Man who was looking to 'hot pot' fell into Yellowstone hot spring and was completely dissolved within a day
Ben Thompson
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/ColinScott/Mark Ralston / AFP) (Photo by MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images
Yellowstone National Park is a firm favourite among nature lovers in the US, with its breathtaking scenery and incredible hot springs.
However the latter can prove to be extremely dangerous.
With one of the world's largest magma chambers located beneath the national park, it's no surprise that the water which makes it to the surface is extremely hot.
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Under no circumstances should a human take a swim in these bodies of water. It will be fatal.
One man met a grisly fate when he fell into one this past June and more details of his unfortunate fate have been released.
23-year-old Colin Scott was reportedly looking for somewhere to 'hot pot' - taking a plunge into a hot spring.
However, whilst he was dipping his finger to test the temperature, he slipped and fell in.
He was found dead later that same day, as his body was floating on the water.
Rescue officials were unable to reach him and a thunderstorm forced them into retreat.
When they returned the next day, nothing remained of the man except for his wallet and flip flops.
In his incident report, Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress noted that the waters had been particularly acidic and hot on the day he fell in.
The fate of the man's body?
"In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," he noted.
Yellowstone’s geothermal ponds, pools, and geysers average around 93°C (199°F) at the surface, and get much hotter further down into the water.
It's with good reason that they are fenced off with a number of prominent warning signs.
Not much is able to withstand living in these boiling temperatures.
A specialised bunch of organisms called archaea have just about managed it, but nobody else should play the odds with a dip.
If you want to have fun in Yellowstone, take a hike, enjoy the sights and take in the scenery.
Leave the acidic water for the archaea.
Yellowstone, which spreads across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, has more than four million visitors a year.
According to Outforia, an online publication aimed at getting people to enjoy nature responsibly, Yellowstone has 52 deaths since 2010.
This is relatively small compared to beauty spots such as the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, where 92 had perished.
Considering that over 2 billion people have enjoyed American national parks in their entire history however, it's fair to judge that they're safe when precautions are taken.