Young men take risks. If it wasn’t for that, we’d still be in caves. Let’s hope the ‘do gooders’ don’t over react.
1 Like
Many of the reasons for a decline in park safety & security, maintenance and development for the public’s use and enjoyment in our National Parks’ System can be laid squarely at the feet of a Republican Congress that would, in the end, it seems like to turn them into private corporations to be developed commercially and fully.
Some have suggested that the Republicans don’t mind at all seeing the parks’ decline so they can, in the end, shout: “Only private corporations and private development can save them!” But that would be sooo’ cynical…surely they wouldn’t do such a thing, huh?
13 Likes
Actually not. Lots of Foreign visitors come to the parks and these folks are every bit as careless and stupid.
13 Likes
Has the family filed suit yet?
2 Likes
Holy smokes! No remains left? Just how acidic is the water? The article doesn’t say, but, damn. What a horrible way to go. Condolences to the family.
2 Likes
During my very often trips to Rocky Mountain National Park when I was younger, on the Flattop Mountain Trail is a sign (or there used to be) that read, “Mountains Don’t Care” next to a precipice above a spectacular canyon. It included a warning of just how deadly getting too close to one of the many hundreds stunning overlooks that are in the park.
5 Likes
I have hard time feeling pity. According to everything I’ve read, there are signs clearly marking where tourists may walk and stand. Those signs are there for a reason. If you can’t read or just don’t feel that the rules are for you, you may find yourself getting run over by a bison or falling into a boiling hot pit.
My husband and I are going to Yellowstone in September, along with several other parks out West. Our intention is to thoroughly enjoy the parks and the scenery, and to be good stewards of the land by following the rules. My hunch is that we’ll manage to get back to New England alive.
10 Likes
Some of the springs are at or near boiling temperature and very deep as well.
3 Likes
There’s a point of diminishing returns, where trying to make things that much safer with more warnings and barriers and so on just makes those who are going to exhibit some risk and those who follow rules most of the time take it all less seriously.
That said, this kid was well within the age of stupid.
5 Likes
Age is no barrier to stupidity. On the many times I’ve been to Yellowstone, from what I’ve seen, it’s usually adults that do the dumbest things.
7 Likes
First, there’s no excuse, this guy actually worked at another Park and knows the signs are there for a reason. Second, even without the danger, walking in those areas creates permanent damage to the geysers and basins, the boardwalks are a compromise to allow people to see them without damaging the scene. Third, Yellowstone, from personal experience, is the least regulated of the National Parks. There is a much more laissez faire attitude towards the outdoor experience there as far as personal danger to people. Although a much stronger attitude towards protecting wildlife and fragile natural features. Backcountry hiking, encounters with grizzlies, etc. are an ‘allowed’ element of the experience, and nature newbs are likely to get into unexpected trouble just because they are inexperienced. That said, there are adequate warnings all over the Park, and so I chalk this one up to Darwin in action.
8 Likes
Well there’s also the whole, boiling water part and it probably took several hours to get to even a rough locations soooo…
Ever left corned beef boiling too long?
I have a cousin who spent many years working at GCNP with the Parks Service and tells the same story. 6 to 7 each year.
More helicopter crashes than we hear about as well
When I was in “A” school at Yorktown, the off-going watch reported a doe white tail deer got stuck in one of the old disused tennis courts (couldn’t find the door she walked in) while I was on coming security watch.
My partner wanted to go help her out, I “politely” told him the deer could sort it out herself, I’m not going anywhere near a trapped doe in the middle of rutting season. He insisted that we head over, to which I said sure but we’re not getting any closer than 100 yards, he called me a coward.
Got there, and there were 5 bucks pacing around the outside and had already bent the hell out of the chain link fence… We radioed in for our relief to avoid but observe the area in the morning.
5 Likes
The latest Darwin Award candidate.
Some people are just too fucking stupid, or too fucking self-absorbed to survive.
The rules are in place in Yellowstone to PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELF.
If you blatantly ignore them because “reasons”, well, that sucks for you.
On a trip to Yellowstone when I was young my father tried to stop a New Jersey mook (you could tell by the wife-beater, slicked-back black hair and his accent) from giving fresh fish to his 4-year-old and having her feed grizzly bear cubs from the side of the road with the huge mother bear only 6 ft. away as he took pictures. He of course threatened to “beat the fuck out of” my dad for questioning his judgement. My dad just shook his head, got back in the car and we drove away.
You just can’t help some people.
4 Likes
And you have to know that the number of deaths-- are grossly outnumbered by the ‘close-calls’ never reported.
jw1
11 Likes
According to my wife, I am quite a science nerd and have a wealth of useless information about completely esoteric subjects, but I thought it was common knowledge that Yellowstone sat on top of a supervolcano that is the source of all of the hot springs and other geological oddities.
Every car that enters the park gets a rules and regulations, and a “Watch out for…” pamphlet that details what and where you can and cannot go, do, and touch.
Perhaps your good Samaritan was someone was familiar with the area. Maybe he was just lucky.
6 Likes
The thing is, just as good swimmers are the ones most likely to drown, maybe he thought his familiarity with rugged terrain made him expert enough to navigate the area on foot. I went to Yellowstone for the first time two years ago and there is no way I would have allowed myself to go off the boardwalk and near those real life boiling cauldrons. And it’s not even as if there is anything much to see that you can’t already see from 10 or 20 feet away. But it’s sad for his family. It is a hard reality that one stupid mistake led to his death.
9 Likes
Also a lot of people trekking to the bottom and thinking that they can make it back up on the same day, which is very hard to do.
4 Likes
When I last visited Yellowstone, the traffic would slow down whenever there was wildlife sighted near the road. There were ample warnings about keeping your distance from them, especially young male grizzlies, feisty and scared, but that didn’t stop the touristas.
Every time a grizzly lumbered near the road, a herd of dozens of humans with cameras, children in tow, would inch closer and closer, snapping away and chattering. Unbelievably stupid. I was not surprised to hear that there are deaths by grizzly every year in the park.
6 Likes