Woman chases dog into Yellowstone hot spring and is rescued by dad, rangers say

A 20-year-old was badly burned after she ran into a Yellowstone hot spring after her dog, park rangers said.

The woman from Washington had significant burns on her shoulders and feet Monday when she went into a hot spring.

“When the woman and her father exited their vehicle to look around, their dog jumped out of the car and into Maiden’s Grave Spring near the Firehole River,” park rangers said Tuesday in a news release. “The woman entered the thermal hot spring to retrieve the dog.”

The woman’s dad pulled her and the dog out of the hot spring and drove them to get medical care, Yellowstone officials said. She was taken to a burn center in East Idaho.

Park officials said Wednesday the dog died from its injuries.

Park rangers are investigating the incident. The hot spring was 200 degrees, rangers said.

The incident is the second injury in a Yellowstone thermal area this year, according to the National Park Service.

In September, a 19-year-old had second- and third-degree burns over 5% of her body while visiting the Old Faithful geyser. Park officials did not say if the woman walked on the geyser or left the boardwalks before she got burned.

Numerous other people have been seriously injured from falling into the water in Yellowstone.

In 2016, an Oregon man may have dissolved after trying to soak in a thermal area. Workers couldn’t find any remains, and park rangers believe he dissolved from the dangerously hot water, the Associated Press reported.

Last fall, a 48-year-old man was hospitalized with “severe burns to a significant portion of his body” from falling into scalding-hot water near the Old Faithful geyser, McClatchy News reported.

“The ground in hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface,” rangers said. “Everyone must remain on boardwalks and trails and exercise extreme caution around thermal features.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2021 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Woman chases dog into Yellowstone hot spring and is rescued by dad, rangers say."