This pair of Yellowstone tourists were so dumb, they’re going viral twice.
It’s funny how viral videos work. Sometimes clips that hit the internet start spreading like wildfire almost immediately. Other times, they have a slow burn, where footage from a couple of years ago all of the sudden starts bouncing around like a beach ball at a concert.
Then you’ve got this video out of Yellowstone National Park from back in 2023. This clip of a father helping his presumed daughter dip her hand into the hot spring – illegally, might I add – initially went viral when it first happened (thanks to a post from the always entertaining “Tourons of Yellowstone” Instagram page). Now, it’s getting a second life, because it was recently posted on X and has garnered almost 3 million views in a matter of days.
Before we get to the video though, I want to point out that on the safety portion of Yellowstone National Park’s website, 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 the father and his daughter in this footage.
Even a bystander (the person who was behind the camera) tried to warn the two people as they jumped the fence and slowly made their way down to the thermal pool. The person who was both doing the warning and the videoing later told Tourons of Yellowstone:
“I would have called these people in but couldn’t find a ranger or service, but here’s a guy and I’d presume his daughter at what I thought said Silex Spring in fountain paint pot trail.
I told him that was a bad idea and they shouldn’t get off the board walk. His response was, ‘Whatever man.’ So I hit record.”
Once they started recording, the “tourons” made their way down to the hot spring. One of them stayed up a ways from the thermal pool so that the other could hold onto their hand as they inched closer and closer to the piping hot water. When the younger women finally got the fingers of her right hand into the water, she yelled out:
“It’s hot! It’s so hot!”
Who could have possibly known that a hot spring would be… hot? I seriously can’t believe that people would actually try to do this, especially when others are warning them not to go through with it. And I do lose a little bit of faith in humanity after watching this. I’m sure you’ll feel the same way about it when you press play on the video that’s once again going viral.
Check it out:
