THE FLY GEYSER

The Fly Geyser, also known as Fly Ranch Geyser, is a small man-made geothermal geyser, located in Washoe County, Nevada, and besides spitting water up to 5 feet into the air, it strikes you with beautiful vibrant colors, making the whole landscape look like a painting. The geyser actually developed by mistake from a leaking geothermal well, which was first drilled back in 1916. Sometime in the 1960s the geothermally heated water found a crack and erupted. It has been spewing gushes of hot water ever since.

The colored rock itself has been growing and forming from the dissolved minerals, which continue accumulating and thus shape the travertine mound around the geyser. The beautiful colors form due to the thermophilic algae. As the geyser is located on a private ranch and has its owner, it’s hidden from the viewers behind a high fence and a locked gate with spikes on top of it.

“This weird and unearthly landscape could have existed somewhere on Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io….Such unearthly landscapes are rare on Earth, but they exist. Maybe this helps to imagine how Earth might have looked like at its very beginning. Heat and sulfur resistant bacteria feed on the boiling water of the geyser. Just like in the beginning of life on Earth,” says photographer Christian Klepp. Wonder how owning something as amazing as this feels!