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I like the one from last year where some idiot decided to have a soak in a hot spring so he and his sister went into a off-limits area of a geyser basin. Attemp

I like the one from last year where some idiot decided to have a soak in a hot spring so he and his sister went into a off-limits area of a geyser basin. Attempting to test the waters at one with his fingers, he slipped and fell in. By the time the rangers got there, his body was at the bottom of the pool but, due to a lightning storm, they had to abandon recovery until the next day. When they got there the following morning, the body was mostly gone, having been dissolved by the acidic waters.

WkndTriathlete 10y ago
I visited Yellowstone last year for the second time and people there were doing the same stupid things they were doing 20 years ago when I first went. Some of it is unexpected - for example, caps and water bottles being blown off of people's heads or off of handrails into Mammoth Hot Springs - but some of it is just plain stupid (for example, crowds of people encircling a bear to take photographs or people walking up to the elk to pet them.) All of this happens despite the presence of park personnel continuously walking through all of the areas that have been turned into exhibits, and despite everyone having at least a cell phone camera to take photographs from a safe, non-polluting distance.
- dboreham 10y ago
  I live near Yellowstone and visitors doing stupid things is a common source of local amusement and bemusement. A local bar had a sign outside last year that said : "Thinking about throwing a baby Bison in the trunk of your car? Come inside for a drink instead." There are in addition many more incidents that don't get covered beyond the local paper: Bison gorings, people falling off cliffs, a guy got trampled by a moose. A little outside the park, but a local guy got electrocuted by a bear that had itself been electrocuted by a fallen power pole. A party of school girls were "pinned down" for several hours by a black bear. It's endless. These are just the incidents I recall off the top of my head, besides the nationally reported stuff like Canadians traipsing through Grand Prismatic Spring and various people beinv eaten by bears. Also check out the videos of park and fish+game staff using explosives to dispose of moose carcases in the field.
  - jameslk 10y ago
    > A local bar had a sign outside last year that said : "Thinking about throwing a baby Bison in the trunk of your car? Come inside for a drink instead." I was wondering the backstory behind this sign, and apparently someone actually did this. "What started out as an apparently well-intentioned move by tourists who placed a young bison in the back of their vehicle because they believed it looked cold, has ended in no small sadness. On Monday, officials at Yellowstone National Park revealed that the calf had to be put down after being rejected by its herd." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yellowstone-baby-bison-euthanised-after-visitors-put-it-in-their-suv-a7033101.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yellowstone...
    - dboreham 10y ago
      Sorry, I thought that one was widely-known so did't include the details -- it was covered on the late-night comedy shows at the time I seem to remember. Another one I remembered since posting the list above was the tourists who broke several toilets in the park due to standing on the seats. There are now signs, some in Chinese, in the park's public toilets advising not to stand on them.. Source: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/when-east-meets-west-toilet-seats-take-a-beating/article_a64d8bb5-9455-5dd9-a420-65103167c2f8.html http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/when-east-m...
      - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
