For the past year or so, GeyserLog app for iOS devices has been available in the Apple App Store. I'm constantly updating it, adding new features and fixing bugs and generally trying to keep making it better. Yesterday I updated the app in the store to version 2.2.
The app is more than just a substitute for the GeyserTimes webpage. It also includes a Today widget which can display information even when the device is locked.
The Latest Activity tab has three sections. At the top is the Main section. These are features that the user cares about most. These features are the ones that are shown in the Today Widget. Below that is a section for other features the user would like to display. A third section is hidden, but can be used as a place to park features that the user wants quick access to.
If the user chooses, predictions can also be shown for features that are predicted by either the NPS, or by GeyserTimes. The user can also add a "local" prediction window for any feature in those cases when you'd like to have some sort of reminder for when to start paying attention. There's also "Night Mode", which will tint the display red and reduce the brightness.
The user can also add rows that show the current weather conditions and the current weather forecast. (This information is provided by DarkSky) There's also an Almanac row which will show the current sunrise, sunset and lunar info.
The Activity Timeline shows all activity in the order in which it happened. The user has the ability to filter this list, to only show those features that are part of one of the Latest Activity sections. (This is where the Hidden Features section becomes useful.) The user can also choose to show or hide notes.
The Eruption View is a stopwatch with added functionality. When the user chooses the "Submit" button, a record for submission to the server is created with most fields filled in. This includes not just the eruption time and observer info, but the feature and eruption duration. Ideally, all the user needs to do is touch the "Submit" button to finish the process. Submitted events are queued up and the app will keep retrying to send them when network connectivity is poor. (Like most days in the UGB...)
The WebCam tab is just that. It shows the current webcam. (Useful if you want to check on where its pointed...)
The Video Camera tab allows the user to record videos directly from the app. It works with the Eruption View's stopwatch function, so the user can get an eruption time without needing to look at another timing device. It can also impose a timestamp on the recorded video. (Note: this function can cause some stuttering of the recording on older, slower devices. Imposing an image over live video requires consderable work, or at least I've yet to find a better way.)
The Predictions tab will show all the predictions that the user has selected, with the next up first.
The Almanac tab will show solar and lunar information (including lunar eclipses). It defaults to the current date/time, but can be adjusted for any given day. (Solar eclipsed will be added someday, but the priority is now pretty low.)
And... There's also an AppleTV version of the app. It's primarily intended as a way to view the webcam on the AppleTV, but does provide the ability to show the Latest Activity and Activity Timeline. It also includes most of the filtering options.
The app is not free. The price helps pay for the costs of software tools and graphics tools needed for app development, along with fees for the weather information and licensing of graphics icons. Geyser gazers are welcome to contact me and get a Promo Code which will allow downloading of the app for free. I'm also open to suggestions for features users would like to see added, or bugs that need to be fixed.
It's been awhile, but I've decided that maybe it's time to bring this weblog back to life for a while. It's looking like I'll have a lot more time to observe geysers this summer, and maybe other things to report over the next 12 months. I've also got some other content that I want to distribute.
I've been converting and editing videos. Not just the ones that I've taken over the years, but also those that Paul Strasser has made since the early 1980s. The two of us have recorded a number of rare geyser eruptions, and I intend to make those available. I've already posted some eruptions of Fantail Geyser and Glade Geyser. In the future, I intend to add videos of activity from Tangent Geyser, Cascade Geyser, Lone Pine Geyser, Velvet Spring, Composite Geyser, the Purple Pools and Butterfly Spring and others.
I'm also going to upload a series of videos that Paul took of Giant Hot Periods. It's been a decade since anyone has seen Feather erupting. Many people have yet to see even that, and for those who have, these should be a nice refresher on what to look for and what to get excited about. Assuming Giant wants to become more active in the coming months. In some cases, the hot period resulted in a Giant Geyser eruption instead of disappointment.
I've also got some postings (and rants) from my earlier, Blogspot weblog that I may repost, too.
