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Environmental News
Emma Bowman, NPR

A woman sustains leg burns after straying from Yellowstone trail

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

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

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

Her husband and dog were not injured.

The woman, whom officials have not named, was evaluated at a park medical clinic and was later airlifted to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for further treatment. Her condition was not immediately known.

Park officials emailed NPR on Thursday that the incident was under investigation and provided no additional details.

It added that going off the designated trails and boardwalks in the park is prohibited. Pets aren’t allowed on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry, or in thermal areas.

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

It’s the first known thermal-related injury at Yellowstone this year, but such incidents aren’t 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 sustained thermal burns after trying to rescue her dog from a hot spring at the park.

Earlier this year, actor Pierce Brosnan pleaded guilty to straying from the trail during a 2023 visit to Yellowstone National Park.

But even the most vigilant visitors may be at risk of injuries caused by the near-boiling temperatures at the park’s thermal systems. In July, a hydrothermal explosion about 2 miles from Old Faithful spewed onto a boardwalk path, sent people running, and prompted an area of the park to close temporarily. Such events can be difficult to predict.

Copyright 2024, NPR