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The day was taken up by a trip to Shoshone Geyser Basin. Took lots of video and photos (at least for me) and will post a few photos here in a day or three, once I find some good ones.

Started out before dawn, and ended up arriving at the basin by 08:30. Finally figured out that the creek crossing needed to be done in something other than bare feet, and so had some sandals with me. Worked great, although the water was numbingly cold.

The areas around Little Giant was changed from two years ago. The crack with the pulsating formations had enlarged into a crater about 1x2 meters across, which was bursting water to about a meter whenever I was close enough to see it. Little Giant itself was dead calm , which is not how I ever remember seeing it.

Got to Minute Man just as it was starting to erupt. Wasn't sure what was going on, as Minute Man's Pool was full, and I saw three quick eruptions of Minute Man, then nothing for half an hour. The Pool also dropped below overflow during this time. Then I four more, then another gap. The third series, however, kept on going, and as it turned out, Minute Man was erupting the entire time I was in the basin.

By that time it was time to cross the creek, and while doing so, I did my usual deconstruction of the hot pot dam that the NPS seems to tolerate, or perhaps plans to use as part of excuse to close the area.

Velvet was quite active, and saw a number of eruptions as we spent several hours in the area in the hopes that Hydra might erupt for us. But no such luck there. There were some Knobby minors, and I managed to miss the Bead eruptions, although I did see the first when I was eating breakfast over by Minuteman.

Disappointed that Lion had been turned into a drain for the runoff from the "Old Lion" geyser that broke out nearby. Really liked the way Lion would eject the little horizontal spits of water.

Tried to go up to see Boiling Cauldron, and did manage to pay my respects to it and its runoff channel, but the deer flies were so thick that I didn't want to stay. They'd land all over me, half a dozen at a time whenever you moved to a new location, and you need to move around to appreciate the runoff sluiceway.

Skipped the call for a short Beehive interval, but did go out to see the fourth Grand of the day, right after sunset. Having two consecutive four-Grand days is something I can't remember experiencing before.

With an eruption of Grand only ten minutes after midnight, it looked like it could easily be a four Grand eruption day. The second eruption of the day occurred just at dawn before 07:00, so that looked to be even more likely. And it was a two burst eruption with calm wind conditions.

After taking a couple hours of napping, I decided that since there was plenty of time before Grand, I should head down to Fan & Mortar and eat lunch and maybe even try to do some computer work. Sitting in the shade on the bridge abutment was the place to be. So shortly after I arrived, just starting to dig food items out of my pack, Fan's Main Vent start splashing.

The event progressed nicely. There were a couple of pauses, and during them it was obvious that the water level in Main was high. We weren't seeing just the occasional spits, but boiling and splashing. I saw at least one burst that put water over the rock divide into East Vent.

Fan's vents quickly went into what seemed to be a lock, and then sat there. It was almost like the lock came too quickly. But eventually we got the huffing from Mortar, and then water appeared in Lower Mortar.

Fan & Mortar eruption

It was a powerful Fan dominated eruption, with several surges out of main putting water into Norris Pool. Unfortunately, the wind was fairly strong and blowing right toward the trail, so the only dry vantage point was at the north end of the walkway. The timing of the eruption also meant that tomorrow is free for a Shoshone trip.

Following the eruption, went to Grand for the third eruption of the day, which came less than an hour after noon. If the intervals so far today had just been a little shorter, we could be looking at a five Grand day, something I've never heard of before.

Later in the afternoon we got Beehive's eruption. The wait during the 20 minute indicator was a crowded on both sided of the river as I've ever seen it. I was on Geyser Hill, and it was impossible to move around the walkway. The crowding on Geyser Hill could be explained by the eruption of Old Faithful only about 15 minutes earlier, and I assume the Visitor Cathedral was responsible for directing gush rush down to the river.

The eruption itself was pretty cooperative, with only a few moments at the start of the eruption where the boardwalk on the Hill got sprayed. Then the wind shifted so that by the end of the eruption, people over Old Faithful's runoff channel were scurrying to new locations.

