Discussion: Gruesome Hot Spring Death Highlights Problems At Yellowstone

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#99

“Gruesome Hot Spring Death Highlights Problems At Yellowstone”

Ah, what might those problems be?

Here’s one. It’s a problem to bathe in a vast natural vat of near boiling concentrated sulfurous acid.

Just maybe the warning signs need to be a bit more graphic and scary.

Not too different from the deaths a few years ago of three tourists who thought it would be a great idea to climb over the fence at the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite to take pictures wading in the pool above the falls. All three got caught in the current and were swpt over the edge. The warning signs there now starkly reference those events.

They were similar in age (21 to 22) to this man (23). Stupid of course but really tragic too. They were all so young. Just kids really. It’s important to survive your 20s.

#100

Yeah – altitude sickness is terrible for those afflicted! I pretty tolerant, but I learned in college that many are not We didn’t do anything illegal or really dangerous, just dumb.

My hiking buddy and I spent a week in RMNP. Toward the end of the trip, we took a circuitous, three day route on our way to climb Longs Peak (14,259 ft). We had book-packs, childhood sleepover sleeping bags, and a cheap dome tent. We didn’t bring nearly enough water, so we drank from the streams along the way. Neither of us got giardiasis, fortunately.

We camped the night in the boulder field at the base of Long’s at 12,400 feet. We survived a really long, cold night, but my friend awoke to a headache and nausea. He convinced me to go on up alone while he waited in the campsite. I returned a few hours later to find a lot of undigested breakfast scattered around, but no friend. I ended up trying to catch him on the hike down, but the only evidence I saw proving he was still alive was intermittent splashes of vomit. I finally caught up to him at the parking lot.

He couldn’t tolerate any food, and could barely even keep water down, though we had descended to 8500 ft. We “slept” that night in the car, with him throwing up every hour or so. His nausea didn’t subside until well into the drive home as we neared sea level. His experience made me very aware of the need to acclimate and hydrate whenever I go up that high. Everest, anyone?

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#101

Don’t forget Reagan and his “user fees” euphemism for hidden flat taxes.

#102

The worst hazard at the park where this kid worked was probably Canada geese. Still, coming from a state with volcanoes, he should have known.

#103

Basic rule of rescues is the rescuers are under no obligation to rescue and if more lives are put in peril than may be saved it’s just not done.

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#104

Diamox is the drug of choice.

#105

I would say “The stupidity, it burns.” but that might be too soon.

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#106

Exactly. Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, and other such true wonders of nature are not engineered and “controlled” environments.

#107

Thank you. Wanted to make this point as well.

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#108

But you see plenty of signs before going on the boardwalks, and all along the boardwalks… to “Stay the fuck on the boardwalks”.

You literally have to be a full-tilt fucking moron to get off the boardwalks.

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#109

Most of the boardwalks actually don’t have rails (except when in conjunction with a dangerous drop) or right next to a major hot spring pool . But you cannot avoid seeing the signs all along the boardwalks.

#110

You are absolutely right. Kinda like how they sabotaged Obama’s presidency so they could call him a failure.

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#111

This is a slight bit OT but I have spent a good deal of time in Southern Mexico 25 years ago I workedf or a short time for a tour company and one of the trips was to see Mayan ruins. At Palenque inside the Pyramid of Pacal are some inscriptions. There is a guard there 24/7 to prevent random acts of stupidity. They don’t let anyone even touch the art work because the area is tropical and when these things are touched bacteria and fungi are invariably left behind that then grow in the humid environment and damage occurs.

#112

My guess is that people don’t realize that a National Park is or a controlled environment. They must think it’s like Disneyland, a place that has to be designed to keep even the most foolish visitor Alice and well.

#113

Some people just do not believe the signs that warn of fatal risk. Perhaps a sign that promised a $5,000 fine, for being caught out of bounds, would be more sobering.

#114

Why is this happening so often?
What is it that people aren’t getting?
Treating these places like their own personal space?
Is it one of those "entitlement things we hear so much about?
I hope this doesn’t sound too harsh, but this idiot got what
was coming to him.

#115

I watched in horror at the N. Rim of the Grand Canyon as a father kept telling his terrified, weeping child to “back up a little more” for a picture. There was an approximate 500 ft. drop just a few feet behind the child.

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#116

I was at the South Rim many years ago and saw a family of kids climbing all over a rock that the trail was cut through. This was near the head of Bright Angel Trail and any rocks knocked off by the kids become missiles for people on the switchbacks below. Mom just stood and watched her brood – didn’t say a word. A misstep by any of those kids would have resulted in some serious injuries if not death. You see a lot of stupid at the Grand Canyon…well, at any attraction that is hazardous.

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#117

I was just there last year, and watched a young man deliberately go off the marked path to stomp in a hot puddle. He wasn’t hurt, but really-- what kind of stupid rebelliousness sees that violating the rules is more fun than watching a geyser blow?
The Darwin Awards was named that for a reason. Most of these defiant risktakers are young men.

Some are Orville and Wilbur Wright. Some are just stupid and defiant, and the gene pool might be cleaner-- like the hot spring above-- without them. What is with these guys? We should keep trying to remind them of the life and love they’ll enjoy if they can get past this dangerous period of life.

#118

Oh no you dinnint! :smiling_imp:

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