Yellowstone visitor suffers burns after leaving trail: NPR

The Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, is seen in 2022. A 60-year-old woman suffered severe burns to her leg after walking off the trail near the geyser this week.

Matthew Brown/AP

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Matthew Brown/AP

A 60-year-old woman suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg this week while hiking off the beaten path in a thermal area in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

Park officials said in a news release Wednesday that the woman, who was visiting from Windsor, New Hampshire, was hiking with her husband and leashed dog near the Mallard Lake Trailhead at Old Faithful Geyser on Monday when she broke through a thin crust above the scalding water.

Her husband and dog were not injured.

The woman, who has not been named by authorities, was evaluated at a medical clinic in the park and later flown by helicopter to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for further treatment. Her condition was not immediately known.

Park officials sent NPR an email Thursday saying the incident was under investigation. No further details were provided.

It added that it is forbidden to go off the designated paths and boardwalks in the park. Pets are not allowed on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry or in thermal areas.

“The ground in these areas is fragile and thin, and there is boiling water just below the surface,” officials said.

It’s the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone this year, but such incidents are not uncommon. Hot springs have injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature, the park said.

In 2021, a 20-year-old girl suffered burns while trying to rescue her dog from a hot spring in the park.

Earlier this year, actor Pierce Brosnan admitted to going off-trail during a visit to Yellowstone National Park in 2023.

But even the most vigilant visitors risk injury from the near-scalding temperatures in the park’s thermal systems. In July, a hydrothermal explosion about 2 miles from Old Faithful spewed onto a boardwalk, sending people fleeing and temporarily closing part of the park. Such events are hard to predict.