This posting is a bit late, but when I decided to resurrect this site, I figured I should also write up my eclipse experiences. (And post it on the correct date...)
Began thinking about the eclipse shortly after the last eclipse I saw, in Aruba on 1998 Feb 26. While there were going to be a few others I might try for, like the one in Europe in 1999, I knew that I would not be missing one that would be crossing Wyoming.
It was disappointing that the path of totality would just miss the Yellowstone thermal areas. According to my calculations, even Shoshone would only experience 99.5%. There may have been shadow bands there for a few seconds, but I knew that I wouldn't be the one seeing them.
At first, like a lot of people, the idea of the Tetons being in the path of totality got my attention. But I also figured out that from Jackson Hole, the sun would be to the southeast while the mountains would be to the west. Might be amusing to see them disappear into the umbral shadow, but that was about it. On the Idaho side, there's a ridge blocking the view of them until you get nearer to Tetonia. And the logistics of getting there and back didn't look great.
Living in Colorado meant that every trip to and from the park meant that we got to drive along almost 200 miles of the path, from Flagg Ranch to Lander. Why not see it from someplace along US-26/US-287? Would also have the advantage of watching for interesting places on every trip. So by the start of 2017 had come to the conclusion that the place to be would be off the main highway on the Wind River Reservation east of Crowheart.
The first complication was figuring out how to work with the land restrictions within the reservation. Sure we could get "trespass permits", but so would a whole lot of other people. Those had to be acquired in person just a few days before their use. That would mean it would be hard for a group of people to all go to the chosen site. It would also leave access until the last minute, with no way to get them before the tribal authorities figured out that they had an opportunity to really jack up the rates.
On our first trip to Yellowstone in May, we took the time to scout out a few of the side roads to confirm that access wasn't going to happen. Every side road is posted with "No Trespassing" signs, and from what I could read online, they meant it.
But we did find that there was non-tribal land accessible in what are shown as the reservation boundary. The access road to the Diversion Dam wasn't posted, and there were some wide spots along the road that, while not great, could function as emergency backup sites in case the place we eventually found wasn't going to work out.
Looking at the map, Suzanne suggested Ocean Lake about 20 miles farther east. One thing we wanted was a wide open view to the west in order to see the approaching darkness. That area looked really flat, and from what I could tell, was not tribal land, but a Wyoming wildlife refuge. So the next trip we left for Yellowstone early in order to look it over, and from what we could tell, it could work. There was open camping along the eastern shore, and except for the last few miles, local paved road access. The Mills Point area, where there was a boat ramp and pit toilets, looked like the best place.
And there was mention of Ocean Lake online. That was a concern, as we didn't want the place to be overrun with campers from California before we arrived. But no one specifially mentioned that spot.
As a backup, we took a day off during our two week Yellowstone visit in July to check out possible places in Idaho. I figured the Idaho National Energy Lab (INEL) would be restricted and help keep people a bit more bottled up along I-15, so we went as far a Howe just so those areas wouldn't be a complete surprise. On the way back I finally got to drive the road from Dubois (Idaho) to Island Park. There's a fair amount of gravel road, but well maintained and definitely would function as a way of getting around Rexburg, St.Anthony and Ashton.
We decided that we'd visit Yellowstone that weekend, no matter where ever we were going, because it would be easier to head out from there early in the morning as opposed to trying to leave Denver that morning. We left on Friday, and made one last visit to Ocean Lake. First we went through Lander, and where they were already starting to get ready for Monday. Just some closures around a downtown park, nothing that should have an effect on driving through later. Got to Ocean Lake and were pleasantly surprised that our chosen area was completely empty. That made us feel a little better, as we did not want to arrive to find several RVs that had put down roots. So on to the Upper Basin.
The visit to Yellowstone was different this time. For one thing, it was my first visit since 1985 that I didn't have a bike. Thanks to Fan & Mortar, I got to relive the experience of being a gazer in 1983 when they were really active and would sometimes walk down there multiple times in a day.
