This Nevada Geyser Exists Because of Two Human Mistakes 50 Years Apart

In the Nevada desert, there’s a geyser that wasn’t entirely created by nature. It’s there today because two different people made two different mistakes, five decades apart, and it’s now a very cool geological spot you can visit in the American West.

The First Mistake: 1916

In 1916, someone in the desert drilled a well hoping to reach water for irrigation, but instead of there being a useful water source, the drill struck a geothermal reservoir. The water that came up ran nearly boiling – far too hot for watering crops – so the driller gave up and abandoned the well.

Over the following decades, minerals in the near-boiling water built up around the opening, and a natural cone slowly formed over the spot where the well had been.

The Second Mistake: 1964

Almost 50 years later, an energy company drilled a second well very close to the first one, testing the area for geothermal power.

This time they had the opposite problem! The water they reached wasn’t hot enough to use, so the company abandoned the project and capped the well.

The seal failed, and pressurized water pushed its way back up to the surface – and as that mineral-rich water sprayed out, it deposited layer after layer of minerals, building new cones and forming an even larger geyser than the first accident had produced.

Fly Geyser Today

Once the water started flowing, it didn’t stop, so the geyser has been growing ever since. The constant spray keeps building minerals on top of minerals, so the formation gets a little taller every year.

Today the mound rises more than 25 feet high, with water shooting about 5 feet into the air, all the time. The Fly Geyser spot is marked by bright greens and reds around its base – colors that result from heat-loving algae living on the wet mineral surface.

You can now visit the geyser at Fly Ranch through one of the guided nature walks run in partnership with Friends of Black Rock High Rock. The walks take you across the surrounding wetlands and out to the geyser itself.

About the Author

As the editor in chief of Frayed Passport, my goal is to help you build a lifestyle that lets you travel the world whenever you want and however long you want, and not worry about where your next paycheck will come from. I've been to 20+ countries and five continents, lived for years as a full-time digital nomad, and have worked completely remotely since 2015. If you would like to share your story with our community, or partner with Frayed Passport, get in touch with me using the form on our About page.

Image “Fly Geyser, near Gerlach, Nevada” by Ken Lund is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0