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From Castle I could see that Rift was erupting, but there didn't seem to be any steam from Turban and Grand. But as I made the turn at Sawmill, I could see that Turban was erupting, and it might even sound like Vent was starting. So for a moment there was this panic that I was about to experience the previous night all over. But it turned out it was just a normal Turban eruption, and the pool was still full.

So while waiting for Rift to quit, did get to see Daisy and Oblong off in the distance, and a Castle start. I didn't go over for Castle, but watched it from Sawmill, which was also erupting. The moonlight gave a nice glow to the edges of the steamcloud, which was vertical at first, then sheered off to the north. Castle had several attempts at stopping, but eventually it did go into a steam phase. Not sure if there had been a minor before I came out, as the interval was nearly 17 hours without one.

Unlike previous nights, this time Grand erupted before the moon set. It was nice and low, giving us some nice moonbows. At the start of the second burst, there was even a hint of color, a touch of red and yellow.

That second burst ended just 9 minutes into the eruption, so anticipation of a third burst was high. Except nothing happened. Vent and Turban never changed their behavior, and after 8 minutes, there was no sign of afterplay. Since the pause between the bursts was 49 seconds, that means there was barely 8 minutes of water in this eruption.

Some of the geyser groupies need to understand the prohibition against sleeping in the basin. You really can't claim to be "waiting for the geyser" while lying down next to West Triplet, with a pillow, when all of the geysers in the area have already finished their eruptions.

The Beehive eruption in the morning showed one of those things that can be so frustrating about being around here. I woke up at about 08:00. I'd turned off the radio because I knew it would wake me up, and sleep was more important. So when I woke up and turned it on, the first thing I'm greeted with is a series of warbles and tones and assorted noise. I made the right decision there. So I make a quick trick to the restrooms, leaving the radio behind. After I return, I start putting away all the stuff, like blankets, long underwear and jackets that had seen use last night. Suddenly there's a call, asking how long Beehive's Indicator has been erupting. Fortunately, it's only been a few minutes, but I had no idea. And based on this past week's experience, not one of those people on Geyser Hill would make a further announcement. The only thing that didn't surprise me is that during that time I didn't hear one "switch to 5" announcement.

Anyhow, the Beehive eruption was quite nice, with full double rainbows and only the occasional spray hitting the walkway. It's also nice that Beehive is finally looking like it's going to shift out of the mode it's been for the past week and erupt at other times of the day. I tired to take a video with my new phone's video recorder, but discovered that I still need to learn how it works, as all I took were still photos at the start and end. Oh, well, try again later.

Later in the day Grand had a fairly normal one burst eruption. At least this time it was long enough that we didn't feel cheated out of a burst.

With nothing much to do after Grand, and it being over 5 hours since the last Oblong eruption, decided to head down there and see it up close. It started as I passed Chromatic, so decide that was a good place to see it, since had never been at that spot before.

Then went on over to check out Splendid and Daisy again. Wanted to see what Splendid was doing before and after Daisy. Before it was just a quiet, full pool. The runoff channel to the north was a bit wet, but it seemed that it was drying faster than new water was coming down. The area between Splendid and Comet appeared dry.

After Daisy, during the refill both Splendid's Main Vent and the Side Boiler were active. Usually boiling would start in Main and then shift to the Side Boiler, which could then boil well over a meter high at times. Later on the Side Boiler would initiate its own activity, which could be even higher. By about 20 minutes after Daisy, the area between Splendid and Comet was wet, but it didn't seem like there would be enough to wet the flat, orange area north of Splendid which seemed even drier than before

Beehive still hadn't erupted by the time it was time to go out to Grand. When I got out to the Sawmill Group I discovered that the water levels were high, and Tardy was erupting. Penta looked promising, but not encouraging. The bottom vents were well below overflow, but periodically the top vent would rise up and spit like it was going to start erupting. I also saw a couple of Oval Spring's palpitating eruptions, one that actually included some boiling. All that continued for almost an hour, and then shortly after Beehive, Sawmill finally found the means to start erupting.

