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The big risk in geyser basins is that you can't see what's going on underground. There are often latent hot springs or fumaroles: areas where hot water or steam has eroded the ground almost all the way to the surface. If you step on one of these areas, you may break through the crust and find yourself immersed in boiling water or high-temperature steam.
The safest option when traveling in a geyser basin is to stay on the established trail or boardwalk. Geothermal features do occasionally form under a trail, but it's not common, and trails are generally monitored for this.
If you need to go off-trail and you're not familiar with the basin in question, the safest option is to only step where there are plants growing. The presence of live plants is a sign that the ground is cool. It doesn't mean you won't break through the crust, but it does mean that if you do, you'll only need to be rescued from a pit, rather than having your body recovered from a newly-formed hot spring.
This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/10137. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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