Another day, another disrespectful tourist ignoring the rules at a national park. These recent culprits were seen walking around a thermal pool at Yellowstone National Park.
One rule-following visitor filmed what appears to be four adults walking around off the boardwalk at Yellowstone National Park. Boardwalks are in place around many thermal areas in the park to give visitors safe access to some of the most iconic sights in the park.
In the clip, shared with TouronsOfYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone), we can see the rule breakers through what appears to be binoculars or a scope, giving the video its circular edges. The people can be seen walking through thermal mist or gas and seemingly picking things up off the ground.
These actions are incredibly dangerous, threatening both the visitors' health and the health of the delicate ecosystem in the park. On Yellowstone's webpage, they write, "Boardwalks and trails protect you and delicate thermal formations. Water in hot springs can cause severe or fatal burns, and scalding water underlies most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs."
They even have an infographic showing that the ground surrounding thermal pools is often over 100 degrees, with the pools themselves reaching close to 160 degrees. Not only that, but Yellowstone's safety page also says, "Toxic gases may accumulate to dangerous levels in some hydrothermal areas."
These folks are putting themselves at risk of burns and toxic fumes by ignoring signage to stay on the paths and boardwalk.
Unfortunately, this has become an all too common occurrence, as tourists have been injured and animals have been euthanized, all while park regulations continue to be broken.
The TouronsOfYellowstone Instagram page is dedicated to calling out these folks for breaking the rules and putting themselves and the flora and fauna of our national parks at risk.
Unsurprisingly, some of their 500,000 followers had things to say about these rule breakers.
One commenter wrote, "Please arrest them and ban them from all National Parks!!!"
Someone else said, "They are going to ruin the beauty of these awesome natural wonders."
"Big signs in about 7 different languages saying to stay on the boardwalks," wrote someone.
We can only hope that folks like this don't jeopardize access to the incredible national parks and the education they provide to millions of people a year.
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