Are you looking for a unique place to visit in Nevada? Although Fly Geyser is a bit off the beaten path - unless you're going to Burning Man - you're sure to find your trek to this wonder well worth it. I love weird, out-of-the-way, unusual stuff like this; even though people have been to this geyser before, you'll almost feel like you're making a brand new discovery when you arrive.
Most geysers are natural formations, and in part, this one is, too. However, Fly Geyser was formed only a little over 100 years ago thanks to the help of human interference. As a result, this six-foot-tall geyser - and the 25-to-30-foot-tall mound that surrounds it - now impresses all who visit it. You'll love its vibrant colors, plentiful steam, and bursts of scalding hot water that shoot several feet in the air. This spot is picture-perfect, and you'll surely want to bring your camera along when you visit it.
Back in 1916, local residents were looking for water in the Black Rock Desert and drilled a well. They found water, all right, but that water was boiling hot - and therefore, it wasn't going to suit their drinking and irrigational purposes, so they abandoned it. Years later, a geothermal power company deepened the well, but then abandoned it also. Since neither group properly capped the well, calcified water slowly began bubbling up from the deep, and calcium carbonate deposits started forming on the earth's surface around the opening.
Over the past several decades, those calcium carbonate deposits started to pile on top of one another. As a result, we today have a beautiful, colorful, hot geyser spring in the middle of the desert that's become a beautiful marvel. Surrounded by grasses and tall reeds, this geyser seems rather odd, but that's part of its beauty, too.
There are three geyser cones on this geyser and they spew water about four or five feet in the air, and the steam from this geyser can often be seen from miles away. The vibrant colors on these cones are due to thermophilic algae which thrives in hot environments - the same types of algae that make the hot springs and geysers in Yellowstone National Park so colorful.
Fly Geyser is located on Fly Ranch, a 3,800 parcel of land owned by the Burning Man Project. Since it's on private land, it's not open to the public, but a group called Friends of Black Rock-High Rock offers nature walks to the area; tickets are donation-based. The geyser itself is located just steps away from a road and is easy to access. The group has even built a viewing platform so visitors can be sure to get fantastic photos of their visit that they'll treasure for a lifetime.
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