The Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, has the largest concentration of geysers and other geothermal features in the world, including Old Faithful, Riverside Geyser, Grand Geyser, and Morning Glory Pool.

John Coulter sent back the first published account of Yellowstone in 1807-1808, only one year after he left the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Yellowstone has awed visitors from the first Native Americans to its first Euro-American visitors and President Theodore Roosevelt called for the creation of the nation’s first national park at Yellowstone in 1872 in order to preserve this natural wonder.

Old Faithful was the first geyser in the park to receive a name when Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition arrived in 1870. This geyser faithfully erupts about every 90 minutes, shooting thousands of gallons of boiling water over a hundred feet into the air. You can also view a live webcam trained on Old Faithful and some surrounding sites and wildlife on the National Park Service’s Yellowstone website.

Riverside Geyser, which many consider even more predictable than Old Faithful, sits alongside the Firehole River. Riverside erupts every five to seven hours for about twenty minutes.

Grand Geyser, however, holds the distinction of being the tallest predictable geyser in the world. Eruptions occur every 7-15 hours and shoot water up to 200 feet into the air.

Vandalism is a serious problem to many of the natural wonders of Yellowstone. For instance, the once vibrantly blue Morning Glory Pool is steadily turning yellow. Years of tourists throwing debris into the pool have clogged waterways and encouraged the growth of yellow bacteria.

Researched, written, and narrated by University of West Florida Public History student Jane Gagne.