Friday, park officials stated that a portion of a human foot found in a shoe floating in a hot spring in the southern portion of Yellowstone National Park earlier this week is thought to be linked to a death that occurred on July 31.
As the inquiry continues, no criminal activity is suspected.
Found in Yellowstone Hot Spring
This June 2015 National Park Service photo depicts the Abyss Pool hot spring in the southern portion of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
DIANE RENKIN/National Park Service via the Associated Press
Tuesday saw the recovery of the shoe from Abyss Pool, according to park officials. The 11th morning of August, a guy from Maryland contacted the National Park Service to say that he and his family had observed a shoe floating sole up in the hot spring.
Chris Quinn of Pasadena, Maryland, stated that he gave the park staff a photograph of the sneaker.
While the park staff did not confirm that it was the same type of sneaker discovered on Tuesday, Quinn expressed astonishment that it was not tied to the same incident.
Abyss Pool, located west of Yellowstone Lake’s West Thumb, is 53 feet deep and roughly 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) in temperature, according to park officials.
Since 1890, at least 22 individuals have died due to hot spring-related ailments in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park, according to park officials.
Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, of Portland, Oregon, left a boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin in June 2016, stumbled on some gravel, and fell into a boiling, acidic spring. There were no significant human remains to recover.
Over the past several years, the nation’s first national park has attracted more than 4 million visitors, with the exception of 2020, when it was temporarily closed due to the pandemic. In June, the park was closed due to record flooding. Both the northern entrance at Gardiner and the northwest gate near Cooke City remain blocked to vehicular traffic.