San Francisco man s unusual death in Death Valley thermal pool alarms hot springs community
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The body of Donald Vanneman III was discovered in this source pool Dec. 20, 2020.National Park Service
Even at 63, San Francisco resident Donald Vanneman III was all about the thrills, living one adventure to the next. Last month on a solo road trip to enchanting hot springs closed because of the pandemic and hidden deep in California’s most unforgiving desert valley he went too far.
Vanneman was not the first to perish at Saline Valley Warm Springs, an extremely remote collection of thermal pools and camping areas that were settled by hippies, survivalists and rock hounds in the 1960s then annexed by Death Valley National Park in 1994.