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The moon was past full, but at 01:30 it was high up in the sky. As expected, the wind had died down and it hadn't gotten really cold yet so we headed out to Grand. It was also late enough (or early enough) that no one would be out there with a light.

Rift and Turban were both erupting as we approached. From the usual spot over Grand's main runoff I noticed a lot of steam back in the Sputnik area, and went down to investigate. Back there Sput A, the one in the runoff to the left of Sputnik at the site of North Triplet was erupting a thick plume of water about 1/2 meter high every few minutes. This is new activity to me. It and Rift quit about fifteen minutes after we arrived. Just four minutes later, Grand erupted,

It was so calm that the steam was making it hard to see at times. This One Burst Eruption at least lasted well over 11 minutes.

On our way back, while walking past Castle, it sounded like there were voices nearby. Over in the trees across the trail from Castle there was also a bright spot that didn't look like moonlight through the trees. I illuminated the area and saw at least a couple of people about 25 yards off the trail back there. I think they were trying to camp. In hindsight, I shouldn't have done that. Because it probably warned them to clear out.

Then I called the Comm Center, and for once they were able to dispatch someone to check things out. We talked for a bit, and I described what we'd seen. A companion arrived and then went on to check the area out, but didn't find anyone. At a minimum, I hope that somebody's night was ruined, and word got around that if you are going to camp in the thermal areas, you need to be more discrete.

Went out for the next Grand eruption. The boardwalks down from Crested were frosty, and there was the usual nasty slickness on the walkways past Rift. There was a Castle minor during our wait, which this time was for two Turban intervals. It was another One Burst Grand, but the backlighting, especially at the start, was quite nice.

It seemed like a good idea to head over to Beehive. Ended up seeing a couple of Old Faithful eruptions during the 2-1/2 hour wait. The South Bubbler was erupting about 15 minutes, and it looked a lot like what I'd seen from Sput A earlier in the dark. Then water was visible in the Indicator. This lasted for almost an hour until the indicator finally started.

But the eruption was quite nice. By then the breeze had picked up, and it had warmed up. I was standing on the northern side, and quite often the falling water looked like it was coming right at me, only to veer off to the south. It wasn't until near the end that the crowd at my end had to panic because they were getting wet.

For the noon-time Grand wait, it was standing room only because there was a terrible prediction on the board. Someone had calculated it an hour early, and the windows are already skewed too early. So a lot of people wasted a lot of time there.

It was another One Burst Grand, lasting a little under 10 minutes. But after draining, Grand's vent refilled and pulsed and acted like it was trying for a second burst for about 75 seconds. Vent started blasting away at about the minute mark. Then there was a sudden drain and Vent and Turban went silent.

Went out to see what Morning might be doing. Arrived in the parking lot in time for Fountain, but since we got a parking spot almost immediately, walked out to see the rest of the eruption. The conditions were ideal-- warm and dry and sunny blue sky and just enough breeze to move the steam away from the walkway.

The evening brought a Turban delay at Grand, which probably made the eruption better, as it allowed the sun to drop closer to the horizon. Another Turban interval and the sun would have been below the ridge. This time when Grand's vent refilled, it managed to give a second burst.

After dark headed back out to Fountain, and this time we had to wait a few minutes for the start. The duration was 34m30s, which means that we need to be back out for the next eruption, as things are looking good for Morning.

Of course was greeted by a 9m11 One Burst Grand eruption, after a wait of only one Turban interval. That was the only geyser activity we saw. The walk out was unusual in that I don't assocate a strong wind with the time of day (just before sunset). Was told that that it was actually much nicer than earlier in the day, when Beehive looked more like Daisy.

For us, wind started as we crossed north on US-287 into Wyoming at around 09:00. It was a headwind, and we had it the entire drive to Old Faithful.

Also of interest was the drive from the South Entrance. The line there wasn't that short, but it seems like every vehicle ahead of us was paying in cash, so we waited at least a quarter of an hour to finally show our pass. But once we were back moving, we made it to Old Faithul with the cruise control set at the speed limit almost the whole way. I did have to pass one car north of Lewis Falls, and was briefly behind a Jeep that turned into Isa Lake. For late afternoon, this felt more like early morning. I also noticed not a single bus headed south or away from Old Faithful.