The crowds were different, too. Gone were all the usual American families. It seemed like the only people we heard speaking English were gazers. When we could understand people, the topic under discussion almost always seemed to be, "Where are you going for the eclipse?" As I'd suspected, most people had given that no thought, so any site off of a main road should not be overwhelmed.
Still, we were a bit paranoid, and decided that we'd head out early Sunday morning. On the drive we found plenty of evidence that the areas were getting ready. There were extra porta-potties stationed at pullouts, and the tribal patrols were in evidence. (They did finally decide to open a few places up, and charge something on the order of $40 per person for access, which is actually less than what it would normally cost.) In Dubois made sure that we had a full tank of fuel. With that, could easily get to Laramie. Then we double checked our backup site just past the US-287/26 split, and it was empty. So onward to Ocean Lake.
There we found the Mills Point area empty. We wanted a spot along the lake itself, and the best one was open. There was one RV set up to the north, at what appeared to be a well-used group campsite, a place that we wouldn't have gone to anyhow. A few hours later, some other people appeared, but mostly during the day it was local local families using the boat launch spot to play in the water. By evening, they may have been five or six campsites in use.
It was a pretty nice spot. The bugs weren't too bad, and during the day it was mostly calm. Suddenly at around 17:00, the wind picked up off the lake, and with our tent threatened to move on its own, we weighted it down a bit more. The bugs came out, too, but they seemed to be the non-biting type. It was a nice view, and plenty dark, with no lights nearby, which is one of those considerations for an eclipse people ignore, until that streetlight turns on automatically just before totality.
Overnight, I heard some people arrive, but since none were really close, we ignored them. At dawn people started appearing. A long line of cars appeared, obviously an organized group. Who proceeded to setup right next to that occupied group site north of us. That's why I didn't want it. Then Linda Strasser and Matt Hocker found our site, and a little while later, the Mike Keller family did too.
There was some high cloudiness, and a definite band of clouds to the west, headed east. But that all made observations difficult for someone else out as totality approached. In the moments before totality, the bugs came out again.
Solar Eclipse 2017 Aug 21, Mills Point, Ocean Lake, Wyo
Not a whole lot to say about the eclipse itself. If you've seen one, you know what they look like. This one was much like the one I saw in Aruba in 1998-- not long enough, with too much happening and too much to see and experience. Even when trying to plan ahead on what to do and look for, things get ignored or forgotten. (It wasn't until the last few seconds that I remembered to try and look for stars and planets nearby.)
With the wide open horizon in all directions, the changes in lighting were easily seen. One factor that is much more obvious on a video recording than it was at the time was how the position of the shadow affects the lighting. At the start, what light there was was coming from the east. By the end, it's from the west. Even though it is dark the whole time.
I looked for shadow bands both before and after, but there weren't any that any of us saw. One woman from another nearby group said she did seem some right after the end.
After the eclipse, we all took off fairly quickly. Originally I looked to see if there was some way to avoid going through Riverton, and I could not find a way. As it turned out, going through town was easy. The traffic on Wyo-135 was a bit heavy, but moving pretty much at the speed limit. Of course, there had to be a few people who needed to keep leapfrogging ahead, as if they were going to get back home to Denver any faster that way. After a while, it looked like most people figured that out, as the passing died out.
The first bottleneck I'd expected was at the Sweetwater Junction, where we'd have to make a left turn to get onto US-287. But it turns out the Wyoming road department was on the job. Not only did they have someone directing traffic at the junction, but they'd turned off the traffic lights at the one lane bridge construction zone just east of the junction. There they had flagmen allowing the long line of traffic moving east to go through unimpeded.
The traffic continued to be heavy, but orderly. In Jeffery City it looked like there were actually people using the gas pumps that appeared a few years ago. Then, just as we left Fremont County, the fun began. Suddenly there was a long line of halted traffic. After a while, figured out what the problem was, when we saw a similar backup off in the distance of cars headed south from Casper. These two lines merged, and there just wasn't the capacity to handle them. So we got to see a "once in a lifetime event", an actual traffic jam at Muddy Gap, Wyoming.