At Grand the coyote made an appearance, this time skirting northward along the base of the slope until it got down to the boardwalk. Then the moon rose and the sun set, and we had a Vent overflow delay. This was one of the rare times when the consensus was that the delay was desired. The lighting then was poor, and would only improve as the moon rose and the sky darkened. As it was, we got the eruption three Turban eruptions later. It was a strange start, in that the interval was less than 17 minutes, and the preceding Turban duration was only about three-and-a-half minutes. Usually Grand would have gone on the next Turban. But as it was, the lighting was nice, and more than we could have expected.

Also today was an eruption of North Goggles Geyser over by Lion Geyser. I didn't see it, but a number of people did from various vantage points. The consensus is that it lasted at least three minutes and reached as much as 6 meters high. So it would qualify on the smaller end of a major eruption.

Squirrels are nothing more than rats that live in trees and don't shave their tails. Chasing the vermin out of a cabin with an open door is normal, and I've had to do it several times already. The other day I went into my cabin for a nap and forgot to close the back door during that time. This morning I discovered that one of the [expletives deleted] had somehow found its way inside the truck, found the only large plastic box back there whose lid I hadn't closed securely, and then got down into the bottom of that box in a crack between a second, smaller box and the side and gnawed its way into a couple of peanut M&Ms packages at the bottom.Seems like an awful lot of work for very little reward.

Fan & Mortar Geyser 2010 Jul 23





Mortar Geyser 2010 Jul 23

Unlike yesterday, today things beyond the dull happened.

I had set the alarm for midnight for the middle of the night eruption. After getting three hours sleep, I got out to Castle by 00:15, at which point I realized that the steam from the Grand area didn't quite look right, and I knew that look. By the time I got to Churn, I was certain that what I was seeing was post-eruption Turban and Vent. That was the sound of Vent I was hearing. I got close enough to light up an empty crater and returned to my cabin to get some more sleep.

Not knowing the previous Grand time, i just assumed midnight and so decided I should get up at 06:00. So I was slowly getting everything organized, like putting away the clothes and jackets and blankets I had carried out six hours earlier, when the call came that F&M were having an "event." Which was excellent timing. I could go down there until the even ended and then go to Grand. The odds of two less than 7 hour intervals made that an easy decision.

So I got down for the later portion of an hour long eruption of Bottom Vent. Once Bottom finally turned off, and Fan's vent started back on, it became apparent that the water levels were high enough. And they stayed high even when the activity in the vents paused. From my vantage point north of Spiteful, eventually we got a steady but low eruption of both High and Gold. Nothing all that unusual, the kind of activity that could easy turn into steam.

At that point Upper Mortar suddenly started to splash heavily, and Mortar's frying pan began to steam heavily. Another surge from Mortar and it was erupting to at least 10 meters/30 feet. That activity seemed to last for 15 to 20 seconds (I didn't take times) and then quit. So at least we got to see an Upper Mortar minor. Then moments later water appeared jetting from Fan's Main and East vents and the eruption was on.

The conditions were perfect, as the photos show. It's perhaps the first eruption of F&M that I've seen that not only didn't you need an umbrella or raincoat, but except for the initial surges from Main vent, you couldn't get wet even if you wanted to. Neither did you have to constantly shift positions due to the shifting winds. The sun was high enough to give a full semi-circle rainbow, and what little breeze there might have been always blew the steam away from us.

After a few minutes the Mortar vents turned to steam, and the majority of the activity in Fan seemed to be concentrated in the Angle and Main vents. The East vent was quiet for the remained of the first burst. The second burst saw the re-emergence of the East Vent, which joined the Main vent in a couple of nice sized surges as big as any in the first burst.

Grand Geyser eruption 2010 July 23

So following that, it was time to head to Grand, which was nice enough to have not yet erupted. Only waited for two Turban eruptions when we got Turban start and Vent overflow on a short Turban interval. Turban sounded nice at first, then seemed to quiet down, so we prepared ourselves for some sort of delay. But then Turban's activity picked back up, and Grand's pool began to rise. As with F&M, the lighting and breeze for this was perfect, making it easy to watch what was happening. It took two minutes before Grand finally joined in.

