Death Valley tourist hospitalized after burning feet on sand dunes hotter than 123 degrees
A tourist in Death Valley was hospitalized over the weekend after briefly making contact with blistering sand dunes that scalded his bare feet and caused third-degree burns, the National Park Service said.
Park rangers believe the 42-year-old man from Belgium lost his shoes while taking a short walk Saturday on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, a section of Death Valley where visitors hike routes of their own choosing because there are no marked trails. The man's name hasn't been released.
The tourist was apparently wearing flip-flops when he started his walk over the dune field, but the shoes either broke or came loose in the sand and got lost along the way, the National Park Service said. Rangers couldn't communicate well with the man and were unsure of exactly what had happened to him before they arrived, at which point his family and other visitors had already carried him to a nearby parking lot.
Regions across the southwestern United States have grappled with searing heat waves this summer that drove up temperatures well into the triple digits. In southeastern California's Death Valley — famously the hottest place on Earth — one person died and another was hospitalized earlier this month, on a day where temperatures soared to 128 degrees Fahrenheit, officials said at the time. It was around then that temperatures in Death Valley reached 129 degrees, tying the area's daily heat record set in 2007. That reading was just shy of the hottest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley, 134 degrees, which is also the hottest air temperature ever recorded on the planet, according to the park service.
Temperatures were around 123 degrees on Saturday, the park service said, and ground temperatures along the dunes would have been even hotter than the air.
The park service said rangers responded quickly to the tourist's burns because of their severity. They first transported him in an ambulance to higher elevation to meet a medical helicopter, which could not land at the original spot on the Mesquite Flat dunes because of the extreme heat. (High temperatures can seriously impact a helicopter's ability to fly or prevent the machinery from functioning altogether, especially when they rise above 120 degrees.)
Once they'd arrived at the elevated area, where the park service said temperatures dipped to 109 degrees, a Mercy Air helicopter was able to pick up the tourist and transport him to University Medical Center in Las Vegas.
"Park rangers recommend that summer travelers to Death Valley National Park stay within a 10-minute walk of an air conditioned vehicle, not hike after 10 a.m., drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks and wear a hat and sunscreen," the park service said.