Yellowstone Visitor Dies After Leaving Boardwalk, Falling Into Hot Spring

Today, the Associated Press reported that there were “no significant human remains [left] to recover” of a Yellowstone National Park visitor who on Tuesday left the boardwalk at the Norris Geyser Basin and fell into a boiling hot spring.

Sable Scott reported seeing her brother, Colin Nathaniel Scott, slip and fall into a hot spring near Porkchop Geyser, which is about 225 yards from the boardwalk. Recovering the body, or what remained of it, proved difficult for the park, since the ground around the geysers is consistently unstable, forcing tourists to remain on the boardwalk. “We extend our sympathy to the Scott family,” said Dan Wenk, Yellowstone National Park superintendent. “This tragic event must remind all of us to follow the regulations and stay on boardwalks when visiting Yellowstone’s geyser basins.”

Norris Geyser Basin is a vast sprawl of steaming pools and spraying geysers, where 200-degree water explodes out of the earth on a regular basis.

The AP notes that since 1890, 22 have died from injuries resulting from hot springs, the last of which occurred in 2000, when a 20-year-old woman fell in while walking at night. This is the park’s second geyser incident this summer: A father and son were burned on Monday when they left a designated trail in the Upper Geyser Basin.