Clouds began to thicken, and thunder was heard in the distance as the fourth Grand eruption approached, but other than preventing the rainbows in the eruption from appearing, nothing much happened. So in a little over 16 hours, Grand had four eruptions (three of them one burst) and three of those in daylight.

Heading out to Grand I passed a small herd of louts heading up toward Castle. Interesting time of day to be out for a hike, considering it was mostly overcast, but it was warm. They passed by just after I'd settled into waiting for Rift to end.

That's also when Fan & Mortar decided to have another event. When the announcement of a second pause was made, I was at least fairly confident that I wouldn't have to go down that way, and I turned out to be right.

Like last night, Grand erupted when there was just enough light to see it.Since it was not as cold as normal, and dead calm, it was also possible to easily see the second burst. Although, this business of erupting not in daylight or darkness is going to quickly get tiresome.

So headed back in for more sleep, then played around in the cabin until ran out of things to do. By that time the Grand interval was approaching five hours, so decided to head out and kill time. So paid my respects to Splendid, took a look at Fan & Mortar just to say I'd been there, and then went over to Grand.

As I approached Sawmill, the eruption there stopped, so I watched the pool drain down, when a call that Grand was showing waves came over the radio. Surprised, I turned to see Grand boil up about 1/2 meter. A few seconds later Grand started, resulting in a 5h42m interval. As far as I can remember, if that's not the shortest interval in the last few decades, it's only a minute or two short.

But the weirdness wasn't over. It was a bit steamy, so I wasn't paying close attention to the activity when I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen Vent. I looked at the time, and we were approaching three minutes. Vent's vent was still empty. Getting better views showed no activity, not even any steaming. As the eruption progressed, kept looking for activity, and it wasn't until 8m12s before it suddenly started. Within seconds it seemed it reached full height.

And from then on, it was an ordinary short Grand eruption. Vent & Turban continued, and by twelve minutes later there wasn't any afterplay.

Next up was Beehive, but first we were treated to some exhibitionistic clown walking down the boardwalk from Castle toward Geyser Hill in dry-wall installers stilts. He even posed for his girlfriend by standing on one foot or bouncing in front of one of the slimy holes by Liberty.

The Indicator started within moment of my arrival at the benches south of Depression. The wind was fairly cooperative during the eruption until the last minute, at which point the raincoat and umbrella got used. At least it was just the edge of the spray, so I wasn't totally soaked.

The rest of the day was taken up with a fruitless wait down at Fan & Mortar for a weak early afternoon event. Since I had no idea what was going on at Grand, I got there early again. This time we got a Vent overflow delay (Type 3 ?) along with a West Triplet eruption. The long two burst eruption was followed by a long pause in Vent & Turban activity.

Leaving the area I thought that Sawmill Group looked good for some Penta activity, but didn't stick around. Turns out I was right, as Penta did erupt.

About an hour before time to head out to Grand, the call went out that there was another event starting at Fan & Mortar.Perfect timing, as I'd just gotten a nap but was way to early to head out.This way I could kill some time and maybe even see F&M. There were a few moments where they looked good, but on the whole was another one of those weak events that promised little and delivered.

Grand itself had another short interval for another one burst eruption shortly after midnight. I do expect to see my first four-Grand day in quite a while tomorrow.

As expected, at dawn the fog was thick. Geyser Hill was a mass with a couple of larger plumes of unknown origin rising from it, origins unknown. At Grand the whole north end of the basin was a solid mass as it began to lighten.

I also arrived to find Rift well into an eruption. Not surprising, and after a day of 6-1/2 hours intervals, I figured it was time for a long. So was caught a bit by surprise when Grand initiated another short, one-burst eruption just short of seven hours. The idea of going out to Grand without the expectation of at least a two to four hour wait just doesn't seem right.

So that afternoon, Grand decided to make up for that. It ignored a West Triplet eruption, which in years past would have been a good time for an eruption. It had multiple "Type 2" Turban delays, where there isn't a long Turban interval, but there are early waves on a flooding Grand pool. The second time it did that, the poll was full and pouring water at the 13 minute mark. But by 17, the attempt was obviously over, and the pool so drained that some of the ridges were dry between them.

