Solitary Geyser is a fountain-type

geyser A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

, located above the Upper Geyser Basin. Eruptions last about a minute and are four to eight minutes apart; most eruptions are less than in height. It is very distinctive with clear blue water underneath and a base that is tinted orange. Solitary Geyser is accessible via the Observation Point loop trail behind

Old Faithful Old Faithful is a cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States. It was named in 1870 during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to be named. It is a highly predictable geotherma ...

. Originally this geyser was a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

known as Solitary Spring, which did not erupt. In 1914, water was diverted to heat a swimming pool, resulting in the water level being lowered, allowing boiling to occur at depth. This resulted in the geyser erupting regularly. In 1951, the pool was removed, the diversion of water was stopped, and the water has returned to its previous level, but eruptions continue.

Notes

Geothermal features of Yellowstone National Park Geysers of Wyoming Geothermal features of Teton County, Wyoming Geysers of Teton County, Wyoming {{Wyoming-geo-stub