The truth finally comes out....
November 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. – An Oregon man who died after falling into a scalding Yellowstone National Park hot spring in June was looking for a place to "hot pot," the forbidden practice of soaking in one of the park's thermal features, officials said.
Sable Scott told investigators that she and her 23-year-old brother, Colin, left a boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser and walked several hundred feet up a hill in search of "a place that they could potentially get into and soak," Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR-TV in an interview.
As Sable Scott took video of her brother with her cellphone on June 7, he reached down to check the water temperature and slipped and fell into a thermal pool about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 10 feet deep, according to a National Park Service incident record first reported by KULR.
Park officials did not release the video or a description of it, but the report said it also chronicled Sable Scott's efforts to rescue her brother.
Search and rescue rangers spotted Colin Scott's body floating in the pool the day of the accident, but a lightning storm prevented recovery, the report said.
The next day, workers could not find any remains in the boiling, acidic water.
"In very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," Veress said.
The report included images of several signs warning people of the dangers of the park's geothermal features and of traveling off walkways in the area where Colin Scott died.
The National Park Service did not issue any citations in the case.
Scott was on a college graduation trip with his sister at the time of his death, which came a day after six people were cited for walking off-trail at the park's Grand Prismatic Spring.
--------------------------
June 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, was with his sister and had traveled about 225 yards off the boardwalk on Tuesday when he slipped and fell into the hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said.
After Scott's sister reported the fall, rangers navigated over the highly-fragile crust of the geyser basin to try to recover his body. They halted the effort Wednesday "due to the extreme nature and futility of it all," Reid said, referring to the high temperature and acidic nature of the spring.
The death occurred in one of the hottest and most volatile areas of Yellowstone. It follows high-profile incidents at the rugged park in which tourists got too close to wildlife or went off designated pathways onto unique landmarks, sometimes leading to injuries or death.
".... if I could be so blunt, to walk off the boardwalks not knowing what you're doing," said Kenneth Sims, a University of Wyoming geology professor and member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
"They're scofflaws essentially, who look around and then head off the boardwalk," he added. Sims said he was speaking generally and had no direct knowledge of the circumstances of Scott's death.
Scott previously worked as a volunteer at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Oregon, said Mary Loftin, a manager at the Hillsboro, Oregon, parks and recreation department. She said that Scott worked there for about 20 months fielding questions from visitors, and his stint ended last year.
"A very nice young man a bright spirit," Loftin said.
The basin is a popular attraction in the nation's first national park, which received a record 4.1 million visitors last year. Water temperatures there can reach 199 degrees, the boiling point for water at the park's high elevation.
At least 22 people are known to have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around Yellowstone since 1890, park officials said. Most of the deaths have been accidents, although at least two people had been trying to swim in a hot spring, park historian Lee Whittlesey, author of the book "Death in Yellowstone."
Posted signs warn visitors to keep to boardwalks and trails in thermal areas, which feature boiling pools, geysers that can blast hundreds of feet into the air and toxic gases.
The crust that makes up the ground in parts of Yellowstone is formed when minerals underground are dissolved by the high-temperature water, then redeposited on or near the surface.
That crust can be as "thin as a skiff of ice" Reid said.
---------------------------------------------------
Man Confirmed Dead After Fall in Yellowstone Hot Spring
by PHIL HELSEL
Officials at Yellowstone National Park have confirmed that an Oregon man reported to have fallen in a hot spring Tuesday was killed, the park said Wednesday.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, slipped and fell in a hot spring near Porkchop Geyser Tuesday afternoon after he and his sister left the boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said in a statement.
Rangers confirmed Scott's death Tuesday evening, the park said. An effort to retrieve his remains was called off Wednesday because there was nothing that could safely be recovered, park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said.
The sister, who saw the accident and reported it to authorities, was not injured, Reid said.
"We extend our sympathy to the Scott family," Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said in the statement. "This tragic event must remind all of us to follow the regulations and stay on boardwalks when visiting Yellowstone's geyser basins."
Tuesday's fatal accident occurred in an area known as the Back Basin. It was the first death related to thermal features in Norris Geyser Basin since 1898...
There have been 22 known deaths related to thermal features in Yellowstone since 1890, she said.
Many of the hot springs in the Norris Geyser Basin are at or greater than 199 degrees, according to the park's website. The accident happened about 225 yards off the boardwalk, the park said.