And I'll hold my rant on the latest stupidity from the NPS until I get to partipate in a wait at Norris.

Since is was the day to leave, there wasn't much time spent in the thermal areas. Set a deadline for Beehive though, and it cooperated.

There was a report of the South Bubblers, so we went out to wait until the deadline. Then nothing happened for quite a while, maybe half an hour. At about 15 minutes before the deadline, there was a huge surge from Beehive, as if it was about to start, but nothing came of it.

But when the indicator did start, it was only 1m02s before Beehive itself started. Of course the wind shifted, so we had to dodge the water or start the drive home wet. And the duration of Beehive was much longer than I've seen recently, 5m17s, when most are well under five minutes.

Yet another nice day which started with a Grand eruption. But before that, I found the Sawmill Group with water levels high enough that Sawmill was within millimeters of overflow. But about ten minutes later it was obvious that it was dropping.

Also of note is that during an eruption of West Triplet I saw Sputnik (or one of its associated vents) bubbling. At the same time Rift was steaming heavily, but it never did erupt, with the steam dying down after West Triplet quit. West Triplet erupted again after the One Burst Grand eruption, for an interval of about 2-1/4 hours.

After that, made one last visit to the Lower Geyser Basin. Arrived at Fountain about half an hour after Fountain had completed an eruption on a four hour interval. So went over to Great Fountain, where the water in the crater was at least 25cm below overflow. So that was a complete waste of time.

The next Grand eruption was another One Burst Grand, with nothing much to distinguish it other than all of the afternoon eruptions have had sunlight on them, enhancing the contrast with the gray clouds forming the background.

Down at Grotto waited for a start, and saw first a powerful Central Vent delay, and then a small Grotto Fountain which preceeded Grotto. Also this was the first time this year that the mosquito repellent became necessary, as I killed several of the little monsters while waiting there.

Going out to Grand in the morning and we got Castle starting right as we walked past Crested. Stopped to enjoy a major eruption under excellent conditions.
Over in the Sawmill Group, there were eruptions of Bulger and Old Tardy before we continued on in that direction.

Rift started just as we walked up, so spent a little time watching the water creep down the runoff channel and under the walkway. After several decades, that runoff channel looks the same despite every eruption moving a bit of gravel closer to the river.

Waited for a couple of non-descript Turban eruptions then got a strong Grand start. It also gave us a sudden stop at a little over nine minutes. Perfect duration for a possible second burst, or long enough for one burst. But over the next minute the pool did fill and we got a sun-lit second burst. That lasted nearly three minutes, turning a short eruption into a long eruption.

For the first time in quite a while, stuck around to see the restart of Vent and Turban, which took nearly 22 minutes. From there, did a quick survey of the northern end of the basin, noting that Solstice was still in eruption.

In the afternoon, we got a Turban Delay that included a half-meter Grand Boop about four minutes before the Turban start, It took two Turban interval to recover from that, and this time the burst lasted over 11 minutes, so there was no chance of a second burst.

The day ended with it getting cloudy, but still fairly comfortable. Went out at sunset and caught West Triplet and then Castle. Stopped paying attention, so it was about twelve minutes later that we all noticed it was far too quiet, that Castle had had a minor and we missed the end. During part of that time, there were quite a few flashes of lightning, and some thunder, but nothing came of it.

It started to sprinkle a bit just around the time Grand started. The wind also did its shift so that the central part of the benches got a spray soaking too. Another one burst eruption, illuminated by several bright lights.

The day pretty much started out the same as yesterday. Nice and sunny, so went out to Grand where it started to cloud up. After the One Burst Grand, went to the Lower Basin to see what might be going on at Fountain.

Unlike yesterday, we got there after Fountain had a short interval, and with a short duration of 29m, there was no reason to stick around, or even head back later in the day. The only noteworthy thing is that there was a bison blocking the boardwald between Silex and the Paint Pots, and the warmer weather is bringing out the aroma of the buildings next to the parking lot.

