SEATTLE -- Paden and Katie McCormick were after one last outing of the summer when they loaded their dogs into the car and took off for a tour of hot springs in Idaho and Montana. They'd already been to a couple springs when they approached Panther Creek, and their black lab Dalia charged ahead into the water.



"She jumped in and immediately just started burning. You could just hear it, her yelping. She was just in so much pain," Katie McCormick remembered.



Their golden lab Dexter jumped in, too. The water was abnormally hot at around 190 degrees.



"It was just too late. Our labs were already in there and my husband, he didn't even think about it. He heard his family and panicked," Katie said. "He got our black lab out, Dalia the one that went in first. He got her out and I grabbed her but by then her skin was just coming off. They were just burning. And Dexter, our other lab was just gone."



Neither dog survived, and Paden suffered severe burns. There was no phone service, so the couple had to hike out for help.



"We got out of there. It took us probably 45 minutes to get just from where we were, half a mile up, and he just went into shock," Katie said.



She found a Forest Service fire crew on break. They helped with first aid and called for an airlift, which eventually brought Paden to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He's had three surgeries and faces at least two more months in the hospital.



The Forest Service now has a warning on its website that the springs might be dangerously hot. There are no plans to post any warning signs at the site itself. A spokesperson said the drought dried up cooler water that normally flows in.



"We lost our dogs and now Paden's fighting for his life," Katie said. "And it's a challenge everyday."



The McCormicks are students in Boise, Idaho. Paden faces a long road to recovery, so friends and family set up crowdfunding sites on You Caring and gofundme to help raise money to cover their medical expenses.