The end of the second burst came only about 10 minutes into the eruption, which meant we had a chance for a third. The pool filled and sloshed, but eventually drained. If the vigorous Turban and Vent activity had continued, we would've had to watch for an afterburst, but that activity died out.

In the afternoon, once again I had Beehive erupt while I was at Grand. Getting to be a normal occurrence every afternoon. As the West Triplet window was closing, Grand had the first heavy, "delay overflow" since I've been here. Was typical of this sort of behavior: Grand's pool filled early, and looked good, with even some small waves, until about 20 minutes at which point it slowly began to drop. One difference was that the Turban duration was long, when often in these cases it's a short duration.

Perhaps because of this long duration, we didn't get the usual short Turban interval with no overflow, but something that looked more like the second interval after a delay. The period from the start of Turban to the start of Grand was a bit long, almost a minute. The pause between bursts was also a bit long, a minute, so not surprised that Turban and Vent quit without any attempt at a third burst.

Nothing much to report. One of those dull days where Grand had a couple of one burst eruptions and Beehive erupted during one of those Grand waits. So spent a lot of the day on computer work and even catching up on some sleep.

If Grand is going to have one burst eruptions, at least the middle of the night eruption showed how to do it. It lasted 12m09s, and other than one slight pause around the 10 minute mark, never had any of those slowdowns that make you think it might be stopping. This after it took Grand 1m44s from the start of Turban to finally get going.

The morning itself started out with a few clouds which about an hour later pretty much covered the entire sky. And it only got worse as the wait for Grand got longer. Fortunately, it never actually rained, although putting on the rain gear helped cut down the wind. Once again Rift had erupted earlier, and Grand showed no inclination to get into any sort of pattern which would give an indication of how long it would be. A West Triplet eruption even came and went.

The eruption, when it did come, was another nondescript one burst whose sole interesting feature was that it took a minute from the start of Turban (and Vent overflow) until Grand joined in.

The nasty sky persisted, but the sun finally started breaking through the clouds just before the afternoon eruption of Beehive. Since I've been here, that was my first good, close up view of Beehive. All of the other eruptions seem to always be during the wait for Grand or in the middle of the night.

The wildlife were out for the evening Grand. First, it was a coyote wandering southward on the rocks. Then a little later a deer appeared at the base of the slope to the north of Turban. It took its time grazing there, then moseyed up the hillside.

Grand itself once again delayed itself until two hours had elapsed since the last West Triplet. On the third Turban following what appeared to be a Turban eruption with Vent visible, there was never any overflow audible. Turban started out slow, but within 30 seconds had built to that heavy bursting stage that says that an eruption is imminent. But it took two and a half minutes before Grand finally started.

But what made the eruption special is that when Grand quit at 8m44s, that ended the eruption. It was possibly the shortest one burst eruption I've seen. (I'd have to check my records to be sure, and they aren't here.)

I tried to get some sleep before going out to Grand at midnight, but my neighbors seemed to have brought with them boulders which they insisted on rolling around. Then, once it seemed that I was finally sleeping, they had some sort of medical emergency, which strangely enough, resulted in them being quieter than they had been before. But the rumbling of the ambulance engine wasn't going to let me get back to sleep, so I decided to head out to Grand a half hour before I'd intended.

Which wasn't so bad, as the moon was still up and low, which made for some nice lighting, with long shadows and even a moonbow in the steam over Crested Pool. Sawmill's eruption was nicely backlit, too. Grand itself behaved the same way the night before, erupting on the first Turban eruption after the moon had set. Fortunately, the soon the moon will be up the entire night, and I'll finally be able to see the eruption instead of just hearing it.

In the morning, there was a slight amount of frost on the boardwalks still in the shadows. Grand continued the shorter intervals, and again I only waited for one Turban interval. Unlike yesterday morning, there was a slight breeze which made the activity visible, even without backlighting. It was quite nice seeing several successive spikes appear out of the steam cloud of the second burst.

