Yellowstone National Park Part 4

The last and final day in Yellowstone National Park was spent searching for an amazingly beautiful colored pool called Morning Glory Pool. I had been looking for this pool since we arrived in Yellowstone and was determined to see it before leaving the park.

After a few short minutes on my computer, I found that it was on a path off the Old Faithful trail and about a mile and a half away from the Old Faithful visitor center. So, we packed ourselves up, checked out of the lovely Stagecoach Inn and made our way back to Old Faithful.

Along the trail we got to see other lesser known pools and geyser. We first came up on Grotto Geyser.



Geologists think that hundreds or thousands of years ago, Grotto Geyser was formed due to dead or dying trees. Overtime, the geyser deposited layers and layers of siliceous sinter (silica) over the branches and stumps. The eruptions are only about 15 to 40 feet in height and last about 50 minutes to 24 hours.



Next up was Giant Geyser. When this geyser is active, it is one of the largest ones in the world. The geyser's eruptions used to be as high at 250 to 300 feet. But recent eruptions have ranged from 200 to 250 feet. Giant Geyser is a cone-type geyser with eruptions lasting from an hour to an hour and can expel more than a million gallons of water.



We weren't lucky enough to see the Giant Geyser erupt, but we did get to see the eruption of the Grand Geyser. The Grand Geyser is the world's tallest predictable geyser with eruptions lasting from 9 to 12 minutes and can reach up to 180 feet in height.



After passing many other springs and pools, we finally made it to Morning Glory Pool.



Morning Glory Pool used to be a similar color to the Heart Spring above, but after years of being thought of as a natural wishing well and being subjected to literally tons of trash, coins and other litter, the pool's bacteria has changed, making it different colors. Every year the park has to clean out the tons of rocks, trash and coins to help reset the pool. Because of the garbage, the temperature of the pool changes.



The colors were no where near what they're supposed to be when we visited the park but it was still beautiful.

Yellowstone National Park was amazing in every aspect. For the future, I plan to visit for a week or so to take it all in and enjoy more of the sites Yellowstone has to offer. Hopefully, I'll even be able to see my first wild bear!