The eruption, at least wasn't the usual short one burst, but we actually got a second burst, although it lasted for a bit over two minutes.

There were also a couple of weak Fan & Mortar events, which of course got people all excited, despite it being nearly a day short of the shortest known interval this season. I did bike as far as Castle for the evening one, on the off chance that a four day interval was about to happen.

The long Grand interval had the unfortunate side effect of pushing the next eruption into the dark. But Grand also reverted back to the pattern of yesterday's activity, so it had another 6-1/2 hour interval. It was still visible at the start, enough light to see the base surge and the start of Vent, thanks to it also being dead calm. (Dead calm also meaning that the mosquitoes were out.) I did get to see some moron dipping his feet into the runoff channel to impress his idiot friends, but otherwise there wasn't anything unusual about seeing another one burst eruption.

But what was a little pathetic was that despite the huge herd of geyser groupies in, none of them bothered to be there. This despite there having been a Beehive eruption only 30 minute before. I think the reason is that most of those people don't like Grand. They only go out there because they like socializing at Grand, and when no one else is around (but me) the opportunities for socializing are minimal.

Off-roading

Nice to see that some things don't change. Early morning was sitting in the parking lot typing up some notes whenI noticed a car on the bike trail, coming down from the Inn. I was a little late in getting to the camera app on my phone to take a better picture.

Headed out to Grand to see what had happened overnight I approached and there was no activity visible. Which meant that probably I was either arriving well after the afterplay had finished, or it really was a 9-1/2 hour interval Turns out the pool was about an hour from filling, so it was definitely a short interval. So headed in for breakfast and to wait several hours.

Headed back out for another short interval, and another one burst eruption. Went downbasin for the first time this trip, and then waited for an Oblong eruption. The thumps were noticeable only because I was trying to hear and feel them, and the eruption probably would have been more impressive from Grand as the breeze, what little there was, pushed the steam toward the walkway. Also, passing by Giant, I noticed that at a couple of gravelly places there was grass starting to grow.

The day had been semi-overcast and a bit humid, so not surprised that the sky suddenly thickened and turned gray as the afternoon Grand window approached. (It was also time to start watching for Beehive's Indicator). Went out to Grand with the expectation of getting wet, and making sure that all the rain gear was in the pack.

Turns out I needed it. The wind picked up and the droplets started about a half hour after I got there, at about the time that Beehive erupted. During the next half hour the wind was strong out of the southeast and the rain kept coming down harder. Then just as it reached a downpour in whichI was expecting hail, Grand erupted. The first burst lasted about ten minutes, and by that time the rain had let up quite a bit, and the wind had died down. So it was possible to see the water of the second burst.

It was still pretty damp when I went out for the next eruption. There was still a bit of glow in the sky, and it was pretty clear, but also quite foggy down basin. Oblong erupted, and I couldn't see much more than the tower of steam it was putting out. But after about an hour, it seemed that much of the fog had dissipated.

Grand itself was another one burst. The only interesting thing about the wait was the the prior Turban interval was well over 23 minutes long, with considerable overflow. There's a good chance there was some attempt at Vent overflowing, and it could easily be considered to have been a one Turban delay.

Grand could have waited just another five minutes. I'd just arrived and was passing Crested Pool when the eruption started. It was two burst, so I guess I can't complain too much, as that might the the last one I see for a while.

The evening's eruption took place just as the sun was disappearing. The start was completely lit, but by the time Vent started, only the tallest spikes were colored orange by the sunlight. And it was a one burst eruption.

For the drive itself, the most exciting thing was the family of raccoons in the middle of the Owl Canyon Road. In the dark I couldn't figure out what that grey writhing mass was until they all faced me and I got a reflection of their eyes. At least I didn't hit any of them.

In the morning, Grand refused to take advantage of the West Triplet eruption window, and waited for the next one. It appeared that it might be a while, with West Triplet's water level invisible, when we got Grand. During the eruption, West Triplet's water level rose, so that once Grand ended, West Triplet began. At the same time, Rift was steaming heavily, more than seemed normal for the cool but warming conditions. As it turned out, West Triplet had a nice, normal eruption and nothing was heard from Grand.

