August 19, 2022 |
Call it the case of the floating foot. Officials at Yellowstone National Park report that part of foot was discovered in a shoe that was floating on the surface of the Abyss Pool in the West Thumb Geyser Basin at the southern end of the Park.
An investigation in the grisly find is underway.
Yellowstone’s Public Affairs officer Morgan Warthin said an employee found the shoe and the foot on Tuesday. She added that no further details were available.
Abyss Pool has a depth of more than 50 feet and is one of the deepest hot springs in the park. Its temperature is approximately 140 degrees F (60 degrees Celsius).
The hot pools can be dangerous and strict rules are in place about venturing too close to the bubbling pits of sulfurous and scalding water. More than 20 people have been killed since 2016 at Yellowstone due to the park’s various geothermal pools, geysers, mudpots, steam vents, and hot springs.
In one notorious case, a 23-year-old Oregon man’s remains were never found. Investigators concluded that his body dissolved in the boiling acidic water when he fell into one of the springs in the Norris Geyser Basin.