The hopes of a four Grand day ended with the 9h43m interval leading up to the day's third eruption. Rift had erupted early in the afternoon, but Grand just got into the mode where each interval was a little shorter, and you just have to wait until you get a really short one (less than 17 minutes) before you even have a chance of an eruption.

But the eruption itself was a bit different. Only one burst, but Grand did refill and at least look like it was making an attempt at a second burst. Then, when the vent drained, Turban and Vent acted like they were going to quit. But for about a minute there were a series of small blips not much bigger than the ones you get at the end of a solo Turban eruption. Then quite suddenly Turban was fill and splashing as vigorously as it can. I hoped this might signal an afterburst, but it was nearly nine minutes before Grand started splashing.

So this morning started with the news that no one went out to Fan & Mortar until it had been daylight for several hours. And then proceeded to walk up on the eruption. That took care of my intention to spend any free time down there today.

But I still figured that I would be able to eat breakfast at Grand. I had just dropped the pack after having dried off a section of bench, and was facing away when I hear Turban start. Followed immediately by the sound of Grand starting. It was calm, so it was a steam two burst eruption. The steam was so thick that the sun wasn't visible when trying for a backlit view.

The afternoon Grand eruption was nothing unusual and nothing special. A dull, typical one burst eruption.

Also today Castle had two minors which resulted in an interval between major eruptions that was almost exactly what the interval would have been if the first minor eruption had been a major eruption.

I decided I'd rather try for a good night's sleep than try to get up for Grand. But I still woke up around 04:00, which would've been fairly early in the window. I still decided I'd rather try to snooze some more, so I was able to confirm what I'd half-expected: I should've gone out because I'd have seen the 05:16 eruption.

With Beehive erupting shortly thereafter, there wasn't much going on. So I spent the morning down basin just seeing things. Caught a couple of Daisy eruptions, and even a Riverside.

It's been awhile since I paid attention to Link minors, but the one I saw today struck me as having larger boils than I remember. It built up to one at least a meter tall and then the boiling (but not the overflow) seemed to completely stop. The overflow continued, but for the next ten minutes I didn't seen anything like that big boil.

Giant may have shown slight signs of progress back in May, but today it looked about as bad as I remember it back in the 1980s. All that was missing is the grass growing on the platform.

I also noticed that Daisy's runoff channels seems to have shifted. No longer does it appear water flows from an eruption into the pools around Splendid. The runoff to the southwest is much wider, and has invaded an area of trees next to the trail. One advantage to not having Daisy runoff at Splendid is that should Splendid ever start showing signs of life, that will be reflected in large pools around it and even the rejuvenation of its runoff channels.

Made the mistake of going out to Grand too soon. Hearing a report of West Triplet at about the 5.5 hour mark in Grand's interval, I thought that it might have a chance to go on the next West Triplet eruption and have a short interval. As it turned out, it did go on the next West Triplet opportunity, except that was a three hour West Triplet interval, and Rift had already started.

The eruption itself was a nice change from the usual one burst. After the end of the second burst, several times Turban looked like it had quit, only to become active again. Then the activity really picked up, and that meant that an afterburst needed to be considered. As it was, there hadn't been any play by 10 minutes. Didn't want to stay any longer because of incoming black clouds.

Beehive's Indicator started during Grand, and today we had a Beehive interval shorter than the coincident Grand interval. Which gives some idea of the frequency (or lack thereof) of the two geysers.

The middle of the night Grand was a bit hard to see, since the moon had just disappeared behind the ridge since the previous Turban start. But it was a relatively short interval (8h30m) and I did get to see the Castle minor eruption and an Oblong while waiting.

Since I was coming in the South Entrance anyhow, and I had already been told the last Grand and Beehive times I decided that I should at least stop by and see if King Geyser was still active and at least make an attempt to see it. That was my first visit to West Thumb in years, and during the 45 minutes I was there all I saw was periodic boiling. Maybe I'll stop again on the way out.

