Morning Glory Pool 2020
Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin was a beautiful blue hot spring when visitors first started visiting Yellowstone National Park in the 1880s. The spring bore a remarkable likeness to its namesake flower. It became a very popular tourist stop. Early park roads ran very near the spring which made it easily accessible. Its popularity came at a cost to the pool’s beauty. Park visitors used it as a “wishing well” by throwing into it literally tons of coins, trash, rocks, sticks and logs. Famed park naturalist George Marler once attempted to clean out the spring making an inventory of what he pulled out. Despite Marler’s efforts visitors kept throwing objects into the pool. Much of the debris subsequently became embedded in the sides and vent of the spring, affecting water circulation and accelerating the loss of thermal energy. As the water temperature dropped, orange and yellow thermophyllic bacteria started growing at the margins of the pool. Over the years, continued dropping temperature has allowed these organisms to spread toward the center of the spring. This temperature drop has resulted in the loss of the morning glory blue color from the spring and left the center of the pool green in color. It is still beautiful but I miss the Morning Glory of my youth.
Morning Glory Pool 2020
Morning Glory Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin was a beautiful blue hot spring when visitors first started visiting Yellowstone National Park in the 1880s. The spring bore a remarkable likeness to its namesake flower. It became a very popular tourist stop. Early park roads ran very near the spring which made it easily accessible. Its popularity came at a cost to the pool’s beauty. Park visitors used it as a “wishing well” by throwing into it literally tons of coins, trash, rocks, sticks and logs. Famed park naturalist George Marler once attempted to clean out the spring making an inventory of what he pulled out. Despite Marler’s efforts visitors kept throwing objects into the pool. Much of the debris subsequently became embedded in the sides and vent of the spring, affecting water circulation and accelerating the loss of thermal energy. As the water temperature dropped, orange and yellow thermophyllic bacteria started growing at the margins of the pool. Over the years, continued dropping temperature has allowed these organisms to spread toward the center of the spring. This temperature drop has resulted in the loss of the morning glory blue color from the spring and left the center of the pool green in color. It is still beautiful but I miss the Morning Glory of my youth.