Nevada’s most photographed geyser is an industrial accident twice over. In 1916 somebody drilled a well here looking for irrigation water, hit geothermal water instead, walked away, and left a calcium carbonate cone building on the wellhead. In 1964 a geothermal company drilled a second well nearby, found the water not hot enough to be worth anything, and reportedly capped it. The cap failed. The pressure released by the second well killed the original geyser and started this one, which now stands about five feet tall on a mound 25 to 30 feet high and has been growing ever since. The green and red on the rock is not mineral colour, it is life: thermophilic bacteria and archaea living on the hot wet surface. The Burning Man Project bought the 3,800 acre Fly Ranch in June 2016, and access is by small guided nature walks from April to October, which is the only legal way in.
Washoe County, Nevada
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