Even after the merge, there was stop-and-go traffic until we were past the first passing zone. Again, it was as if it took most people some time to figure out that there wasn't much point in passing in traffic that heavy. But after that, it was again consistently heavy but moving smoothly until we reached the bypass over to I-80. It seemed that much of the traffic was headed into Rawlins, probably headed west. We gassed up without a wait, and then got on I-80 where it wasn't much different than the usual weekday drive.
Heading south from Laramie there was another backup, this time probably from people trying to bypass I-25. Normally when we head home we'd use Owl Canyon Road, just north of Ft. Collins to get over to I-25, but this time we decided that it would be better to follow US-287 all the way home. Turns out it was the right decision, as we completely avoided the mass of people headed home from the Casper area. Driving through all those little towns was slow, and I'll probably never do that again unless something similar makes I-25 unusable. We got home at sunset, only a couple of hours later than if it had been a normal drive home.
Finally, it's not too early to start planning for 2024 Apr 08, especially since it's going to be in areas in which I'm not familiar.
It seemed like a good idea to come out to Grand at the six hour mark. So far this weekend, except for the single long interval of over nine hours, I’d yet to have to wait more than one Turban eruption interval, and in most cases, I didn’t see Turban erupt at all. The night was more overcast than had been expected, so not quite as cold as expected, either. But it was also just a bit breezy, which compensated for that. On the walk out, the coyotes were set off by someone over by Liberty Pool.
West Triplet was in eruption when arrived, and followed shortly by Rift. The Turban activity was strange. Unlike the previous long wait, this time all the Turban durations were short, less than four minutes. The intervals were also short, between 16 and 18 minutes. Every other eruption of Turban was preceded by Grand overflow, while the others had none. So it appeared that this was a variation on the waits where Turban alternates between long and short eruption duration.
The hope was that Grand could go with Rift, but that didn’t happen. Rift ended and the pattern continued. At one point, the power in the Old Faithful area went out, and so we got to experience real darkness out at Grand, at least until the emergency generators kicked in. It was also around that time that we heard an elk bugleing somewhere in the direction of Daisy.
After waiting two hours, finally decided after one of the heavy overflow Turban eruptions that had had enough, and time to go in. The reasoning was that it was going to be at least two more intervals, forty minutes, before Grand would erupt. Needed to get some sleep. That it sprinkled a bit as walked away reinforced that this was the right decision to make.
Turns out the decision was even better. The electronic monitor showed that Grand erupted about eighty minutes after we’d left. In other words, it had two cycles before it erupted on an interval close to 9-1/2 hours long.
So was able to leisurely pack up for the return trip home, and then go out to Grand one last time. The day was sunny, but cold and windy. It was comfortable sitting in the sun, but as soon as a cloud (and there were many) covered the sun, you could feel the coolness. But Grand did revert to short intervals, and with the sun out, the eruption was quite nice. It was the only eruption I saw during the weekend that was in sunlight, and not in the dark, or in the rain, or while I was in the cabin.
Also of interest is that Beehive did not erupt overnight. It wasn’t seen the night before, so it wasn’t known how long the interval was at that point, but definitely well over 24 hours.
Decided after the previous wet Grand that I would skip the next one. Woke up around the start of the eruption window, and hearing the raindrops on the cabin roof, I knew I made the right decision.
So I figured that a 12h30m double interval would probably be safe. I didn’t expect, at the 11h50m mark to hear a radio call that Grand was in eruption. The only problem with the call was that it was based on a distant observation, and in the past there’ve been false alarms. I didn’t want to just accept this and then have a second call, for the real eruption, a few hours later. So I went down and checked, and confirmed that it really did erupt. On the way back, the rain started up again, and proceeded to last all the rest of the morning.