--------------------------------------------
Pacific University grad Colin Scott dies in Yellowstone pool
Created on Thursday, 09 June 2016 19:24
| Written by Jill Rehkopf Smith
A star student who graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove last month died at Yellowstone National Park Tuesday when he fell into one of the park’s thermal pools.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, was visiting the park with his sister, said Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman. Around mid-afternoon, the two were visiting the Norris Geyser Basin...
It was there that Scott fell or slipped into a thermal pool. “There was slippery, wet gravel around the area where he fell,” Reid said, and he was wearing flip-flops, according to the incident commander.
Scott’s sister reported the accident to park officials and rangers walked back to the scene, ready to take on the dangerous task of recovering Scott’s body, but “there were not remains to recover,” Reid said, noting that the pH (acid level) of the pool was about the same pH as vinegar and the temperature would have been at least 199 degrees, if not higher.
Scott graduated summa cum laude from Pacific University May 21 and was one of two psychology majors — out of about 30 — to be named “outstanding senior award” for the psychology department. (Every major highlights an outstanding senior.)
"He wasn't just an outstanding student. He was an outstanding person," said Psychology Professor Todd Schultz, who was Scott's adviser. Schultz said he's mystified by why Scott would leave the boardwalk. "Colin's the antithesis of the sort of person who would be reckless, do risky things, disobey rules," Schultz said. "He was an unusually mature, thoughtful individual. He's the last person who would make rash decisions."
He also worked weekends for about two years at Jackson Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro, as part of his work-study program at Pacific.
Scott worked at the reception desk, answering questions about the condition of the trails or what kinds of birds or wildlife had been seen recently or about the giant eagle’s nest in the education center.
“He was good at what he did,” said Mary Loftin, who also works at Jackson Bottom and remembers Scott as “very personable, very nice.”
"It's really devastating and heartbreaking," Schultz said, "for such a completely shocking and seemingly random and cruel thing to happen to someone so wonderful."
------------------------------------------------
November 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. – An Oregon man who died after falling into a scalding Yellowstone National Park hot spring in June was looking for a place to "hot pot," the forbidden practice of soaking in one of the park's thermal features, officials said.
Sable Scott told investigators that she and her 23-year-old brother, Colin, left a boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser and walked several hundred feet up a hill in search of "a place that they could potentially get into and soak," Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR-TV in an interview.
As Sable Scott took video of her brother with her cellphone on June 7, he reached down to check the water temperature and slipped and fell into a thermal pool about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 10 feet deep, according to a National Park Service incident record first reported by KULR.
Park officials did not release the video or a description of it, but the report said it also chronicled Sable Scott's efforts to rescue her brother.
Search and rescue rangers spotted Colin Scott's body floating in the pool the day of the accident, but a lightning storm prevented recovery, the report said.
The next day, workers could not find any remains in the boiling, acidic water.
"In very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," Veress said.
The report included images of several signs warning people of the dangers of the park's geothermal features and of traveling off walkways in the area where Colin Scott died.
The National Park Service did not issue any citations in the case.
Scott was on a college graduation trip with his sister at the time of his death, which came a day after six people were cited for walking off-trail at the park's Grand Prismatic Spring.
--------------------------
June 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, was with his sister and had traveled about 225 yards off the boardwalk on Tuesday when he slipped and fell into the hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said.
After Scott's sister reported the fall, rangers navigated over the highly-fragile crust of the geyser basin to try to recover his body. They halted the effort Wednesday "due to the extreme nature and futility of it all," Reid said, referring to the high temperature and acidic nature of the spring.
The death occurred in one of the hottest and most volatile areas of Yellowstone. It follows high-profile incidents at the rugged park in which tourists got too close to wildlife or went off designated pathways onto unique landmarks, sometimes leading to injuries or death.
".... if I could be so blunt, to walk off the boardwalks not knowing what you're doing," said Kenneth Sims, a University of Wyoming geology professor and member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
"They're scofflaws essentially, who look around and then head off the boardwalk," he added. Sims said he was speaking generally and had no direct knowledge of the circumstances of Scott's death.
Scott previously worked as a volunteer at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Oregon, said Mary Loftin, a manager at the Hillsboro, Oregon, parks and recreation department. She said that Scott worked there for about 20 months fielding questions from visitors, and his stint ended last year.