Tilt Geyser 2010 Jul 17




Tilt Geyser 2010 Jul 17

Heading out to Grand I received a pleasant surprise. When I walked up on Tilt, it was pulsating with occasional bubbles coming up from both vents. It's been years since I've seen an eruption from the start. Since I had plenty of time, I waited there a bit, only to have the pulsations get heavier, with increased overflow, along with more bubbling. Finally, the western/right vent started to erupt. The total duration of the eruption was 3m24s, and there were occasional droplets well above my head. So from what I remember, this was a fairly typical and normal eruption.

At Grand, got a Vent overflow delay, with Grand erupting 4 Turban intervals later. The eruption itself came near the end of the West Triplet window, about two hours after the start of West Triplet. The eruption itself was an ordinary short one burst. (You can tell it was short because Vent and Turban didn't pause.)

This morning Fan & Mortar could have erupted in daylight with no one around. I'd been up since 05:30, and not hearing anything from that part of the basin, decided I had to know what was going on. I got down there about 06:45 and found the area deserted. Fortunately the marker was still in place and the walkways showed no sign of wash. But still, at over 5 days, with a large crowd of geyser groupies in the area and even an expert or too in attendance, you'd think that one of those folks would have comet at dawn.

The weather was no excuse. There'd been no rain overnight, and it was pretty calm and relatively cloud free (at least compared to this past week). As it was, everyone got lucky as F&M appeared to be in a garbage mode, a mode that persisted all morning.

Tilt Geyser blowout

I didn't check Tilt on the way to Grand as I usually do, so it wasn't until walking back that I noticed that it had cleared out the red scum and muck which had been choking the vent. I think I checked it yesterday, so that would put the eruption, such as it was, overnight. While standing there and taking photos, the pool pulsated for a minute or so, then dropped well below the rim.

With the relatively nice day, and since I was already down at that end of the basin, I also decided to check out the Giant platform. Wasn't quite as dead as I'd expected. At first I thought the water standing on the platform indicated something might have happened, but later evaluation by myself and some others was that Mastiff and Giant are just really splashing hard, enough to keep the puddles in front of them wet and full. It probably means that Giant just might erupt in September.

Overnight Grand had a short interval, and followed that up with one that was just within my window. So glad I'm not going to be here anymore to fight with it. The morning eruption was probably under the best conditions I've seen this trip, with sunlight most of the time, and even a second burst. It started only about 40 minutes after the end of Rift's eruption, so it might even be said that it appeared in the proper West Triplet window.

By having the morning eruption go on a short interval also meant that there was now a chance for one more daylight eruption, at sunset.

Once again, Beehive erupted at almost the same time as Grand, this time starting during the second burst. That also meant that once again, there were several hours of nothing to do. Fan & Mortar did fill that gap, either.

The weather stayed fairly nice until the time for Grand approached. By the time I got out there, it was already sprinkling, and I spent the wait under an umbrella. Once again, Grand erupted about 2.5 hours after West Triplet.This was a little long, as indicated by West Triplet starting during the first burst.

At that point I made a mistake. The first call of a possible event at Fan & Mortar was made. I considered just heading in and getting ready to go home, but the idea of missing an eruption down there just didn't appeal. Even though I know that those things never give me a break or cooperate. This was no exception. Spent another hour and a half in the rain. The only thing of interest is that once Fan's vents started to die down, Upper Mortar started having splashes, the kind that can possibly build into an Upper Mortar initiated eruption. But after a couple of good meter high plumes, it died down and it was time to bike in in the dark.

Started out the day by seeing a coyote nosing around my cabin. Then out at Grand saw the first elk of the season, when a couple of them wandered through over by Economic.

The morning itself was dry, but overcast and windy, making it much more miserable than it needed to be. I decided that I didn't need to be out until 8 hours, and arrived just at the end of a West Triplet eruption, so everything worked out. Grand did wait almost 2.5 hours, which makes for a bigger window than I'd like, but still one about an hour wide.

