A beautiful part of Yellowstone National Park has been vandalized, and concerned residents are now pointing the finger at tourists.
The Morning Glory Pool had clear blue water until tourists became fascinated by the beauty of the place.
Now the thermal pool in the Upper Geyser Basin at the famous Old Faithful has a completely different look. The crystal clear water now has characteristic shades of orange, yellow, green and blue.
The colours are attractive to visitors, but they actually represent the pollution of the water.
According to the National Park Service, tourists have thrown thousands of pounds of trash, coins, rocks and logs into the pool over the years.
The once crystal blue water of Yellowstone Park’s Morning Glory Pool has turned multi-colored due to careless tourist habits
The Morning Glory Pool, pictured in 1902, before human influence permanently changed its color
Yellowstone National Park, located in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, is home to 500 geysers
Alicia Murphy, Yellowstone National Park historian, told the Cowboy State Daily: ‘I think a lot of people like to throw things in swimming pools. Wishing wells are an age-old tradition.
“There’s something about a puddle of water that makes people have a strange urge to throw things into it.”
But this pollution is not new. It started when the pool was first noticed by tourists in the 19th century and by the 1950s it was unrecognizable.
The geyser was informally called the “garbage can,” according to Traveler to National Parks.
Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in Wyoming with parts in Idaho and Montana, is home to more than 500 geysers.
In 1991, a team was assigned to clean the Morning Glory Pool in an attempt to restore the pool.
Jeff Henry, who was part of that team, told the Cowboy State Daily, “We used a couple of fire trucks to lower the water level in the pool and spray it into the Firehole River.
‘A man was strapped into a climbing harness so he wouldn’t fall into the pool. He was there with a long-handled net, fishing things out of the water, deep in the crater of the pool.
Over the years, coins, rocks and other debris have been thrown into the Morning Glory geyser
The Morning Glory Pool was once bright blue and was named for its resemblance to the Morning Glory flower
“I remember joking about how we were practicing scald-and-release fishing that day.”
The pool is approximately 7 meters deep and 71 degrees Celsius.
According to Henry, the cleanup operation turned up thousands of coins, metal car parts, rocks that “didn’t belong there” and hats that likely flew off the heads of tourists.
New debris could be removed, but older items thrown into the pool were already stuck in it and caused irreparable damage.
Many nature lovers and locals have expressed their outrage that yet another monument has been damaged by human activity.
Careless behavior by tourists gradually lowers the temperature of a pool, which is the primary cause of the color changes, Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told Cowboy State Daily.
He told the outlet: ‘Temperature is a huge factor. Warmer pools tend to be bright blue and cooler pools can be more colourful because bacteria can grow there.
‘At Morning Glory, the temperature dropped because people threw objects into the pipe, which partially blocked it. The temperature dropped, which allowed different types of bacteria to grow.’
The geyser was once about 12 degrees Celsius warmer than it is now.
One Reddit user wrote: ‘F*** sake. Probably the same f***ing idiots who constantly build “cute” rock piles everywhere they go, rip rocks out of the ground and accelerate erosion.’
The Morning Glory was captured in 1993, just two years after a team attempted to clean it
The Morning Glory is located near the famous Old Faithful Geyser
Another Redditor offered some advice to tourists planning to visit the national park: “I live in Montana and have visited Yellowstone many times. Morning Glory Pool and Old Faithful are great sights to see, among others!
‘If you have the patience, sit down and wait for Old Faithful to erupt… it takes about 90 minutes. You won’t be disappointed!
‘If you are a tourist, please stay on the trails and do NOT try to get too close to the geothermal springs, which are the extremely hot water springs.’
In 1981, a 24-year-old California man named David Kirwan died after jumping into the scorching Morning Glory after chasing a friend’s dog and burning himself alive, according to Sniffing.
Yellowstone National Park is home to many “idiot tourists” who ruin the experience for those who want to enjoy the natural beauty of the park.
An Instagram account called “Tourons of Yellowstone” (“Touron” is a portmanteau of “tourist” and “idiot”) aims to expose the thoughtless and harmful actions of annoying visitors.
Another reason tourists might be tempted to throw things into the geyser is to try to make it erupt, but Murphy explained why this is unreasonable. This was especially common in the early days of the park.
She told Cowboy State Daily: “People didn’t understand plumbing and how geysers worked. There were a lot of ideas about, ‘If we throw something in this pool, maybe we can make it erupt.’
An Instagram account called ‘Tourons of Yellowstone’ highlights the thoughtless actions of some tourists
“I think there was some trial and error and they didn’t quite understand the damage they were doing.”
The Morning Glory Pool is named after its resemblance to a Morning Glory Flower. But since the color change, this comparison is a bit far-fetched.
Experts believe there is hope for the park and its vibrant features, including the Morning Glory Pool.
Henry told the Cowboy State Daily, “I think people are a lot more respectful now than they were when I first started.”