"A very nice young man a bright spirit," Loftin said.
The basin is a popular attraction in the nation's first national park, which received a record 4.1 million visitors last year. Water temperatures there can reach 199 degrees, the boiling point for water at the park's high elevation.
At least 22 people are known to have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around Yellowstone since 1890, park officials said. Most of the deaths have been accidents, although at least two people had been trying to swim in a hot spring, park historian Lee Whittlesey, author of the book "Death in Yellowstone."
Posted signs warn visitors to keep to boardwalks and trails in thermal areas, which feature boiling pools, geysers that can blast hundreds of feet into the air and toxic gases.
The crust that makes up the ground in parts of Yellowstone is formed when minerals underground are dissolved by the high-temperature water, then redeposited on or near the surface.
That crust can be as "thin as a skiff of ice" Reid said.
---------------------------------------------------
Man Confirmed Dead After Fall in Yellowstone Hot Spring
by PHIL HELSEL
Officials at Yellowstone National Park have confirmed that an Oregon man reported to have fallen in a hot spring Tuesday was killed, the park said Wednesday.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, slipped and fell in a hot spring near Porkchop Geyser Tuesday afternoon after he and his sister left the boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said in a statement.
Rangers confirmed Scott's death Tuesday evening, the park said. An effort to retrieve his remains was called off Wednesday because there was nothing that could safely be recovered, park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said.
The sister, who saw the accident and reported it to authorities, was not injured, Reid said.
"We extend our sympathy to the Scott family," Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said in the statement. "This tragic event must remind all of us to follow the regulations and stay on boardwalks when visiting Yellowstone's geyser basins."
Tuesday's fatal accident occurred in an area known as the Back Basin. It was the first death related to thermal features in Norris Geyser Basin since 1898...
There have been 22 known deaths related to thermal features in Yellowstone since 1890, she said.
Many of the hot springs in the Norris Geyser Basin are at or greater than 199 degrees, according to the park's website. The accident happened about 225 yards off the boardwalk, the park said.
--------------------------------------------
Pacific University grad Colin Scott dies in Yellowstone pool
Created on Thursday, 09 June 2016 19:24
| Written by Jill Rehkopf Smith
A star student who graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove last month died at Yellowstone National Park Tuesday when he fell into one of the park’s thermal pools.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, was visiting the park with his sister, said Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman. Around mid-afternoon, the two were visiting the Norris Geyser Basin...
It was there that Scott fell or slipped into a thermal pool. “There was slippery, wet gravel around the area where he fell,” Reid said, and he was wearing flip-flops, according to the incident commander.
Scott’s sister reported the accident to park officials and rangers walked back to the scene, ready to take on the dangerous task of recovering Scott’s body, but “there were not remains to recover,” Reid said, noting that the pH (acid level) of the pool was about the same pH as vinegar and the temperature would have been at least 199 degrees, if not higher.
Scott graduated summa cum laude from Pacific University May 21 and was one of two psychology majors — out of about 30 — to be named “outstanding senior award” for the psychology department. (Every major highlights an outstanding senior.)
"He wasn't just an outstanding student. He was an outstanding person," said Psychology Professor Todd Schultz, who was Scott's adviser. Schultz said he's mystified by why Scott would leave the boardwalk. "Colin's the antithesis of the sort of person who would be reckless, do risky things, disobey rules," Schultz said. "He was an unusually mature, thoughtful individual. He's the last person who would make rash decisions."
He also worked weekends for about two years at Jackson Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro, as part of his work-study program at Pacific.
Scott worked at the reception desk, answering questions about the condition of the trails or what kinds of birds or wildlife had been seen recently or about the giant eagle’s nest in the education center.
“He was good at what he did,” said Mary Loftin, who also works at Jackson Bottom and remembers Scott as “very personable, very nice.”
"It's really devastating and heartbreaking," Schultz said, "for such a completely shocking and seemingly random and cruel thing to happen to someone so wonderful."
------------------------------------------------
The truth finally comes out....
November 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. – An Oregon man who died after falling into a scalding Yellowstone National Park hot spring in June was looking for a place to "hot pot," the forbidden practice of soaking in one of the park's thermal features, officials said.