Fan & Mortar didn't erupt overnight, so they could have been the timewaster of the day. Turns out they cooperated in their not erupting. Made two round trips down there, the first from the cabins in the morning after Grand, the second, from Grand right after the eruption. In both cases arrived for Bottom Vent activity which led to normal looking activity from the Fan vents. So the middle of the day was free to do nothing much, but at least not spent out in the showshowers and wind.

We finally got a Beehive eruption. There was a rumor that it erupted last night at or before midnight, so it appears that the reason it was missed yesterday was because it had also erupted shortly before dawn.

That evening Grand I mentioned was post-Rift, which is a case where the West Triplet window doesn't really apply, at least for now. In the past there used to be a period post-Rift where Grand wouldn't normally erupt, and with some observations, it might be determined that that's still the case.

On my back from my morning attempt to make yesterday's posting, I saw something new: someone who'd driven onto the pedestrian walkway/emergency road to get to the OF entrance road. Another reason I take the trolley to work instead of playing in traffic twice a day.

Not much to report. Another dreary gray day with not much going on. Beehive either erupted during the night, or can have intervals much greater than 24 hours, as it wasn't seen during daylight.

After the long wait at night I got out to see another long wait. Coming to the conclusion that the 7 hour interval was unite an outlier and needs to be ignored when going out in poor conditions. West Triplet is providing a couple of eruption windows, the first with its early interval eruption around 7 to 8 hours, the second about 1.5 to 2 hours after the stat of an eruption. West Triplet itself is erupting with intervals of around 2.5 to 3 hours.

If the NPS were a flexible organization, and there were people around to make the changes, it would be easily possible to adjust the Grand predictions based on this information, reducing the current (and wrong) 4 hour window to a smaller one hour one. It just requires someone to see West Triplet erupt.

(The current Grand window is from 6.5 to 10.5 hours, which means that the first half of the window the NPS provides to the public is not only useless, but actually making it harder for visitors to see an eruption. Right now, there's no one with any authority or motivation to get that window changed, either.)

So after multiple intervals of 10 hours, and none shorter than 8.5, I decided no reason to be out any earlier. I was looking forward to going out in the dark and experiencing a dawn (as long as it wasn't raining, like it did overnight). So I get out to Rift in eruption and an empty crater. So it appeared that Grand finally took advantage of the early West Triplet window instead of delaying for two hours like it had been doing earlier this week.

That's what can be really annoying at Grand, the inconsistency. The length of the interval is irrelevant (at least once it gets up to 8 hours). But the range, jumping from ten hour intervals down to a seven and then probably more tens, is what gets frustrating. It leads to a lot of two or three hour waits, unless you are willing to forego those short intervals. (which is fine if you are letting others do your waiting for you…)

So for the mid-day eruption, came out early, and of course Grand erupted two hours after West Triplet for a nice 10 hour interval. And almost like yesterday, Beehive's Indicator started right as Grand was ending. So at that point, I had nothing more to do, and with rain heading in, too.

Went out to the evening Grand at a break in the rain. But first I had to dodge a small herd of bison who were moving through the trees next to the Lower lift station. Then, when I got out to Grand, I noticed a coyote nosing around the rocks behind Rift. Apparently I didn't bother it.

Right as I got there, West Triplet started. I hoped that this was a good sign that it would be a short wait, at worst getting the eruption in a couple of hours for a nice 9 hour interval. Instead, that time came and went, and then the rain returned. Finally, West Triplet started at the ten hour mark, with Rift joining in at midnight. At least Grand didn't wait the full two hours, just an hour and a quarter.

The rain also had stopped by then, and at least it was a two burst eruption. Might actually have been better to delay one more Turban as the moon came out right after the end.

After a clear night, it was a gray, overcast morning. No rain, but the threat was there. While waiting I heard that West Triplet had started at the 7h30m mark in the interval, so I figured there might be a chance that this could be a short interval. No such luck. Once again, it took Grand two hours after West Triplet to erupt.

Geyser Hill was reopened. There didn't seem to be a mad rush to get over there. Depression still erupting about every two-and-a-half to three hours.