On the way out, I saw something in Tilt that needs to be taken into account. As I walked up, the water over the vent was palpitating for about 20 seconds, when suddenly it stopped and the water level dropped about an inch. The flow from Crested quickly filled it back up, but maybe the assumption that observing the pool drained (especially partially drained) implies that there was an eruption.

Turns out that yesterday I didn't miss Beehive, it just went shortly after I went in, and everyone else either missed it or were preoccupied with Fan & Mortar. Since that one I saw in the afternoon was a short interval, it didn't seem surprising that the next interval compensated by going over 16 hours. Was considering having breakfast, but also knew that, based on past experience, that was certain to cause an announcement of the Indicator between the time the meal was ordered and the time it arrived.

Saw that eruption of Beehive from the overlook, which might be the first time this trip. I've really come to not like that place, because of the times when the Naturalists practically herd people into the area, making it packed. But his morning a few people showed up, and then the population didn't increase much until the time of the eruption. Beehive itself didn't drench anyone, as the main rain plume was toward Blue Star and the Lodge Cabins.

So it was mid-afternoon when time to go out for one final Grand eruption. First thing I see from Castle is an eruption of Uncertain with Sawmill. Okay. Going to be that sort of wait.

The Turban eruptions leading up to it were boringly regular in terms of both duration and interval, which was different from most of the waits I've had. Then West Triplet opened the eruption window, handing the activity off to Rift instead of Grand. At that point I expected to have to wait a few hours for both Rift to end and for Grand to put in 3 or 4 Turban eruptions. But shortly after West Triplet ended a nearly hour long eruption, Grand's pool looked really good, and as Turban started, not only were there waves on the pool, but Vent started to overflow. And haven't had a Vent Delay this trip…

Didn't get the delay, but an actual eruption. And when Grand quit at around 7 and a quarter minutes, I really thought I was going to get a multiple burst eruption on the order of 3 or maybe even 4 bursts. But following the second burst, Grand showed water in the pool briefly, then quickly drained. For a total duration of 8m49s. How disappointing.

Then Rift quit for a duration of only about 45 minutes. Could've done that any other time the past couple of weeks...

Then Bulger had a major eruption, and for the first time, I saw steam from the Hole but no water.

[Server was down for two days because of a power failure, and the computers not needed were the ones to restart.]

The night time Grand turned into an exercise in frustration as it also turned into the dawn Grand. When you get an eruption of West Triplet resulting in Rift and not Grand at the 10 hour mark, you know it's going to get even longer. There was also considerable frost on the walkway, indicating that this night was even colder than the previous. And it all lead up to another one burst eruption. As I was walking away, I did notice that not only was Bulger having a major eruption, but that there was a patch of steam rising above the Hole. So went back from Sawmill and by dawn-light, watched the eruption.

One thing I didn't see was Beehive. I probably missed it in all the noise and steam coming from West Triplet and Rift and even Sawmill. I know that I did hear Old Faithful at least once during the night. Also knew for certain that Fan & Mortar hadn't erupted during my wait. So unless it went before midnight, it would be the center of attraction for the rest of the day.

Around noontime I figured the best place to wait for Fan & Mortar was at Grand. Even though a bit early, could actually see something, and maybe Grand would cooperate for once. As it turned out, got out to Grand in time to see West Triplet in eruption. About the same time, the call from Jim Scheirer that an event was possibly starting (splashing in Main Vent) went out. I figured I could wait for the Turban eruption after West Triplet ended, as that would be the end of the early window. Then I could head down to F&M, and if there wasn't an eruption, probably miss only a single Turban eruption at a time when it Grand wasn't going to erupt anyhow.

As it was, this wasn't one of those usual events that piddle around and make you wonder why you are down there. There was a River pause that lasted less than 20 minutes, little Bottom Vent activity and when vents restarted, they didn't have that "is it good enough" look. During that time, I'd left, gotten my bike and stopped along the trail at a spot where Turban and Grand are easily visible. Once I got that Turban time, I went on down the trail.

