He was just 23, wandering Yellowstone’s otherworldly landscape with his sister, chasing the simple thrill of “hot potting” in a natural spring. One impulsive choice took them off the safety of the boardwalk near Norris Geyser Basin, into a restricted area where the ground hides scalding, acidic pools beneath a fragile crust. When he bent down to test the water, he slipped, plunging into liquid hot enough to strip flesh and dissolve bone.

Rangers later found his body floating in the searing pool, while his sister’s unreleased phone video became a private record of unimaginable trauma. Officials say parts of his body had already begun to dissolve in the 400-degree water. More than 20 people have died in Yellowstone’s geothermal features, a tiny fraction of the millions who visit. Yet his story endures as a brutal reminder: one step off the path can cost everything.