A woman was left screaming in pain after she purposely willing dipped her hand into a boiling hot spring at Yellowstone National Park in the latest troubling incident of people behaving recklessly in one of the nation’s most celebrated tourist attractions.
An unidentified father-daughter duo forwent safety standards and walked around the boardwalk that sectioned off parkgoers from boiling hot Silex Spring in the Fountain Point Pot Area of the park.
The tourist looked deeply regretful after ignoring warnings and pushing her hand into the steaming 80C water at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
Hot springs, on average, reach around 175 degrees Fahrenheit in the National Park.
Cameraman Gary Mackenzie said he warned the duo to stay on the boardwalk, but the father reportedly replied: ‘Whatever, man.’ ‘So, I hit record,’ Mackenzie said.
The video – posted to the Instagram account @TouronsofYellowstone – shows stream rolling off the the gorgeous blue spring as the woman twists and turns to find the best way to reach her hand into the boiling water.
A woman tells Mackenzie off-camera that the woman will ‘regret’ the decision as she clutched her dad’s hand and leaned toward the spring.
After she dips her hand briefly into the crystal blue water, she quickly leans backward and scrambles to her feet, running away, screaming: ‘It’s hot! It’s very hot!’
Her cries of pain can be heard as she clutches her hand to her stomach and walks back onto the boardwalk.
Mackenzie said he would have stopped the pair, but he couldn’t find a ranger and didn’t have cell service while the shenanigans were happening.
The National Park Service advises all visitors to on its website and on the trail to stay away from thermal activity and keep on the boardwalk at all times.
‘Deep beneath your feet, heat from the molten rock of the earth’s interior is transmitted up through the solid rock of the earth’s crust.
Groundwater circulating through these rocks becomes heated and follows cracks and fissures upward. Where the hot water can escape the ground’s surface, a hot spring is formed,’ NPS said.
Last year, a foot in a shoe was found floating in a hot spring inside the park.
The discovery was found at Abyss Pool in Wyoming, which led to the temporary closure of the West Thumb Geyser Basin and its parking lot.
Abyss Pool, located west of the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake, is 53 feet deep and the temperature is about 140F, park officials said. It is on the south side of the southern loop through the park.
