The World's Only Captive Geyser Is A Fascinating Natural Wonder In A Free-To-Visit Idaho Park

You might think of carbonated mineral water as something you could get on tap at a fancy restaurant, but at Geyser Park in Soda Springs, Idaho, the entire town has it on a far more impressive kind of tap — a captive geyser. When you come to this park, all you'll see is a muddy pile of orangey earth, but once an hour, every hour, an extremely tall jet of fizzy water erupts out of the ground. Unlike the chilled soda water many people like to drink, the water that bursts up out of the ground in Soda Springs is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. However, unlike Idaho's best hot springs, this isn't an entirely natural occurrence. This geyser is partially man-made.

Four hours away from the unique ecological environment of Yellowstone's Midway Geyser Basin this hundred-foot tall fountain has become a popular attraction for visitors, eager to see it burst into the sky. While Soda Springs certainly has capitalized on its unique geyser, it wasn't made to be a tourist attraction. In fact, it was created by accident.

Yellowstone National Park is so popular that you need some clever tricks to visit if you're on a budget, and its most famous attraction may be Old Faithful, the geyser that erupts so regularly that if you want to see it, all you have to do is check the schedule and you'll probably get to see its water burst into the air. In 1937, however, a brand new geyser threw it off — the one in Soda Springs.

The sparkling water in soda springs has always been there — that's where the town got its name. In 1937, there was an idea to drill down into the earth to bring some of the hot water to the surface for people to swim in. What they didn't expect was that more than 300 feet down, their drilling would cause a powerful jet of water to erupt up out of the earth. At first, this new geyser went nonstop, all day and all night. However, it began impacting Old Faithful more than 200 miles away (and flooding the town of Soda Springs with soda water), so the Soda Springs geyser was capped. Today, that valve is released once an hour, every hour, so if you're there on time, you're sure to see the bubbly fountain blast.

There are plenty of incredible natural sites that you need to lace up your hiking boots for, but you don't need to plan for a long journey just to see the geyser in Soda Springs. When you arrive in Soda Springs, just drive along the Main Street until you spot the Geyser Park sign. Once you find Geyser Park, all you need to do is park your car in the parking lot and walk along the boardwalk for a minute or so. At the end is a viewing platform that positions you perfectly to see the carbonated fountain erupting.

Even if you just missed the eruption, you only have to wait an hour — and there's plenty of nature to enjoy around the geyser park. There are picnic tables and benches where you can relax and wait for it to blast. Many of these have great views of the geyser, too, so you don't have to worry about rushing back to the platform on time to make sure you see the geyser erupt.