The excessive tossing of coins by visitors is believed to be the reason for the altered pristine colors of Morning Glory, a famous hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.
For many years, Morning Glory Pool, located in Yellowstone National Park (USA), has become a favorite attraction for many tourists.
However, according to park officials, many visitors do not adhere to landscape protection regulations, treating the hot spring as a “wishing well” and throwing coins, handkerchiefs, and various types of trash into the pool.
The result is that strange objects have marred the natural beauty of the pool. Initially, the water in the pool was a deep blue due to high temperatures, but it has now mixed with shades of green, yellow, blue, and orange, according to the New York Post.
According to Mike Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, the changing water temperature in the pool may be the primary reason for the water’s altered colors.
“The water temperature in Morning Glory Pool has decreased due to tourists throwing objects in, creating conditions for various types of bacteria to thrive, causing the color changes,” he stated.
Morning Glory once had a deep blue color (left) and has changed over time. (Photo: Yellowstone National Park, Adobe Stock).
Jeff Henry, a former employee at Yellowstone, noted that there was a time when the park had to regularly organize clean-ups at tourist sites. In the area of Morning Glory Pool specifically, staff had to bring in fire trucks, pump water out, and send people down to clean up.
“We would strap a male staff member in a safety harness, and he would use a long-handled net to retrieve trash from the bottom of the pool,” Henry described.
According to Cowboy State Daily, the park’s sanitation team has recovered hundreds of strange objects from the pool.
“We found tons of coins, probably up to thousands of pieces. Additionally, there are many strange stones that were thrown in, or some hats that may have been blown off tourists’ heads, falling into the pool without them trying to retrieve them,” Henry recounted.
Henry mentioned that the park management no longer conducts regular recovery and cleaning operations at the hot spring as they did before. However, the awareness of tourists visiting this site has improved.
“I don’t see as many coins in the pools as I did when I worked at the park. I think people respect the landscape much more than before, and the actions of tourists have changed over the years,” he commented.
