This ought to be an unnecessary warning, along with “Don’t pet the bison.” But it remains true that what is obvious to you and me might not be clear to someone else. In this case, a 15-year-old visiting Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Said teen thought it would make an excellent story if he were to climb over a guard railing and leap across a fissure in the earth’s crust, through which clouds of very hot volcanic steam were pouring. The story on bigislandnow.com doesn’t mention it, but we’re going to assume there was another teen with a smart phone filming the attempt. A brag today needs documentation.
Sadly, the jumper failed to bridge the gap and fell 25 feet into Satan’s sauna, from which he was rescued by Park Ranger John Broward, coordinator of the park’s Search and Rescue team, who rappelled into the steam crack. To be more specific: “the narrow, chimney-like crack.”
Let’s take a moment. Imagine how it feels when you try to flip a brat on your grill without using the long tongs. Now imagine the feeling of claustrophobia when a slow, crowded elevator gets a little stuffy. Now put those feelings together and imagine lowering yourself between scalding hot rocks to save the quickly reddening skin of a teenager with weak parkour skills.
Hero.
The last person who tumbled into one of the park’s vents was not as lucky. In 1992, a couple of tourists decided to take a “steam bath” by sitting on the lip of a crack. You have already guessed what happened. They both slipped and slid toward the earth’s core, a journey where the temperatures can reach 160 degrees just four feet down. The man arrested himself at 10 feet and managed to climb out. The woman fell another 10 feet, where the extreme temperature made reaching her both difficult and very dangerous. She died.
So let’s add that to the list: Don’t sit on a hot, wet precipice over a lethal steam vent.
Photo: Steam Vent in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park via HVNP.