Thanks to the rain, didn’t get out into the basin until well after noon. Got out to Grand with West Triplet erupting, and Rift starting a few minutes after I arrived. Around the same time it became obvious that Grand was pouring out water. That’s when the fun began. With small waves coming off of a full pool, Grand boiled up about a foot. This was the first “boop” I’ve seen in years. This was followed by several more boops over a period of close to four minutes. During this time the pool dropped at least once, then came back. Finally, a boil turned into the actual eruption.
The eruption was another one burst, and Rift ended shortly after Grand. But one thing it does show is that there is a good chance that those who want to make a radio call when Grand starts to boil are going be making corrections.
With the wet weather, Aurum’s intervals dropped down into the springtime range of around four to five hours. For those who don’t visit during that time, but who want to see Aurum, this presented an opportunity to forego the usual interminable long waits of summer. So after Grand I joined them. The railing was packed, but I decided that with the sunlight and wind direction, sitting to the north was just as good an option. Turned out only had to wait about ten minutes, and then got an eruption with a full rainbow anchored on the right by Aurum itself.
In the evening, went out for a post-sunset eruption of Grand. Nothing much out of the ordinary, but once again it was a short interval and didn’t even need to wait a full Turban interval.
After last night’s short wait, the hope was to have another one. So arrived in the dark. There’s been a shower earlier, based on the wet areas in the cabin area, but it was also relatively warm for the time of day. Got out to the Grand area to find West Triplet in eruption. Which was followed by an eruption of Rift which lasted about 40 minutes. During this time, the clouds built up, and as dawn started, we got some quick showers.
The Turban durations were all pretty short, as were the intervals. But there was no real pattern to what was going on that I could see. As the wait progressed, the showers turned into pretty steady rain, the wind picked up, and seemed to get a lot colder. Finally, after over nine hours Grand couldn’t hold off any more. Fortunately, the rain had stopped by then, and while it was way too steamy, the wind from the north helped make some of the one burst eruption visible.
About a Turban interval before Grand’s eruption I did see a couple of elk wandering past Churn. That was about the time that there came an announcement of activity in Fan’s Main Vent. There hadn’t been anything from those geysers since yesterday afternoon, so this could be promising. So headed down that way for what never really developed into anything of interest.
Later that morning the weather turned nasty. First there was a hailstorm followed by heavy rain. But all that let up, so that when the second announcement of event activity at Fan & Mortar was made, it was possible to ride the bike down the basin without getting wet.
But as soon as I arrived, that changed. The rain started, and never let up, getting really heavy at times. During this, the activity from Fan’s vents slowly progressed towards an eruption. Over at Mortar, the activity of Lower and Bottom Mortar fluctuated between the latter pouring out water to being quiet. There was also steaming in the frying pans. It seemed like it was going to be hard to see the eruption, but the wind helped here again. When it became obvious that we could really get an eruption, I headed from the front of the geysers to well north of Spiteful. From there there was an excellent view of the activity, as well as the start of the eruption.
Because of the wind, it seems that Fan never really drenched the walkway, but it was still powerful and high. Saw several rocks thrown from the Main Vent, while the activity from East Vent came and went. I don’t remember that much variability in it’s activity in previous years.
The Fan & Mortar eruption came just as the Grand eruption window opened. Once the second period of activity wained, I decided to head in that direction. Biking in a driving rain was getting me soaked, and everything was steaming. Almost immediately I noticed too much steam in the Grand area. Thought I saw Vent in action, but hard to tell. Then, behind Oblong, I saw a nice spike from Grand itself.
And that was the total of what I saw of that eruption. By the time I got to the Castle bike rack, things there had quieted down, so I just kept on getting wet and heading back to the cabin.
As the time for the next Grand eruption approached, the rains restarted. First it was hail, then a heavy rain. I was able to get most of the animated radar map for the previous hour, and it showed that we were on the southern edge of a cell system that extended to the west into central Idaho. If the system were a few miles farther to the north, we’d probably not get any rain at all. So I prepared to get cold and wet. I figured the odds were that I wouldn’t have a long wait, and this way I could easily skip the middle of the night eruption, especially if it was also raining then.
