations got canceled. We were left with Mountain View, Ark, Perryville, Mo. and Carbondale, Ill. by then, and based on the forecasts, opted for the eastern one (Carbondale). But, just in case, we decided that, instead of heading there directly, we would investigate the area northeast of Poplar Bluff. There was a reservoir at Wappapello that looked like a good spot, and it was only a two hour drive from Carbondale.
That area was definitely our top choice, especially after looking over the Carbondale options the evening of our arrival on Sunday and finding them less than inspiring. So before dawn on eclipse day, we headed south for the only bridge across the Mississippi that didn't require our going in a wrong direction. It was humid, and it wasn't long before we got to drive in thick fog. Fortunately, there was almost no traffic (although I did have to wait for a train once). We arrived at Wappapello shortly before sunrise and the day use areas were mostly deserted.
That area is fairly hilly, without much in the way of open vistas. One exception would be the shores of a reservoir, which is why we liked the area. At the Peoples Creek Recreation Area there was an open view to the south and west. We should easily be able to see in incoming umbra just fine, especially perched up a bit on a hillside. There were a few streetlights near the restroom buildings, and one was still on as we arrived, but they would not cause a problem when it got dark.
The wait was uneventful. Got set up on the hillside, and ended up being joined by several people we knew. After we arrived, Suzanne sent out messages with both descriptions and pictures of our chosen spot, and based on that, they decided to also drive the two hours to join us.
For awhile around first contact, there was a stream of people arriving, including the geyser gazers, but the area never filled. The parking lot below us for boaters was maybe a third full of cars and the few RV vans. I was pleasantly surprised there weren't any of the big bus RVs there running their generators.
As in 1998 and 2017, I set up a stationary camera to record the experience of the eclipse, rather than trying to record the eclipsed sun. This time I realized early on that it might be nice to capture the changing sky conditions as a time lapse video, too.
The phone camera just isn't good enough and it's just too distracting, so all I did was wave it around for about 30 seconds. Spent about the last two minutes of totality instead looking through binoculars at the corona.
The light immediately after the eclipse seemed whiter than the time approaching totality. Maybe it was an effect of the high clouds and our eyes being adjusted to the darkness.
On my video I see some people launched their boat during totality, and there was traffic over the dam during the first minute. The first car took off about a minute after the end. Most people there left during the next half hour, but we fixed a lunch and waited around until fourth contact. (About 75 minutes.) There were still a number of people hanging around as we left.
Not sure if it's an artifact from the camera recording, but there seems to be a definite edge to the shadow moving toward us at the end which wasn't visible at the start of totality.
It was surprising that we had no trouble driving the two hours back to our room in Carbondale. I was expecting the bridge across the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau to act as a bottleneck, but that wasn't the case. Probably wasn't much different from normal late afternoon traffic. The drive back took longer only because we took a few minor detours along the way, and we still arrived well before dark.
