Tourist Appears To Actually Take Drink Out Of Yellowstone Thermal Pool… Which Can Reach Over 200° F

Someone get their grandpa… he’s drinking out of a thermal pool at Yellowstone National Park.

It’s summer time at Yellowstone, so you know what that means? The idiots tourists are flocking to the national park in droves with the intention of both seeing nature’s beauty and going viral online for doing something absurdly dangerous.

That usually comes in the form of tourists – also referred to as “tourons” – getting way too close to wildlife within the park. For some reason, people that visit Yellowstone think that the place is a petting zoo. Videos of people walking right up to bison or elk at Yellowstone National Park hit the internet almost on a weekly basis.

Especially during this time of the year.

But this time around, instead of a tourist getting too close to a wild animal, we’ve got a video of a tourist that was evidently a) thirsty and b) ill informed. The man in the footage bent down off of one of Yellowstone’s boardwalks to get a taste from the thermal pool. Yes, you read that right. The guy appears to steal a sip of geyser water, which can honestly be more dangerous than approaching a wild animal.

Before we get to the video though, I want to point out that on the safety portion of Yellowstone National Park’s website in regards to thermal areas. They clearly state:

“Stay on boardwalks and trails in thermal areas. Hot springs have injured or killed more people in Yellowstone than any other natural feature. Keep your children close and don’t let them run.”

Notice how the national park addressed children, hoping that grown up adults would be smart enough to not dip their hands into the 174-degree thermal pools.

Over 20 people have died after they entered or accidentally fell into the hot springs at Yellowstone National Park. There are signs everywhere that warn visitors not to get off the boardwalks or approach the hot springs, but that didn’t stop this idiotic Yellowstone visitor from bending down to take a drink out of the thermal pool.

People in the area – including the person taking the video – couldn’t believe their eyes as they watched the elderly man get down on a knee and slurp up some thermal water. The caption of the post (shoutout to “Tourons of Yellowstone” for always posting entertaining and informative content) explained that there are three big reasons why you shouldn’t take a drink of geyser water:

-Chemical toxicity (thermal waters contain arsenic at levels that thousands of times higher than EPA safe drinking standards)

-Microbial hazards (dangerous bacteria like Naegleria, E. coli and Giardia can live within the waters)

-Extreme danger of burns and/or accidents (do I really need to explain this one? the hot water is hot)

Despite all of the risks that throwing back geyser water come with, the white-haired man stopped for a sip. The comment section of the post didn’t hold back, calling what the man did “zero cognitive function behavior” and even saying that “Darwin would be proud.”

If I haven’t made myself clear throughout this story, DO NOT go drinking from thermal areas at Yellowstone National Park like this guy. Hopefully, he’s alright after partaking in this dangerous tasting, but as Ron White famously said, you can’t fix stupid.

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The post Tourist Appears To Actually Take Drink Out Of Yellowstone Thermal Pool… Which Can Reach Over 200° F first appeared on Whiskey Riff.