Back in the Upper Basin, at least, we arrived just in time to head for Geyser Hill for a Beehive eruption. Nothing out of the ordinary there, either.

Later in the afternoon went out to Grand for another One Burst Eruption. Nice conditions, but the wind shifted at the last moment to obscure Turban and Vent when before the wind was headed toward Rift.

After that, realized that a Daisy eruption had probably been missed, and we were about an hour or so from an eruption. Which was good, because I wanted to see what Splendid might do (if anything) well before an eruption. There was water coming out a lobe to the north, enought to support orange slime, which was an improvement over previous years, when the water didn't even exit the rim.

What it did was nothing, until after Daisy. Around the eight minute mark or so, the Side Boiler did make an appearance, and a few minutes later we saw the Main Vent. The latter reached perhaps a meter high boil, which was actually about the best I've seen from it in years. At about the twenty minute mark, Main Vent died down and all we saw for a few minutes was the Side Boiler, getting a bit less vigorout. So Splendid is a long way from being active again, but at least it's slowed it's evolution into a hot spring.

The weather was finally nice all day. Went out to see the One BurstGrand for the morning eruption, and had to wait for an interval of over six hours. But by then had learned about the early morning Morning eruptions, so that was our next destination.

Arrived around 11:35 and ended up spending about ten hours sitting at the overlook. By sunset, Morning was nice and high, but we also started getting Morning's Thief boiling. Not a good sign.

Then we got a series of huge Thief eruptions about 12 minutes apart. This continued for about 45 minutes until Fountain finally started. Even then the Thief wasn't finished, as there were three more eruptions over the next seven minutes.

It was head out first thing in the morning for Fountain Paint Pots. It was also clear overnight, so I had to scrape the frost off the windows of the truck, and then drive in the fog to get there. Fortunately, that mostly cleared out north of Biscuit Basin, and there were no bison on the road.

But there were bison in the parking lot. We were the third behicle there, and I didn't see them until I had packed up and was about to head out. Suzanne never saw them. They were right in front of the vehicles, maybe ten feet from the walkway. Just settled down there, comping away, and they ignored me.

The interval for Fountain wasn't unreasonably long, and we got a couple of Morning's Thief eruptions before it started. It lasted about 35 minutes, so we knew we were not going to be coming out for the next one.

So a few hours later we arrived at Grand with West Triplet and Percolator erupting. Which led to a Rift eruption. Which didn't really seem to matter. Although Grand did have a delay, and several large boops as much as 1/2 minute before the One Burst Grand eruption finally started.

After, I went down basin for really the first time this trip to see a Grotto and Grotto Fountain start. I got both, but was a bit disappointed that Grotto Fountain got to about three meters at most, and Grotto started within a couple of minutes.

From there I noticed that Link was having a minor eruptions, so I stopped by to watch it. It wasn't long before I felt and heard a thump. That was interesting, because I've never had that happen before during a minor, only during those major eruptions I saw in 1983. Then it happened again. For the third time I finally figured out what was happening. It was from the people slaming the door of the Riverside Pit Stop.

And here's what the new view of an eruption of Riverside. It belongs on a calendar sold by "Yellowstone Forever".

Arrived for the afternoon Grand just in time to see Turban have an eruption lasting 7m30s. This was undoubtely caused by a delay. It was three Turban eruptions later when the One Burst Grand eruption finally occurred. The only different thing about this eruption was that the restart was quick, about 8-1/2 minutes.

Later went over to Black Sand Pool for some more thumps, this time from a real geyser. There were some good, strong ones, and they didn't ever seem to correlate with the heavy boils the pool was having.

Went out for one more Grand eruption after it got dark. This too was one burst, with nothing to distinguish it.

After last night's long duration Fountain eruption, it had an even longer eruption before dawn-- about 39 minutes long. That meant that we would be going out to the Lower Basin around noon today, to see what would happen.

First we went out to Grand, where we got a pretty non-descript one burst eruption. The it was out to the Fountain Paint Pots.

Waited about an hour, with nothing much happening, and definitely nothing out of the ordinary. But when Fountain finally started, the boiling in Morning increased almost immediately, It took a little over a minute for that to go from heavy boiling to surging to erupting. This was my first Morning eruption in several years, and the conditions were excellent. There were frequent breaks in the clouds, allowing the sun through. The wind was such that the steam from Morning went behind (as seen from the overlook) Fountain, which in turn was easily visible.

The eruption looked as I remembered them-- the pool lifting up several times a minute with plenty of noise in each explosion. Several times there were vertical shots well over 40 meters. At around 14 minutes, the surging died down, and the total eruption duration was 14m38.

Fountain continued to erupt, but we didn't stick around as there were enough of the more dedicated people there who like seeing it.

After a meal back at the cabin, it was again out to Grand. This time we got a Vent overflow delay. Two Turban intervals later West Triplet started, then shortly after Turban preceeded Grand by about a second. It was partly sunny, but the wind was aimed right at the boardwalks. From my usual spot to beyond West Triplet , the umbrella was needed. But when Grand ended, the wind cooperated, pushing the steam away so that we could see Grand's crater, and that it still had water in it. It took overa minute, the crater filled and we finally got our second burst. The water column was completely visible, despite the earlier wind directions.

Again, we then headed to the Lower Basin. In years past, there were cases of a second Morning eruption about five or six hours after a dual eruption, and we wanted to be there for that.

That time period came and went, and we ended up at sunset waiting for Fountain. After a couple of Morning's Thief eruptions, it was near dark and we left the area. There were a considerable number of people there, and we figured there were more than enough get the Fountain info.

I think I now have a better understanding of how the Elusive Vachuda felt back in August 1982.

Got back even earlier than the previous days. Not much had changed overnight. We were getting a nice strong surge every hour or so, otherwise it was just lots of strong South Vent, with some North Vent that wasn't being affected by South as much.

The weather was fine up until around noon, when it started to deteriorate. There was a rain shower around 13:00, and then about an hour later it started coming down hard and continuous. The surges kept coming at about the same rate, so we stuck things out as long as we could, but by 16:00 we gave up. There was a social gathering over in the government area, and by then it seemed a reasonable alternative to four more hours of rain. We were pretty well bundled up and warm and dry, but knew that as soon as we started to leave and pack up, everything was going to get soaked. And it did.

So an hour and a half later, at 17:32, an obvious roar coming from the east was noticed. There was never a radio call about any increased activity, or even the start of the eruption, despite people with radios seeing the start. Rushed on over to the area to see what we could, but it was steam by the time I parked in the lot. Another short water phase.

The wind direction was the same as last time, with the platforms, especially the lower one, getting soaked. The walk down to the bridge was in a downpour, but at the bridge itself it was just the slowing decreasing rain. Cistern was flooded and brown from all the debris washing in.

Unfortunately, no one at that gathering in the government area saw "an eruption of Steamboat". Yes, we all saw a powerful steamphase right after the transisition. But what we saw was also to the equivalent to seeing 99% partial solar eclipse. It's close, but it's not seeing totality itself. What happens is impressive and unusual, but it is nothing compared to what we could have seen. In that regard, I felt cheated by what I saw. I waited three days, in far less than ideal conditions, to pretty much see what I'd seen way back in the 1990s.

After we got back to the Old Faithful area, discovered that Fountain had been observed during the day, and we were approaching the eight hour mark. So we took a quick trip back out, and caught an eruption soon enough after the start that we got to see an eruption of Morning's Thief. The lenght was fairly long, but not long enought to make us want to go out for the next eruption.

Today was more of the same. Arrived at the same time as yesterday, but this time we weren't the first in the area. New Crater/Steamboat was a little improved from yesterday, but not by much. North Vent was holding its own against the stronger South, but most of the time wasn't very thick or tall. Every hour or so there's be an attempt at a surge, with a little bit of vertical in North Vent, but it rarely followed through.

During the afternoon there was some sun, and it got warm enough that I actually thought about shedding a layer. But then the sun would disappear behind a cloud, and I got to feel the real air temperature, which wasn't great. Around 18:30 the thunderstorms came in. The first wave was cloud-to-cloud, but not the second. We had a number of nearby strikes. One was of the flash-boom variety, and some were claiming they saw the strike over in the farther Back Basin. Then again, after the storm, some claimed to smell smoke, and the wind was coming from the parking lot then.

