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Young Woman Suffers Substantial Burns Trying To Save Dog From Yellowstone Hot Spring

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Published Date

October 5, 2021

A young Washington woman suffered burns to most of her body when she tried to pull her dog out of a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park.

The 20-year-old, whose name or hometime were not identified, was traveling with her dog and her father when they stopped Monday in the vicinity of Fountain Flat Drive south of Madison Junction, a park release said Tuesday.

When they got out of their vehicle to look around, the dog jumped out of the car and into Maiden's Grave Spring, a simmering spring named for the nearby grave of Mattie Culver, who died in 1889 during childbirth at the Marshall Hotel that once stood in the area.

The father pulled his daughter out of the spring and drove her to West Yellowstone, Montana, for treatment, the park release said. Yellowstone rangers and Hebgen Basin Rural Fire District crews provided initial care to the woman, who sustained burns from her feet to her shoulders, at West Yellowstone. She was then transported to the Burn Center at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, the release said.

No further information on the woman's condition was known. The father managed to pull the dog out of the spring and planned to take it to a veterinarian, the release added.

According to The Geysers of Yellowstone by T. Scott Bryan, Maiden's Grave Spring is "a gently boiling pool surrounded by a log rail fence." It lies near the west side of the Fire Hole River.

This is the second significant injury in one of the park's thermal areas this year, accoridng to the release. The first occurred in September at Old Faithful, when a 19-year-old woman from Rhode Island suffered second- and third-degree burns to 5 percent of her body. In 2020, a three-year-old suffered second degree-thermal burns to the lower body and back while running down a trail near the Fountain Freight Road and falling into a thermal area. Early in 2020 year a woman who illegally entered the park while it was closed due to the Covid pandemic fell into a thermal feature at Old Faithful while backing up and taking photos.

In September 2019, a man suffered severe burns after falling into thermal water near the cone of Old Faithful Geyser. In June 2017, a man sustained severe burns after falling in a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin. In June 2016, a man left the boardwalk and died after slipping into a hot spring in Norris Geyser Basin. In August 2000, one person died and two people received severe burns from falling into a hot spring in the Lower Geyser Basin.

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Comments

This is sad for everyone involved! Im sure yellowstone is wonderful. But I think that what people are saying is just to be very careful that's is a natural place with animals and dangerous hot springs! I pray for this young girl and her puppy I hope they are ok. 


I agree with you for the most part, except for the sexism. I have to assume you're incorporating material outside of this article since there was only one dog mentioned and the sex of burn victims is spilt. Your point gets lost when you throw in irrelevant insults.


This was an accident bc the dog thought it was a pond evidently. I would have sone the same to rescue mine. So yes, be careful at these national parks. getting too close to geysers and hot springs and getting too close to an edge to take a perfect pictire, is not wise. 
Observe the beauty from a distance!


It only takes a second for a tragedy to occur, whether with kids or pets.

I've witnessed near misses due to people just not paying attention or just  being stupid in Glacier Park as well as the NC mountains.


Yellowstone is an amazing place. Been there many times and will return many times  again.  Any park can be dangerous if you don't follow the rules. It's too bad she will have scars to remember Yellowstone, instead of having a great time.. Always leash your pets before you open the door.  


Would she do the same if it was a bear or mountain lion? Probably why she shouldn't visit a place like that with a animal you cant control. She should get fined for not having control of her dog and for going into the spring...Kids these days like to learn the hard way


A followup report had the dog being euthanized.  A sad end to something that was almost certainly preventable.



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