Sable Scott told investigators that she and her 23-year-old brother, Colin, left a boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser and walked several hundred feet up a hill in search of "a place that they could potentially get into and soak," Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR-TV in an interview.
As Sable Scott took video of her brother with her cellphone on June 7, he reached down to check the water temperature and slipped and fell into a thermal pool about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 10 feet deep, according to a National Park Service incident record first reported by KULR.
Park officials did not release the video or a description of it, but the report said it also chronicled Sable Scott's efforts to rescue her brother.
Search and rescue rangers spotted Colin Scott's body floating in the pool the day of the accident, but a lightning storm prevented recovery, the report said.
The next day, workers could not find any remains in the boiling, acidic water.
"In very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," Veress said.
The report included images of several signs warning people of the dangers of the park's geothermal features and of traveling off walkways in the area where Colin Scott died.
The National Park Service did not issue any citations in the case.
Scott was on a college graduation trip with his sister at the time of his death, which came a day after six people were cited for walking off-trail at the park's Grand Prismatic Spring.
--------------------------
June 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, was with his sister and had traveled about 225 yards off the boardwalk on Tuesday when he slipped and fell into the hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said.
After Scott's sister reported the fall, rangers navigated over the highly-fragile crust of the geyser basin to try to recover his body. They halted the effort Wednesday "due to the extreme nature and futility of it all," Reid said, referring to the high temperature and acidic nature of the spring.
The death occurred in one of the hottest and most volatile areas of Yellowstone. It follows high-profile incidents at the rugged park in which tourists got too close to wildlife or went off designated pathways onto unique landmarks, sometimes leading to injuries or death.
".... if I could be so blunt, to walk off the boardwalks not knowing what you're doing," said Kenneth Sims, a University of Wyoming geology professor and member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
"They're scofflaws essentially, who look around and then head off the boardwalk," he added. Sims said he was speaking generally and had no direct knowledge of the circumstances of Scott's death.
Scott previously worked as a volunteer at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Oregon, said Mary Loftin, a manager at the Hillsboro, Oregon, parks and recreation department. She said that Scott worked there for about 20 months fielding questions from visitors, and his stint ended last year.
"A very nice young man a bright spirit," Loftin said.
The basin is a popular attraction in the nation's first national park, which received a record 4.1 million visitors last year. Water temperatures there can reach 199 degrees, the boiling point for water at the park's high elevation.
At least 22 people are known to have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around Yellowstone since 1890, park officials said. Most of the deaths have been accidents, although at least two people had been trying to swim in a hot spring, park historian Lee Whittlesey, author of the book "Death in Yellowstone."
Posted signs warn visitors to keep to boardwalks and trails in thermal areas, which feature boiling pools, geysers that can blast hundreds of feet into the air and toxic gases.
The crust that makes up the ground in parts of Yellowstone is formed when minerals underground are dissolved by the high-temperature water, then redeposited on or near the surface.
That crust can be as "thin as a skiff of ice" Reid said.
---------------------------------------------------
Man Confirmed Dead After Fall in Yellowstone Hot Spring
by PHIL HELSEL
Officials at Yellowstone National Park have confirmed that an Oregon man reported to have fallen in a hot spring Tuesday was killed, the park said Wednesday.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, slipped and fell in a hot spring near Porkchop Geyser Tuesday afternoon after he and his sister left the boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said in a statement.
Rangers confirmed Scott's death Tuesday evening, the park said. An effort to retrieve his remains was called off Wednesday because there was nothing that could safely be recovered, park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said.
The sister, who saw the accident and reported it to authorities, was not injured, Reid said.
"We extend our sympathy to the Scott family," Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said in the statement. "This tragic event must remind all of us to follow the regulations and stay on boardwalks when visiting Yellowstone's geyser basins."
Tuesday's fatal accident occurred in an area known as the Back Basin. It was the first death related to thermal features in Norris Geyser Basin since 1898...
There have been 22 known deaths related to thermal features in Yellowstone since 1890, she said.
Many of the hot springs in the Norris Geyser Basin are at or greater than 199 degrees, according to the park's website. The accident happened about 225 yards off the boardwalk, the park said.