Later Fan activity

I arrived to extremely good looking activity from Fan. Best I'd seen this trip. I barely had time to get ready, getting on my rain gear, when the eruption started. I wanted to try making a video, but I'd ran out of time, and the wind was making things too wet for me to want to expose my phone to it. The wind was fairly steadily blowing toward the bridge, so north of Spiteful was fairly safe.

Afterwards it was back to Grand, where only had to wait one Turban interval before a nice two burst eruption. So unlike the last few days, there wasn't an interminable wait in a huge crowd.

Later in the afternoon got over to Geyser Hill for Beehive, and from there could see that Castle was in late-to-heavy steam. The wind was still fairly strong, and in the same direction, but it didn't vary so if you got wet, it was because you wanted to get wet.

The next Grand eruption was going to be after sunset, especially when I got out there and saw Rift erupting. It simply became a matter of waiting the next few hours out. The one burst eruption was nicely lit by a rising gibbous moon, helped by having the breeze blow the steam to the northwest.

As expected, it was clear and cold. It looked like West Triplet had ended recently, which was actually good news, since that made it more likely that the next eruption may precede Rift, but would also be the primary Grand window. That next eruption was during a Turban eruption, and Grand erupted on the next Turban. A nice two burst, although the first was so steamy I couldn't see much until I moved past West Triplet near Rift. The second burst was visible in that gap, and while the sky behind was starting to turn blue, the moon provided the lighting. And as expected, Rift started shortly after the eruption's end.

This morning I also thought I detected that tang of forest fire smoke in the air.

Starting at noon, Grand could have gone any time, but didn't. Instead it had a 36 minute Turban interval, resulting in an over 11 hour interval

Despite it being over three days since the last Fan & Mortar eruption, there never was a real attempt at any sort of eruption event.

Found that when a raven lands on the back of my truck, it makes a bit of jolt.

Headed out to Grand to sprinkles that slowly turned into actual rain as I hurried to get to a place where I could pull the rain-gear out of the bottom of the pack. So of course the precipitation was mostly over within a Turban interval.Over the next few hours the clouds slowly thinned, letting the moon to shine through, to finally disappearing completely. But by the time Grand did erupt, there were hints of a new band off to the west. As for the eruption, was nice to have consecutive two bursts for once.

Castle was in heavy steam as I was tying up by bike. I figured the eruption was about 25-30 minutes in. Once I got the rain-gear on, and the showers died down, the sound of the steam-phase was impressively loud, especially the deep bass rumbles that you normally have a hard time hearing in daylight due to all the other noise.

Took my time getting back to the cabin. About fifteen minutes after I got there, I could hear rain against the roof.

The radio call for Beehive's Indicator came out during another set of showers. As I'd just awakened, I figure there wasn't any reason to not go over there. At worst, I'd be back in the cabin for a few hours drying out. As it was the showers weren't much, and there was a nice, growing area of blue behind the buildings. But not growing fast enough for Beehive. The sun finally came out as I was walking back. From the maps it looked like there's be a couple more before time to head out to Grand.

The cloudiness continued for the afternoon Grand wait, but the rain never materialized. It just got windy and stayed cool, especially when the clouds blocked the sun. During the wait we got an Uncertain eruption during a Deep Drain Sawmill eruption. Since West Triplet appeared to have erupted well before Grand could erupt, it looked good that Grand would use the next window for it's eruption, and that's what it did. Another one burst, but a short wait for once.

The afternoon cleared, but it also got windy, so that when I went out at sunset, it felt more like September than August. West Triplet was showing water, so I expected, and got, a shorter interval. But West Triplet never erupted during Grand's one burst, which surprised me. Not sure what that means, but do expect that there's a good possibility of another short interval.

Turns out the forecasts were right. There was no precipitation, and the sky was mostly clear. And the earlier clouds had kept it from being as cold as the night before. Too bad I wasn't out there much.

Grand started during that short time that it was hidden behind the trees below Castle. I did get over there in time to see West Triplet just start, and to finally get an eruption with a second burst.

