It's off to a fast start already this year! A list of incidents involving people trying to obtain the coveted Darwin Award. I will keep you up to date of all the stupid tourist tricks.
When I was in my teens, my dad bought a place on the Boulder River, about 30 miles north of Yellowstone, but you would have to drive around a mountain range, taking a good 3 hours to get there. We got the Billings Gazette and read about idiots in the park getting hurt or killed every year. When I hiked in the area, I was always and I mean always keeping my eyes open for wild animals. If I saw a moose, I'd stand still by a tree until it left. Never saw bears or mountain lions, but I often felt like they saw me... Once I saw a mink dive into the river after a fish and I thought to myself, "There is one of the few predators around here I don't have to worry about!" I still wouldn't have tried to go pet it. [Reply]
Try filming by yourself in the dark a mile or two from any road or person, Yellowstone is fucking deserted at night, and then see if any of the splashes or gurgles sound weird in total darkness. And I'm usually without bear spray.
Originally Posted by : Boy burned at Yellowstone National Park thermal pool
BILLINGS -
A 13-year-old boy is recovering after he was burned at a thermal pool during a visit to Yellowstone National Park.
Park officials said the incident was initially reported Saturday evening near Morning Glory Pool, but both the teen and his father were located near Castle Geyser.
The boy sustained burns around one of his limbs, but officials would not say which limb or the extent of the burn, nor how it happened.
Officials declined to release more specific information about the incident, citing patient privacy, but they did say the boy was flown to a Salt Lake City hospital for treatment.
Here's another quote from that story. This shit pisses me off to no end.
Originally Posted by :
Long a favored destination for park visitors, Morning Glory Pool was named in the 1880s for its remarkable likeness to its namesake flower. However, this beautiful pool has fallen victim to vandalism. People have thrown literally tons of coins, trash, rocks, and logs into the pool. Much of the debris subsequently became embedded in the sides and vent of the spring, affecting water circulation and accelerating the loss of thermal energy. Through the years Morning Glory's appearance has changed as its temperature dropped. Orange and yellow bacteria that formerly colored only the periphery of the spring now spread toward its center.
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut:
So yellowstone folks - educate me here.
I presume the reason we do not walk on the spring is because it would interfere with the algae blooms that give the spring its color?
I mean, to me it looks like a fairly benign, if hot, body of water that probably isn't going to be badly disturbed by human presence. At least not any more so than countless other natural features in the nation that we allow people to go traipsing about. I think of Yosemite in particular as a place just full of stuff where people are allowed to go just about anywhere that won't kill them (and sometimes places that will).
Algae blooms are pretty much impossible to really damage so long as the nutrients that feed them remain in the water. Seeing as how those nutrients are likely coming from deep within the earth, i figure we can't do much to disturb that.
I'm sure I'm incredibly wrong here, I'm just curious as to why I'm wrong and what it is I don't understand.
I thought that it was the danger due to the ground being so fragile and unstable around the springs. People think the ground is firm, but break through the crust into the hot water below like a layer of thin ice. [Reply]
Never underestimate the power of stupid in the Park. My parents were in the Park over the weekend and they watched some lady at their hotel try to approach an elk that was walking by. I guess the elk got bent out of shape about it and chased her back up on the hotel deck. She left the deck and the elk turned around and came after her again. I guess in this case the tourist was Chinese. Only a small percentage of these incidents even make the paper. I would venture to say that within the next few weeks there will be another bison incident or two that does make the paper. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bwana:
Never underestimate the power of stupid in the Park. My parents were in the Park over the weekend and they watched some lady at their hotel try to approach an elk that was walking by. I guess the elk got bent out of shape about it and chased her back up on the hotel deck. She left the deck and the elk turned around and came after her again. I guess in this case the tourist was Chinese. Only a small percentage of these incidents even make the paper. I would venture to say that within the next few weeks there will be another bison incident or two that does make the paper.
It is a very simple concept. If an elk, for example, sees something approach it, the elk determines quickly if it is another elk or not. If it is not, the elk assumes that the creature that is approaching and is not also an elk must want to eat it. Bison and moose also do the same. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed:
It is a very simple concept. If an elk, for example, sees something approach it, the elk determines quickly if it is another elk or not. If it is not, the elk assumes that the creature that is approaching and is not also an elk must want to eat it. Bison and moose also do the same.
They need to employ you at the ranger station so you can explain this simple concept to some of the brain dead tourist's. :-) You could likely save a few of the dumber ones from the possibility of obtaining a Darwin Award. [Reply]
Yellowstone National Park visitor presumed dead after falling into hot spring:
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK -
A Yellowstone National Park visitor is presumed dead after a witness reported the visitor fell in to the Norris Geyser Basin.
According to YNP Public Affairs Officer Charissa Reid, a search was underway for the man who disappeared Tuesday afternoon.
Reid said the man is presumed dead because he has yet to be found.
“The recovery process is very difficult because of the hazards of the environment,” said Reid.
Reid said the man is in his 20s, but she would not identify the man or where he is from. He reportedly walked about 225 yards off the board walk before falling into the hot spring.
The springs are known to reach temperatures that would be deadly to humans on contact.
"Norris Geyser Basin is the hottest and most changeable thermal area in Yellowstone," according to the YNP website.
Norris Geyser Basin was closed following the incident.
Reid said she wanted to remind people of the danger of the springs and directed all visitors to the safety page on the YNP website.
Earlier this week, a 13-year-old boy and his father suffered thermal burns near the Castle Geyser.
They were flown to Salt Lake City for treatment. [Reply]
I like seeing the pelicans knock tourists and their $6 bucket of fish. It's good for a laugh.
Too bad, it's been made into a 2nd degree misdemeanor. [Reply]
