Sara Hulphers, 20, and two 18-year-old friends, Lance Buchi and Tyler Montague, were working as seasonal staff at Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 2000. After swimming in the Firehole River, they were walking back home along a familiar route through the Lower Geyser Basin, following a worn path with no official signage. They jumped into small streams they believed were safe, but misjudged one body of water.
The fatal fall
The friends thought they were jumping into a shallow freshet but instead plunged into the crust surrounding Cavern Springs, an off-limits feature with temperatures up to 87 degrees Celsius. Lance and Tyler kept their heads above water and crawled out on their own, while Sara had to be pulled out by friends who heard their cries and returned.
Lance's family later recalled he felt the ground was solid before he fell a second time trying to escape the boiling water. Sara suffered third-degree burns over her entire body and died the next day in a Salt Lake City burn unit.
Survival and recovery
Lance and Tyler were airlifted to Idaho Falls and then to the University of Utah's burn centre. Both had burns covering 95% of their bodies. Doctors estimated a 30-40% chance of survival given infection risks from little uninjured skin for grafting. Tyler's grandfather, former local weatherman Bob Welti, called the situation the 'saddest' he'd ever witnessed. Both endured months of surgery and skin grafts. Tyler was discharged in November, Lance in December, having lost 51 pounds during his hospital stay.
Mourning and investigation
Hundreds gathered in Oroville, Washington, to mourn Sara, an exemplary student at Western Washington University weeks away from a new scholarship award. Friend Yuvia Storm said: 'She was so happy. She told me I had to be the one to spread the word that she was excited about death. Tell them I had a wonderful life - no regrets.' At her funeral, her father sang songs he had written about her, and friends and family decorated the auditorium with sunflowers.
Investigations found no evidence of alcohol as a factor. Officials noted it was the first Yellowstone hot spring fatality since 1988. Two later accidents occurred: a 23-year-old in 2016 and a 70-year-old in 2022.