Headed out while it was light. Got to Grand where Rift was erupting. Only had to wait ten minutes for a one burst eruption which was actually visible in the gray and dimming light. By the time the eruption ended, it was dark enough I needed light to unlock the bike. Of course it was the trip out and back where I got wet. Waiting was no problem at all.
I realized just in time that I’d miscalculated when to go out to Grand. So I arrived in the dark just in time to catch a long Turban eruption. That was followed by a long interval, and an explosive Grand start. If I’d kept with the earlier estimate, I’d definitely have missed it.
At around the 8-1/2 minute point Grand slowed down and for about 15 seconds just played around. Usually it seems that it picks back up after one of those slowdowns, but this time it did quit. A car in the Inn parking lot illuminated the area nicely during the pause, but you could see someones shadow pass in front of the lights before it went off. Then Grand’s second burst started. And kept on going for almost 2-1/2 minutes. So it was nice to have the second burst, but it would have been even nicer to have gotten a third.
Went out at dawn with the hope that Grand would have a really short interval this time.The full moon was low in the west, and about an hour from setting. Cold and clear, and fog forming at the north end and over Geyser Hill. Unfortunately, Grand wasn’t quite ready. Turban had a couple of very long eruptions(over six minute duration) with long intervals (around 23 minutes), so the eruption finally came about ten minutes after the moon had set, and the sky was starting to brighten with the dawn. But the slight breeze was from the north for once, so watched the one burst eruption from the Vent side.
All this trip I did not see any bison, and just the one elk when I was driving in. I did finally see a couple of elk on the drive out— Just before the last curve before the entrance station becomes visible there were two elk, one with a nice rack of antlers, standing in the middle of the road as I approached.
Earlier in the evening, for the Beehive eruption, the sky was clear. By the time it was time to go out for the middle of the night Grand, there was a high, thin layer of clouds. The moon was still quite visible and bright, but it wasn’t casting shadows and the lighting was indistinct. But it was good enough to clearly see the two burst Grand we were treated to after less than an hour of waiting.
The morning was foggy. There was a dense bank at the north end of the basin, starting around Grotto or so, while the area around Grand and Geyser Hill was fairly clear. The sky was completely clear of clouds, but they did start forming as we waited for Grand. It was a short wait, and Grand was nicely backlit by the rising sun.
Afterwards, there wasn’t much to do, so I was persuaded to go to Artemisia for a while. Had been there for a while when a figure appeared. The illegal camper was shaking out his wet tent and rearranging his pack. He made no attempt to hide what he was or what he was doing. Then again, why should he? Nothing would have happened if we had tried to report him, so why bother?
After a couple of hours of nothing happening, I finally went in. Artemisia did erupt after another hour.
The afternoon Grand was a pleasant wait. After the week of steady to intermittent rain (usually at the wrong time), it was nice to experience what seemed more like a typical August afternoon. Waited through a short Rift eruption, one that lasted about 25 minutes. Then we had the call for Beehive's Indicator. When Grand erupted, there was a low rainbow at the base of the water columns. Of course a cloud appeared during the eruption to block that out.
It was a bit of a surprise when the first burst ended. At first it behaved like the usual slowdown, where Grand looks more like a really big Tardy erupting. But it was so early in the eruption that we knew there had to be a second. What was a surprise was that the second was short, and instead of draining, Grand’s pool slowly refilled. At times it looked like it might drop again, but by then the sun was back out, and we got a wonderful third burst.
It was dark and the nearly full moon was high for the next Grand eruption. It was warm, with people wandering all over the place, or so it seemed. But during the entire two burst eruption, no one tried to illuminate the water column, which I didn’t expect. After the rains of the previous week, it was a nice ending for the trip.