        > broke several toilets in the park due to standing on the seats Amusingly, one of my early memories of newspaper reading was that a lady had won a lawsuit for breaking her ankle that way (yes, in the US, why do you ask? ;-)
      - saul_goodman 10y ago
        Heh, in Asia sit-down toilets are rare in the country-side. They use a squat-style toilet with foot pads, the water trap is just below ground and you "flush" by pouring a small bucket of water in the hole when finished. But usually if you have the means to travel to the US from Asia you're afluent enough to have seen a sit-down shitter before. They do exist in Asia/China.
anaximander 10y ago
What is there to like about such an event?
- contingencies 10y ago
  If you concentrate hard enough, you can feel a distant, cleansing, tingling sensation... that's Darwinian gene pool improvement, which is powered not by death itself but the collective goosebumps of everyone who heard about the mode of expiry actively discouraging such idiocy in the future.
  - Broken_Hippo 10y ago
    This comment made my morning. Thanks.
- guyfawkes303 10y ago
  Darwin at work.
- anigbrowl 10y ago
  One less foolish person to deal with. It's awful when something like this happens to a child but adults who are wilfully stupid about their own safety often seem equally comfortable inflicting their stupidity on everyone else. It's one thing to take a calculated risk and die because the gamble didn't pay off or you made some error in your risk calculus. It's quite another to just ignore the clearest possible warnings that something is a Bad Idea That Will Kill You. I don't really feel any sympathy in the latter case.
  - diebir 10y ago
    Soaking in most springs in the Park is illegal. However, the illegality is not based on the level of danger for a given spring. Soaking is a great idea if done carefully. There are several places in YNP where it is allowed, officially or semi-officially. In fact, every time I visit Yellowstone NP (like 5 times a year) it strikes me how silly it is that people are kept and are happy to stay on boardwalks and paved roads. They might just as well watch the BBC documentary and save everyone the trouble. If you are outdoors you should hike, swim, wade and sense the warm thermal waters. YNP is the most regulated and civilized park I know. I think this is sad. Driving to Yellowstone on an interstate is probably more dangerous anyway.
mattnumbe 10y ago
I highly suggest reading the book Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. It goes over a long history of really stupid people (along with some extremely sad stories) who have died in the park.
- yohui 10y ago
  I remember picking up that book from the gift store on my first trip through Yellowstone. Made for morbidly engrossing reading. Links, for those interested: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1570984506/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1570984506/ https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=U5uLAgAAQBAJ https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=U5uLAgAAQBAJ Interview with the author: http://www.yellowstonepark.com/unnatural-deaths-yellowstone-national-park-avoid/ http://www.yellowstonepark.com/unnatural-deaths-yellowstone-...
- sizzzzlerz 10y ago
  There are similar books documenting deaths in both Yosemite and Grand Canyon. While a number of the deaths are accidents or wrong-place-wrong-time things most are caused by the person doing the dying. Example: those who chose to swim in the pool just above Nevada Falls in Yosemite and getting swept over the falls.
fpgaminer 10y ago
Yeah, heard that one too when we were there last winter. I think people are confused by the term "hot spring". Makes it sound like those bubbling pools are jacuzzis. But no, most of them are bubbling pools of _sulfuric_acid_! I guess people don't figure that out from the fart smells...

