Death Valley tourist hospitalized after burning feet on sand dunes hotter than 123 degrees

A tourist in Death Valley was hospitalized over the weekend after briefly making contact with blistering sand dunes that scalded his bare feet and caused third-degree burns, the National Park Service said.

Park rangers believe the 42-year-old man from Belgium lost his shoes while taking a short walk Saturday on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, a section of Death Valley where visitors hike routes of their own choosing because there are no marked trails. The man's name hasn't been released.

The tourist was apparently wearing flip-flops when he started his walk over the dune field, but the shoes either broke or came loose in the sand and got lost along the way, the National Park Service said. Rangers couldn't communicate well with the man and were unsure of exactly what had happened to him before they arrived, at which point his family and other visitors had already carried him to a nearby parking lot.