--------------------------------------------
Pacific University grad Colin Scott dies in Yellowstone pool
Created on Thursday, 09 June 2016 19:24
| Written by Jill Rehkopf Smith
A star student who graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove last month died at Yellowstone National Park Tuesday when he fell into one of the park’s thermal pools.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, was visiting the park with his sister, said Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman. Around mid-afternoon, the two were visiting the Norris Geyser Basin...
It was there that Scott fell or slipped into a thermal pool. “There was slippery, wet gravel around the area where he fell,” Reid said, and he was wearing flip-flops, according to the incident commander.
Scott’s sister reported the accident to park officials and rangers walked back to the scene, ready to take on the dangerous task of recovering Scott’s body, but “there were not remains to recover,” Reid said, noting that the pH (acid level) of the pool was about the same pH as vinegar and the temperature would have been at least 199 degrees, if not higher.
Scott graduated summa cum laude from Pacific University May 21 and was one of two psychology majors — out of about 30 — to be named “outstanding senior award” for the psychology department. (Every major highlights an outstanding senior.)
"He wasn't just an outstanding student. He was an outstanding person," said Psychology Professor Todd Schultz, who was Scott's adviser. Schultz said he's mystified by why Scott would leave the boardwalk. "Colin's the antithesis of the sort of person who would be reckless, do risky things, disobey rules," Schultz said. "He was an unusually mature, thoughtful individual. He's the last person who would make rash decisions."
He also worked weekends for about two years at Jackson Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro, as part of his work-study program at Pacific.
Scott worked at the reception desk, answering questions about the condition of the trails or what kinds of birds or wildlife had been seen recently or about the giant eagle’s nest in the education center.
“He was good at what he did,” said Mary Loftin, who also works at Jackson Bottom and remembers Scott as “very personable, very nice.”
"It's really devastating and heartbreaking," Schultz said, "for such a completely shocking and seemingly random and cruel thing to happen to someone so wonderful."
------------------------------------------------
November 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. – An Oregon man who died after falling into a scalding Yellowstone National Park hot spring in June was looking for a place to "hot pot," the forbidden practice of soaking in one of the park's thermal features, officials said.
Sable Scott told investigators that she and her 23-year-old brother, Colin, left a boardwalk near Pork Chop Geyser and walked several hundred feet up a hill in search of "a place that they could potentially get into and soak," Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR-TV in an interview.
As Sable Scott took video of her brother with her cellphone on June 7, he reached down to check the water temperature and slipped and fell into a thermal pool about 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and 10 feet deep, according to a National Park Service incident record first reported by KULR.
Park officials did not release the video or a description of it, but the report said it also chronicled Sable Scott's efforts to rescue her brother.
Search and rescue rangers spotted Colin Scott's body floating in the pool the day of the accident, but a lightning storm prevented recovery, the report said.
The next day, workers could not find any remains in the boiling, acidic water.
"In very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving," Veress said.
The report included images of several signs warning people of the dangers of the park's geothermal features and of traveling off walkways in the area where Colin Scott died.
The National Park Service did not issue any citations in the case.
Scott was on a college graduation trip with his sister at the time of his death, which came a day after six people were cited for walking off-trail at the park's Grand Prismatic Spring.
--------------------------
June 2016
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Rangers suspended their attempts on Wednesday to recover the body of a man who wandered from a designated boardwalk and fell into an acidic hot spring at Yellowstone National Park, another in a string of incidents raising concerns over visitor behavior.
"They were able to recover a few personal effects," park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said. "There were no remains left to recover."
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, was with his sister and had traveled about 225 yards off the boardwalk on Tuesday when he slipped and fell into the hot spring in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said.
After Scott's sister reported the fall, rangers navigated over the highly-fragile crust of the geyser basin to try to recover his body. They halted the effort Wednesday "due to the extreme nature and futility of it all," Reid said, referring to the high temperature and acidic nature of the spring.
The death occurred in one of the hottest and most volatile areas of Yellowstone. It follows high-profile incidents at the rugged park in which tourists got too close to wildlife or went off designated pathways onto unique landmarks, sometimes leading to injuries or death.
".... if I could be so blunt, to walk off the boardwalks not knowing what you're doing," said Kenneth Sims, a University of Wyoming geology professor and member of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.
"They're scofflaws essentially, who look around and then head off the boardwalk," he added. Sims said he was speaking generally and had no direct knowledge of the circumstances of Scott's death.
