Woman illegally visits Yellowstone, falls into thermal feature

Despite her injuries, the woman drove for roughly 50 miles until park rangers finally stopped her near Mammoth Hot Springs.

She was taken by helicopter to a burn center in Idaho Falls. Her condition is not known.

Park regulations require visitors to stay on designated trails and boardwalks at Yellowstone, both for visitor safety and to protect the park’s natural resources.

Last year, Cade Edmond Siemers, 48, told park rangers he was walking near Old Faithful geyser without a flashlight when he tripped and fell into a hot spring, according to the Associated Press.

Siemers was also airlifted and hospitalized with severe burns. Rangers who interviewed him suspected he’d been drinking alcohol.

In 2016, park rangers issued a $1,000 fine to a tourist visiting Yellowstone National Park after he walked off a boardwalk and collected thermal water from Mammoth Hot Springs

Later that year, rangers said a father and son suffered burns after they walked off a designated trail in the Upper Geyser Basin. One day later, 23-year-old Colin Nathaniel Scott walked off a boardwalk and slipped and fell into a hot spring at Yellowstone’s Norris Geyser Basin. He did not survive.

Yellowstone National Park has been closed since March 24. Yellowstone and nearby Grand Teton National Park will announce plans for a phased reopening Wednesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.