Finally gave up around 20:30 and headed back to old Faithful.

Since the other choice was some One Burst Grand eruptions and maybe a short Beehive interval, instead decided that watching nothing happen at Norris was a valid alternative.

Arrived at the platform around 06:45 to a lot of strong South Vent minors and weak to no activity from the North Vent. That was pretty much the case the whole day. There were a few good surges where North did join in, and South put out a heavy stream of water, but they were isolated and infrequent. Around 18:00, the situation did change a little bit, in that North was now initiating some of the activity, and not stopping when South began. There were even a couple of surges where the North Vent showed signs of going vertical. But no eruption by the time we left at 19:45.

What was noteworthy was the lineup to get out of the park. We came to a halt well before Terrace Spring, and over the next 20 minutes slowly crept toward the junction. No one was making the turn, because it was brake lights all the way toward the campground entrance. I sure hope there was an animal jam just down the road, as the idea of being that sort of mess for the next 14 miles makes me glad I never have to go to West Yellowstone.

What was also interesting was that the lineup was devoid of busses and campers and RVs. On the drive from the junction to Old Faithful I counted only 5 of them. It was almost all small passenger vehicles. I guess it was everyone headed back to their hotel lodgings.

No one knew when the dawn Grand eruption happened, so extrapolated from the previous evening's time. Also, someone reported an empty crater, which at least gave a maximum time. Turns out I guessed about right, as when the electronic times finally appeared, it was only about ten minutes from my estimate.

The weather looked wet when we left to go out, but while cold and a bit windy, was never actually raining. Took a quick look at Economic and vicinity, where I noticed that Wave was down a bit, and Economic is actually hot not just around the vent, but has a well defined runoff area in the middle of the orange to the south.

Was one of those Turban starts where Grand waits well over a minute to join in. The burst ended at around 8-1/2 minutes, which should mean another burst, but I have seen a One Burst Grand that short. But the pause was quick, and we got our second. Just that while the total duration was less than ten minutes, Grand made no attempt to even try for a third.

Considered going out to see activity in the Lower Basin again, but timing (Great Fountain erupted as we were eating the meal of the day) and weather (heavy rain) pursuaded us to stay behind. We also missed Beehive, seeing it from our cabin after we heard the roar of the eruption.

Got to see Grand start from behind Castle, because we weren't out there in time for the 5h32m interval. But there was a nice second burst. The rains had also died down, and the breeze was blowing to the east for once, so it was again easy to see the water column.

The day started out sunny, windy and cold. Spent some time on Geyser Hill since it was approaching 24 hours since the previous Beehive eruption, but it wasn't going to cooperate.

After that, went out for another wet eruption of Grand. One where there wasn't much to see after the start again, because of the wind direction. The wind and rain starting didn't help, either.

The the eruption of Morning the day before, and a report of Fountain in eruption in the morning, it seemed like a good idea to go out there and see what would happen next. Turns out, not much.

Didn't know it at the time, but got there only 3-1/2 hours after a second Fountain eruption. That Clepsydra was shutting down should have been a good clue that we'd missed an eruption, but the whole area was wet because of the rain and snow, and nothing was steaming. It was also confusing as the water level in both Fountain and Morning were high. Water was visible in Fountain from the overlook.

During the next couple hours, Clepsydra kept shutting down, and the geysers kept rising. But the weather turned acceptible, if a bit windy. Eventually, by 15:30, Fountain had water visible well into the neck. That's when things stalled out. Jet was acting like it was erupting, but there was only noise, no water. Clepsydra came on and stayed on. A few hours later, approaching what we thought was well over ten hours, the water level in Fountain began to drop. There was increased boiling in Morning's Thief, which is supposed to be a sure sign of Fountain erupting eventually. By the time we left, around 19:30, Fountain was almost out of sight, and back to about where it was when we arrived.

So we got to see what happens between Fountain eruptions, without actually seeing any Fountain eruptions.