For the evening eruption, Grand took the opportunity to delay just long enough to completely avoid the intermittent sunshine coming through the clouds. During its eruption, it appears that Beehive's Indicator started and so did Beehive.

There is nothing quite as creepy as the lock-step over-reaction of neo-Victorian bureaucrats. This year it's all the little signs advertising "bezerk gunmen welcome here" on all the building doors that just reinforces that feeling.

Put together an overnight eruption of Fan & Mortar and a bear closure of Geyser Hill and you get a number of people standing around with the look you get on an old dog whose food dish has been moved from the spot it's been in the last few years.

So Fan & Mortar did erupt overnight, and based on the amount of water still on the walkway at 08:00, I'm guessing just before daylight. Castle had a dawn minor, and Grand appears to have had another long interval.

For me the morning was one of watching GeyserHill from the parking lot, working on a project and watching a woodpecker trying to work on the tree next to the bike rack. (Whenever people would walk by, it would fly off, only to reappear a few minutes later. So there must be something to like there.) The weather itself was nice, a little breezy at times, but a great improvement from previous days.

The early afternoon Grand eruption was a pretty unspectacular 1 burst which this time was only an hour and a half after West Triplet.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out for the middle of the night eruption of Grand. The day had become overcast, and before sunset (which couldn't be seen), there was even a sprinkle or two. I decided that maybe I should stay in, when I noticed the moon was visible. SInce I could at least get out with some light, decided to go out.

It cleared as I waited, but it was really steamy. At one point, I heard a bison or two grunting away over by Calida. There was other wildlife out and about too: drunken Amfac louts were making noises, but I never saw any until after the Grand eruption. Even Sawmill had quit by then, so they were going out only for exercise.

The eruption of Grand was spectacular in its own way. Rift had just finished when I arrived, so no need to worry about West Triplet. Finally there was a Turban that had all the right sounds for an eruption, and Grand's pool looked steamy than before. But the Turban eruption just kept on going, with no Grand. Finally, at 3m18s, Grand took off. It was so steamy over toward Turban that I couldn't see what Vent might have done.

With that long to get started, I was half-expecting a short one burst, so not surprised when the first burst ended after only 7m36s. This had to mean a second burst, which I did get. After it ended, I could hear Vent blasting away, a sign that the pool was probably trying to refill and a third burst was possible. It took 1m13s before that finally happened, and once it was over, so was Vent and Turban. SoI would have liked to have seen exactly what they were doing back in that steam, it was still enjoyable.

I woke up at what might have been the 9 hour mark if Grand hadn't yet erupted, but with the snow and cold and such, it seemed like I wouldn't get out there by the 10 hour mark. So I stayed in, and Grand had a second interval longer than 10 hours.

I've seen several eruptions of Depression the last few days, including a couple of intervals of about 3 hours. Quite a change from my last visits when one Depression eruption per day was about it.

Bison herd at Grand

The walk out to Grand was delayed for a bit by a herd of bison that probably numbered over one hundred. For at least an hour they came down from the hillside behind Grand and Rift and crossed over to the flats to the northwest.

Turns out the bison delay didn't matter, as once again Grand waited two hours from the start of a West Triplet eruption before itself erupting. And once again, there was a considerable period (75 seconds) between the start of Turban and the start of Grand. At the 9m30s mark, Grand had a false pause at least 5 seconds long. So it was a bit surprising that both Vent and Turban didn't quit with Grand.

The odds of walking up onto an eruption of a geyser measured in days is low. The odds of that happening the very first time you walk up to that geyser are even lower. So when you walk up and see what appears to the activity which may lead to an eruption, your first assumption should not be that you are going to see an eruption. Especially when an eruption would lead to an unusually short interval when compared to recent intervals.

So some advice I don't expect to be followed: not only find out what the geyser has been doing recently, but also at least spend a few minutes determining if it really is going to lead to an eruption before you begin a radio play-by-play.

I may or may not have a full Geyser Groupie rant later in the week. That was just a sample.