This past week, the Tourons of Yellowstone National Park struck again. A video went viral with a man and a woman learning just how hot the world-famous hot springs actually are.
In a video that was posted on Instagram by @TouronsofYellowstone, some Park visitors tried to warn a man and a woman as they approach the edge of the water next to the Silex Spring, which can be found at the Wyoming Fountain Paint Pot Nature Trail.
In the viral clip, we can see spectators looking on as the man and woman walk from the boardwalk, where visitors are supposed to stand, toward the steaming basin of the hot spring. For reference, according to the National Park Service, these Hot Springs can get up to an average temperature of around 174° f.
For whatever reason, the woman in the video thought that it would be a good idea to stick a finger into the deadly hot spring. Maybe she was testing the National Park Service’s honesty?
It came as no surprise that she immediately snapped her finger back from the scalding spring, probably because it hurt just as much as sticking your hand in a pot of boiling water.
In the video, she could be heard saying, “Hot, it’s super hot,” while the person recording the video muttered, “Stupid,” under his breath. The caption of the video details the conversation that the cameraman had with the two Tourons before they decided to defy Yellowstone rules and test the heat for themselves.
He noted that he would have called the ranger station. However, he didn’t have any cell service and wasn’t able to find a ranger at the time.
He explained that he told them not to step off the boardwalk and that going near the water was a bad idea. The tourist’s response — “Whatever, man.” “That’s when I decided to hit record.”
The video can still be seen on the @TouronsofYellowstone Instagram, which is a hilarious profile that’s dedicated to posting short clips of moronic tourists on their trips to Yellowstone National Park and beyond. Who doesn’t like watching stupid people deal with the consequences of their actions?
Of course, Instagram users in the comments had plenty to say about the idiotic couple.
One person sarcastically wrote, “It’s hot! Wow, if only the park had a sign that made that clear, since the steam rising up off the boiling spring isn’t enough.” Another user wrote, “The chick who put her finger in the water shouted ‘it’s hot’ after. Did the rising steam not give it away? Do you think she ever accidentally touched a hot stove when she was little?”
Someone else in the comments was less amused, noting, “I honestly wish that people understood that it’s not only about the risk they’re taking with their own lives but an equal risk that they’re taking when they interfere with an already fragile ecosystem. If you’re unable to enjoy things without having to touch them, you’re probably not mature enough to take a trip somewhere like Yellowstone. Vegas might be a better choice.”
Yellowstone National Park has always had very strict rules that prohibit tourists from soaking in, swimming in, or touching the park’s hot springs. Even the safety page on the National Park Service website notes that the water in the hot springs is extremely hot and can cause severe or fatal burns. It also notes that most of the breakable crust surrounding the hot springs has scalding water underneath.
According to the agency, more than 20 visitors received burns and died from them after falling into or entering the Yellowstone hot springs. In 2016, one man died after trying to get a nice soak in one of the park’s many geysers. The park’s staff noted that the man’s body dissolved in the ultra-hot waters before the staff could recover him.
Just this past year, park rangers found a shoe with a human foot inside of it floating around in a hot spring next to the West Thumb Geyser Basin. Luckily for this now-viral couple, the only suffering they’ll have is internet embarrassment.