Came out to Grand just before midnight. The clouds were gone, and it wasn’t too cold or damp. We had the place to ourselves for an hour when, as in the morning, we heard Beehive. Distinctively loud.
At the same time, Grand was approaching an opportunity for an eruption. It had had a short, vigorous eruption, then a short interval with a weaker, but longer eruption, so it should try to erupt. Which it did, but only after waiting over a minute after the start of Turban. The second burst was shrouded in steam, but the top was visible above all that.
In the morning, the basin was pretty much fogbound to the north. If Oblong had erupted, we probably wouldn’t have seen it. We only had a Turban interval wait, but during that time a coyote passed us on the boardwalk, and continued on to Spasmodic. I don’t know if it actually went behind us on the walkway, or got on by the prediction sign.
The eruption itself was almost impossible to see in all the fog and steam, with no air movement at all to help visibility. It was easier to see Vent backlit by the sun, and Vent was nice and high.
What started as a nice clear, foggy day turned into a cool clear day, and then the thunderstorms came in.
The rest of the day consisted of a couple of unmemorable eruptions of Grand. Both were one burst. The day ended with a post-sunset eruption of Beehive, which was quite nice as by then the weather had cleared and the column was straight up.
For the morning eruption, Grand reverted to type, giving us a long one burst eruption just before sunrise. During the eruption, Suzanne remarked that she thought she was also hearing Beehive. The interval would fit. So I went down toward the Sawmill Group and confirmed that Beehive was just finishing its eruption.
The weather was gray, but the forecast said it would be nice until noontime. So took advantage of the situation and headed out to see Imperial Geyser. Haven’t been there this century. One reason we left early was to avoid the parking fiasco at the trail head. Got there and found “Road Closed” signs across the entrance. Even though someone had move some of them, and there were cars back in the parking area proper, decided to go on to Ojo Caliente and bike in from there. This added about 10 minutes of driving, and 15 minutes of biking.
Trail out is easy, with only a couple of muddy spots. The bridge at the falls is out, and will be pleasantly surprised if the NPS replaces it any time soon. But there are several ways across the creek coming down from the plunge pool, so crossing wasn’t an issue.
The activity from Imperial is impressive. The side vent would have eruptions of varying length, then short pauses. When coming-out of the pause it seemed like some of the biggest burst occurred. I would guess a few were over 30 feet. The flow coming out, and the mud pot activity at the west end of the crater were as I remember them.
Didn’t cross the runoff to get to Spray. There seems to be one place a person could jump across, but didn’t want to risk it, and from there I couldn’t see any trail through the thick trees between that location and Spray itself. It seems that Imperial’s runoff where it joins Spray’s is much wider, as I remember crossing around there.
All this time we were the only people out in that area. On our way back, we finally met an huge tour group between Imperial and Fairy Falls. From the falls, there seemed at times to be a continuous stream of people walking towards the falls. By this time, also, the sky was starting to look nasty and about to rain. And few of these people were carrying anything, let alone rain gear.
At one point we saw another deer a few yards off the trail in the thick, young trees. Finally, as we approached the bike rack, the rain started. Despite all the people we’d passed, there was only one family group of bikes besides our own. The ride back was moderately unpleasant with a steady rain the whole three miles.
Also unpleasant was the parking situation at the other trail head. Not only were the signs gone and the lot full, but there were dozens of vehicles parked along the road. On the Till Geyser side many were parked perpendicular to the road, down into the ditch and runoff channel. An ugly sight, but one I’ve come to expect these days.
Got back to the Upper Basin to learn that Grand had erupted about 30 minutes earlier. If we hadn’t had to detour to Ojo Caliente, and take all the extra time that took, probably could have gotten back for the eruption. On the other hand, it was in the rain, and getting soaked for Imperial made a bit more sense.
In the evening, walked up on Grand. Was looking at Rift, which was just starting, when suddenly Grand started. Just the latest of a series of short intervals of the last few days.