Sawmill had been erupting as I passed by, but by the time Grand's eruption was over and I could return to enjoy Sawmill by moonlight, it had quit. Looked like it was going to be one of those nights, when Castle started.

As I gathered back up my stuff and headed over there, Castle kept having long pauses, as if it was going to have the minor eruption end before I got over there. But that didn't happen, and after many more such pauses, the change over to continuous water happened around 12 minutes in, and shortly after it was definitely going into steam.

The moon was really too high for any moonbows. I could see one, at the base of the cone,with a hint of red and yellow, if I was well below Castle. But it was really too low to be more than a hint.

The morning was quite a contrast to yesterday. Instead of the thick fog, it was so dry that there wasn't any dew on the benches at Grand. Since Rift had gone after the last eruption, we had a similar situation to that of the last few days, and once again, Grand waited several hours for West Triplet to appear. For another one burst eruption.

During the wait several deer appeared on the hillside behind Grand, hidden in the early morning shadows. I took photos, but can't find them in those photos even though I know they are there.

Splendid Geyser and runoff channel

It was such a nice cool day that I decided that a visit down basin was in order. Saw an eruption of Daisy from the south side. Went around over to Splendid, which is in sad shape. The runoff channels to the north which were so well defined when it was last active are now just gravel depressions between the grass. There's no runoff from Splendid that I could see, and what little water there was seemed to be more the result of the sputs between it and Comet.

Rocket Geyser Major eruption #1

Then went over to see how much grass was growing on Giant's platform. Just as I passed Grotto, which was in weakly eruption, Rocket started up. So I went back to get a few pictures of it, then proceeded onto Giant. On the walk back, about seven minutes later, Rocket took off again. This time seemed higher and more vigorous than the previous. Since I took still photos during the first, I took motion for the second.

In the afternoon, Castle skipped the minor eruption and went straight to slopping. When I headed out to Grand, about 15 minutes after the close of the Castle window, there was a huge crowd lining the walkway, spilling onto the boardwalk out to Crested. All during the afternoon there would be inquiries on the radio from someone in the Visitor Cathedral asking about it.

Once again Grand didn't take advantage of the early West Triplet window, forcing us to wait an extra couple of hours. At least it was a two burst eruption, and it even tried for a third. The pool stayed high for at least 90 seconds before finally draining. After that, it was just a matter of waiting to confirm that Rift was going to erupt,

Sturgis motorcycle idiocy is in all its full glory. One thing I've noticed is that all the obvious motorcyclists are older than I am, or at least look like they are a lot older. Where are the younger riders? Aren't they interested in an annual reenactment of Easy Rider (but without the happy ending)? Or just not dressing up in that way? Does this mean the whole Sturgis get-together is going to die off in a few years? If that's the only way to get rid of all the noise they make, then so be it.

Fog over Geyser Hill and Old Faithful

In the morning fog was about as thick as I've seen it. As my crude panorama shows, it was impossible to tell what was going on over on Geyser Hill. Out at Grand the benches at the ends were not visible from the middle. On the boardwalk itself, over by Rift, there was a thin layer of ice. About a half hour later, with the sun finally above the trees to the east, the fog began to dissipate enough that we could finally see an eruption of Daisy.

Foggy Grand eruption

Being dead calm, there was still plenty of steam during the Grand eruption. West Triplet erupted early in the interval, so we had to wait for the next window, which Grand promptly took, with West Triplet starting during Grand. Unfortunately, the string of one burst eruptions continued.

Fan & Mortar erupted again overnight. So while it's having shorter intervals, it's doing so such that no one can really see it, even if they are actually there.

Again in the afternoon what could have been a short wait stretched out. Since I went back to sleep when I came in, I hadn't heard that Rift erupted on the West Triplet that started during Grand. West Triplet could have erupted well before it did, which resulted in Grand having an interval well over 9 hours. An eruption that could have also happened before the high clouds came in. As it was, got another short one burst.

Despite the clouds, the forecasts are for no precipitation and even a clear night. I'll find out how accurate that really is when I get up after midnight for the next Grand.