According to a National Park Service news release, the 42-year-old Belgian tourist was taking a short walk Saturday in the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in 123-degree heat when he either broke or lost his flip-flops, putting his feet into direct contact with the desert ground. The result: third-degree burns.
“The skin was melted off his foot,” said Death Valley National Park Service Ranger Gia Ponce. “The ground can be much hotter — 170, 180 [degrees]. Sometimes up into the 200 range.”
Unable to get out on his own and in extreme pain, the man and his family recruited other park visitors to help; together, the group carried him to the sand dunes parking lot, where park rangers assessed his injuries.
Though they wanted a helicopter to fly him out, helicopters can’t generate enough lift to fly in the heat-thinned air over the hottest parts of Death Valley, officials said. So park rangers summoned an ambulance that took him to higher ground, where it was a cooler 109 degrees and he could then be flown out.
This is kind of off topic, but I want to make sure to note that Death Valley is more than just heat! It’s one of my favorite places to visit so I can’t resist soapboxing a little when it comes up. I’ve only ever visited in the colder season, which is what most people do.
When I first visited Racetrack Playa there I laughed the whole time because it’s so amazing and strange. (It’s the place with rocks that leave zigzagging trails through the desert which were unexplained until pretty recently.) You can also hike the canyon where R2D2 is kidnapped in the original Star Wars, visit abandoned mining towns, climb the sand dunes, look over the valley from mountains that stay much cooler than the lower parts of the park… The variety is incredible! Highly recommend if you ever find yourself nearby when it’s not too hot.
It’s on my list! I’d love to go visit it one day, maybe even in the heat, which I agree is not a time to screw around.