Missed another nighttime Grand due to the weather, so got an early start on Grand based on that double interval. It was one of those starts were Turban goes on for well over a minute before Grand joins in.
During that eruption got an announcement that there was an even at Fan & Mortar. Not just the usual single blip from the Main Vent, but frequent splashing in Main along with high surging Lower Mortar and small, short eruptions from Bottom Vent. When the Fan vents did turn on, for a couple of minutes it looked like we might get an eruption, but then Gold turned steamy and the wheezing, knocking sound started. One that, to me, signifies nothing is about to happen.
In the early afternoon got a short Rift, followed by a wait of several hours for Grand. Nothing much to get excited about, other than it was adding to my new one burst streak.
The early night eruption of Grand, however, was different. The sky finally cleared out and the moon was bright and low to the west. Didn’t have to wait one Turban eruption interval before Grand started almost immediately after Turban did. The first burst lasted only 8m10s, which would probably have been a record for short one burst eruption. So fairly confident that there’d be a second burst. It was a long one, 70 seconds long, so figured that we’d seen the eruption. So the third burst was a distinct surprise following a pause that lasted almost a minute. For this eruption, Grand had reverted in behavior by about twenty years.
Another wet night. I could have gone out to Grand in the night. I set the alarm to get up for it, but I looked at the weather map and decided not to go. Waiting out in the rain in the dark is not any fun. I can’t see and I can’t really hear. Taking notes without getting the notebook soaked is a chore. Once you settle into a location and position, you don’t want to move for any reason, as that will get you wet. So you end up cold and damp and tired.
So woke up to another gray wet day. Was hoping that unlike the other day, the NPS might provide the overnight Grand time, but they didn’t. So figured the fourteen hour mark was good enough. Got out to Grand and the area was quiet, as if Rift had gone a few hours ago and put all the rest of the spurs to sleep. The Grand prediction board was completely erased, with nothing written on it. I was not surprised that the NPS would live down to my expectations.
The Turban intervals were all long, well into the twenties, with the first one being over 24 minutes. The durations were also long, and got shorter as the wait length increased. The same thing happened with the Turban eruption durations. They started out well over six minutes, while the one that preceded the Grand eruption was less than four. I suspect we got out to Grand not long after the first overflow, which would make the previous Grand interval something at or over nine hours long. Really glad I didn’t go out at night if that’s true.
We ended up with a seventeen hour double interval, which fits. After the previous short Turban eruption, we got a vigorous Turban start. It was hard to tell through the steam and fog from the occasional showers, but Grand’s pool appeared to stay full with waves. It was nearly two minutes before Grand finally started.
Having the first burst end at 7m49s was a pleasant surprise. This was so short that we were either assured to have another burst, or we’d just witnessed one of the shortest, if not the shortest, Grand eruptions ever. Grand gave us that second burst, and despite the weather, we could see the jets nicely. The second burst was short, less than half a minute, which was another relief, as too often it seems that when there’s a short first burst, the second burst goes on too long. But as far as I could tell, Grand didn’t even attempt to fill for a third. We ended up with a total length of 9m02s.
Walking back from Grand was when Castle started to erupt after having a minor earlier Since by then the rain had stopped, we waited around for the steam phase, or the next minor eruption. The steam was as noisy as always.
After lunch back in the cabin area, the rain had stopped so made a visit to Geyser Hill. Was my first time over by Giantess, where I was surprised to see that Infant was well above its shelf. We’d intended to stick around by Beehive, but by then the rain had returned, and getting wet was a low priority. So we weren’t back in the cabins long before the call of water in the Indicator was heard. The eruption was white on bright gray background, but the jet out of the cone was as impressive as always.
After a wet afternoon, an unwelcome surprise was Grand erupting as we were just leaving the Lodge area. With the rain, didn’t want to get out there any earlier than necessary, and 5h59m seemed way too early to start getting wet. But did get as far as Castle during the eruption, where we could see that it didn’t have a second burst.
