Do you think that yellow stone is actually safe?
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Literally just ignore any “AI” search result, it’s not reliable enough for basically anything to be trusted when it makes up bullshit a nontrivial percentage of the time
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lol what??
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I am not sure of a few things with regard to this topic.
- The source for the quote in the image.
- What you are wishing to discuss – Yellowstone exclusively (if so you may wish to edit the title) or potential hazards of wildlife encounters anywhere?
This still open topic is related to both, as multiple posts contain mention of Yellowstone.
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In my experience, the most unsafe thing about Yellowstone is risk of being run over by drivers distracted by wildlife. Just don’t go wading in the thermal ponds. And don’t feed the bears.
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I went and didn’t bite the dust. Rule of thumb: don’t be stupid, like this guy. Leave the wildlife alone, be careful around the springs, and watch your step while hiking, and you should be fine.
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If the Yellowstone volcanic field ever shows signs of increased and dangerous activity, the park would presumably be closed. Volcanic activity in that area is closely monitored, assuming the US Geological Survey is allowed to continue that work.
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Define safe. Last year an eruption at Biscuit Basin spewed hot water over a number of tourists and that area is still closed to the public since the boardwalk was destroyed in the explosion. A few years ago Steamboat Geyser spewed sulfuric acid that caught the wind and landed on a number of cars in the parking lot ruining their paint job. Those events are rare and random, so safe? Define safe? There are risks, including the animals and other humans, but it is definitely worth seeing it.
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I forgot about the Biscuit Basin incident. I have some iNat records from there.
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I mean, yes, in my opinion, relatively so. Especially if you follow both the guidelines and common sense.
It’s such a subjective measurement, though, so any answer beyond opinion is going to vary widely based on what parameters you’re using. You’d have to define being “safe” before you could even comment. If being safe is no chance of dying, then nowhere is safe. Is it how likely death is to occur? Where is the line between “safe” and “not safe” in terms of that chance?
According to this source (can’t comment on accuracy, but it gives similar numbers to other sources) 74 people died within park in the period between 2007 and 2023. Counting repeat visits by the same vehicle, there are over 3 million visits to Yellowstone each year (with 4.86 million visits in 2021 and 4.5 million in 2023, for example). Detailed stats are here.
18 of those 74 total deaths were medical (which are not exactly directly related to being in the park, but could be acerbated by physical activity, or excitement about a cool trip, or weather, etc.), 17 were traffic accidents, and there were six others I would argue were not actually related to the location. Yellowstone is also not the most dangerous national park in the US; more people die at Grand Canyon and Yosemite, no doubt because of falls, which are pretty much the biggest cause of death in our NPs.
On the other hand there were over 590,000 deaths in motor vehicle accidents in the US in the same period (citations in article; I may have made some errors in my arithmetic but needless to say the number is Very Large). Obviously many, many more people ride in motor vehicles than go to Yellowstone every year, so there’s some arithmetic to do if we wanted a direct comparison. Which I am not going to do because it’s definitely time for me to go out birding and touch some grass now.
But I think it’s quite obvious that’s it’s more dangerous to travel to Yellowstone (or the grocery store or school or work) than it is to be in Yellowstone.
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This screenshot comes from a large language model’s response to that question, the format and icon at the end look like google AI. Large language models (LLMs) are not usable sources of information, as they regularly make up false information. I have looked up a law in my state and Google AI gave me the law for a different state while confusing the plaintiff with the defendant. I’ve also seen it claim that hippos can perform medical procedures, and that you can survive power outages in the cold by getting under a blanket with a candle
As for the original question, is there a particular hazard you are concerned with or just if its safe to go to the park in general?
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I thought heat was the reason for Grand Canyon having so many deaths? And I would argue that medical incidents are often direct results of heat, which woudl be a hazard of the park to people who are coming from cooler climates. But in general I do think it is fairly safe, most of the injuries I hear of there result from someone purposely getting to close to an animal
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Heat and falls are definitely the big risks at Grand Canyon. Not so much at Yellowstone where it’s much cooler in summer and there aren’t really any big drops for hikers that I can recall.
What surprised me about Yellowstone is the amount of time you have to devote to driving to get to various sites in the park. And if there’s a good wildlife-viewing opportunity, chances are you’ll be in a traffic jam.
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do you suppose this is another one of those instances where a student posts a question to the iNaturalist Forum in the hopes of getting it answered at length and using that as material for an essay or exam?
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If so, I have no idea who would be teaching her. I have never been asked anything close to that. Seems like too random of a question, and I’m not sure if a teacher would ask for an essay about that. I could be wrong though
Outside isnt safe. Our homes arent even safe (asbestos, natural gas, radon, too much dust, etc). No where is safe. Risk is everywhere and safety needs to defined.
Is water safe? Yes… but no.
Too much water unsafe, not enough water, unsafe. So the question isnt really answerable without more specificity.
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in that case, do you suppose this could be some sort of bot post?
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Where is there evidence this isnt a human post?
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no evidence one way or another. I’ve just seen random questions or difficult-to-understand short comments like this that turned out to be apparently automated posts, back when I actively moderated online forums. I don’t mean to imply that I think this is definitely the same thing, just reminiscent.
Falling causes over twice as many deaths in NPs than environmental causes (which presumably include hyperthermia and hypothermia… not sure what else would be included). However, I learned when looking that up that drowning kills even more than falling, so I wasn’t correct in what I said, anyway!
North Cascades is one of my favorite places in the world, and according to this analysis of data obtained from NP statistics, apparently by far the most likely NP to cause a person’s death (per capita), haha. However, I have yet to die there.
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