WkndTriathlete 10y ago

I visited Yellowstone last year for the second time and people there were doing the same stupid things they were doing 20 years ago when I first went. Some of it is unexpected - for example, caps and water bottles being blown off of people's heads or off of handrails into Mammoth Hot Springs - but some of it is just plain stupid (for example, crowds of people encircling a bear to take photographs or people walking up to the elk to pet them.) All of this happens despite the presence of park personnel continuously walking through all of the areas that have been turned into exhibits, and despite everyone having at least a cell phone camera to take photographs from a safe, non-polluting distance.

dboreham 10y ago
I live near Yellowstone and visitors doing stupid things is a common source of local amusement and bemusement. A local bar had a sign outside last year that said : "Thinking about throwing a baby Bison in the trunk of your car? Come inside for a drink instead." There are in addition many more incidents that don't get covered beyond the local paper: Bison gorings, people falling off cliffs, a guy got trampled by a moose. A little outside the park, but a local guy got electrocuted by a bear that had itself been electrocuted by a fallen power pole. A party of school girls were "pinned down" for several hours by a black bear. It's endless. These are just the incidents I recall off the top of my head, besides the nationally reported stuff like Canadians traipsing through Grand Prismatic Spring and various people beinv eaten by bears. Also check out the videos of park and fish+game staff using explosives to dispose of moose carcases in the field.
- jameslk 10y ago
  > A local bar had a sign outside last year that said : "Thinking about throwing a baby Bison in the trunk of your car? Come inside for a drink instead." I was wondering the backstory behind this sign, and apparently someone actually did this. "What started out as an apparently well-intentioned move by tourists who placed a young bison in the back of their vehicle because they believed it looked cold, has ended in no small sadness. On Monday, officials at Yellowstone National Park revealed that the calf had to be put down after being rejected by its herd." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yellowstone-baby-bison-euthanised-after-visitors-put-it-in-their-suv-a7033101.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/yellowstone...
  - dboreham 10y ago
    Sorry, I thought that one was widely-known so did't include the details -- it was covered on the late-night comedy shows at the time I seem to remember. Another one I remembered since posting the list above was the tourists who broke several toilets in the park due to standing on the seats. There are now signs, some in Chinese, in the park's public toilets advising not to stand on them.. Source: http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/when-east-meets-west-toilet-seats-take-a-beating/article_a64d8bb5-9455-5dd9-a420-65103167c2f8.html http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/news/environmental/when-east-m...
    - B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago
      > broke several toilets in the park due to standing on the seats Amusingly, one of my early memories of newspaper reading was that a lady had won a lawsuit for breaking her ankle that way (yes, in the US, why do you ask? ;-)
    - saul_goodman 10y ago
      Heh, in Asia sit-down toilets are rare in the country-side. They use a squat-style toilet with foot pads, the water trap is just below ground and you "flush" by pouring a small bucket of water in the hole when finished. But usually if you have the means to travel to the US from Asia you're afluent enough to have seen a sit-down shitter before. They do exist in Asia/China.

anaximander 10y ago

What is there to like about such an event?

contingencies 10y ago
If you concentrate hard enough, you can feel a distant, cleansing, tingling sensation... that's Darwinian gene pool improvement, which is powered not by death itself but the collective goosebumps of everyone who heard about the mode of expiry actively discouraging such idiocy in the future.
- Broken_Hippo 10y ago
  This comment made my morning. Thanks.
guyfawkes303 10y ago
Darwin at work.
anigbrowl 10y ago
One less foolish person to deal with. It's awful when something like this happens to a child but adults who are wilfully stupid about their own safety often seem equally comfortable inflicting their stupidity on everyone else. It's one thing to take a calculated risk and die because the gamble didn't pay off or you made some error in your risk calculus. It's quite another to just ignore the clearest possible warnings that something is a Bad Idea That Will Kill You. I don't really feel any sympathy in the latter case.
- diebir 10y ago
  Soaking in most springs in the Park is illegal. However, the illegality is not based on the level of danger for a given spring. Soaking is a great idea if done carefully. There are several places in YNP where it is allowed, officially or semi-officially. In fact, every time I visit Yellowstone NP (like 5 times a year) it strikes me how silly it is that people are kept and are happy to stay on boardwalks and paved roads. They might just as well watch the BBC documentary and save everyone the trouble. If you are outdoors you should hike, swim, wade and sense the warm thermal waters. YNP is the most regulated and civilized park I know. I think this is sad. Driving to Yellowstone on an interstate is probably more dangerous anyway.

mattnumbe 10y ago

I highly suggest reading the book Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. It goes over a long history of really stupid people (along with some extremely sad stories) who have died in the park.

yohui 10y ago
I remember picking up that book from the gift store on my first trip through Yellowstone. Made for morbidly engrossing reading. Links, for those interested: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1570984506/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1570984506/ https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=U5uLAgAAQBAJ https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=U5uLAgAAQBAJ Interview with the author: http://www.yellowstonepark.com/unnatural-deaths-yellowstone-national-park-avoid/ http://www.yellowstonepark.com/unnatural-deaths-yellowstone-...
sizzzzlerz 10y ago
There are similar books documenting deaths in both Yosemite and Grand Canyon. While a number of the deaths are accidents or wrong-place-wrong-time things most are caused by the person doing the dying. Example: those who chose to swim in the pool just above Nevada Falls in Yosemite and getting swept over the falls.

fpgaminer 10y ago

Yeah, heard that one too when we were there last winter. I think people are confused by the term "hot spring". Makes it sound like those bubbling pools are jacuzzis. But no, most of them are bubbling pools of _sulfuric_acid_! I guess people don't figure that out from the fart smells...