(NEXSTAR) Officials in Yellowstone National Park are reminding visitors to remain on boardwalks and trails around thermal areas after a teenager “suffered significant thermal burns” on Monday.
The 17-year-old was walking in the thermal area around Lone Star Geyser, near the park’s beloved Old Faithful, according to rangers, who say his foot then “broke through the thin crust.”
He was taken to an area hospital and suffered burns to his foot and ankle, the park said in a press release. They are now investigating the incident.
This marks the first reported thermal injury in Yellowstone this year, and the first in roughly 10 months.
In September, a 60-year-old New Hampshire woman broke through the thin crust of a thermal area and fell into scalding hot water, burning her leg, Nexstar’s KTVX reported. She had been walking her leashed dog with her husband off-trail in the park.
Yellowstone rangers said the boardwalks and trails throughout the park protect not only visitors who are capable of experiencing “severe or fatal burns” because of the scalding water below “most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs” but also the “delicate thermal formations.”
“More than 20 people have died from burns suffered after they entered or fell into Yellowstone’s hot springs,” officials noted Tuesday, while reminding that swimming or soaking in the hot springs is prohibited. Pets are also not allowed in thermal areas.
This isn’t the first person to be injured at Yellowstone this year.
In May, a Florida man was gored by a bison. The same happened to a New Jersey man in June. In both cases, rangers say the men got too close to the animals.
Last summer, two people were reported to have been injured by bison in Yellowstone. There was only one reported in 2023.
The latter incident had a relatively happy ending, though. While the Arizona woman suffered fractured vertebrae and collapsed lungs after being gored, she later said “yes” to her boyfriend’s proposal at the hospital.
Also last summer, an Idaho man suffered minor injuries and was arrested on alcohol-related charges after allegedly kicking a bison at Yellowstone.