Scott previously worked as a volunteer at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve in Oregon, said Mary Loftin, a manager at the Hillsboro, Oregon, parks and recreation department. She said that Scott worked there for about 20 months fielding questions from visitors, and his stint ended last year.
"A very nice young man a bright spirit," Loftin said.
The basin is a popular attraction in the nation's first national park, which received a record 4.1 million visitors last year. Water temperatures there can reach 199 degrees, the boiling point for water at the park's high elevation.
At least 22 people are known to have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around Yellowstone since 1890, park officials said. Most of the deaths have been accidents, although at least two people had been trying to swim in a hot spring, park historian Lee Whittlesey, author of the book "Death in Yellowstone."
Posted signs warn visitors to keep to boardwalks and trails in thermal areas, which feature boiling pools, geysers that can blast hundreds of feet into the air and toxic gases.
The crust that makes up the ground in parts of Yellowstone is formed when minerals underground are dissolved by the high-temperature water, then redeposited on or near the surface.
That crust can be as "thin as a skiff of ice" Reid said.
---------------------------------------------------
Man Confirmed Dead After Fall in Yellowstone Hot Spring
by PHIL HELSEL
Officials at Yellowstone National Park have confirmed that an Oregon man reported to have fallen in a hot spring Tuesday was killed, the park said Wednesday.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, slipped and fell in a hot spring near Porkchop Geyser Tuesday afternoon after he and his sister left the boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin, park officials said in a statement.
Rangers confirmed Scott's death Tuesday evening, the park said. An effort to retrieve his remains was called off Wednesday because there was nothing that could safely be recovered, park spokeswoman Charissa Reid said.
The sister, who saw the accident and reported it to authorities, was not injured, Reid said.
"We extend our sympathy to the Scott family," Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said in the statement. "This tragic event must remind all of us to follow the regulations and stay on boardwalks when visiting Yellowstone's geyser basins."
Tuesday's fatal accident occurred in an area known as the Back Basin. It was the first death related to thermal features in Norris Geyser Basin since 1898...
There have been 22 known deaths related to thermal features in Yellowstone since 1890, she said.
Many of the hot springs in the Norris Geyser Basin are at or greater than 199 degrees, according to the park's website. The accident happened about 225 yards off the boardwalk, the park said.
--------------------------------------------
Pacific University grad Colin Scott dies in Yellowstone pool
Created on Thursday, 09 June 2016 19:24
| Written by Jill Rehkopf Smith
A star student who graduated from Pacific University in Forest Grove last month died at Yellowstone National Park Tuesday when he fell into one of the park’s thermal pools.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, was visiting the park with his sister, said Charissa Reid, a park spokeswoman. Around mid-afternoon, the two were visiting the Norris Geyser Basin...
It was there that Scott fell or slipped into a thermal pool. “There was slippery, wet gravel around the area where he fell,” Reid said, and he was wearing flip-flops, according to the incident commander.
Scott’s sister reported the accident to park officials and rangers walked back to the scene, ready to take on the dangerous task of recovering Scott’s body, but “there were not remains to recover,” Reid said, noting that the pH (acid level) of the pool was about the same pH as vinegar and the temperature would have been at least 199 degrees, if not higher.
Scott graduated summa cum laude from Pacific University May 21 and was one of two psychology majors — out of about 30 — to be named “outstanding senior award” for the psychology department. (Every major highlights an outstanding senior.)
"He wasn't just an outstanding student. He was an outstanding person," said Psychology Professor Todd Schultz, who was Scott's adviser. Schultz said he's mystified by why Scott would leave the boardwalk. "Colin's the antithesis of the sort of person who would be reckless, do risky things, disobey rules," Schultz said. "He was an unusually mature, thoughtful individual. He's the last person who would make rash decisions."
He also worked weekends for about two years at Jackson Bottom Wetlands in Hillsboro, as part of his work-study program at Pacific.
Scott worked at the reception desk, answering questions about the condition of the trails or what kinds of birds or wildlife had been seen recently or about the giant eagle’s nest in the education center.
“He was good at what he did,” said Mary Loftin, who also works at Jackson Bottom and remembers Scott as “very personable, very nice.”
"It's really devastating and heartbreaking," Schultz said, "for such a completely shocking and seemingly random and cruel thing to happen to someone so wonderful."
------------------------------------------------
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