A man was banned from Yellowstone after trying to fry chicken in a hot spring
- A man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, who has not been publicly named, has been banned from Yellowstone National Park for at least two years.
- Park Rangers found him near Yellowstone's Shoshone Geyser Basin region with cooking pots and two chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring on August 7.
- He pleaded guilty to violating closures and use limits, and was ordered to pay a $1,200 fine.
A man from Idaho Falls, Idaho, has been banned form Yellowstone for at least two years after he tried to fry chicken in a hot spring at the national park.
The man, who has not been publicly named, was found by park rangers on August 7, with cooking pots and two chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring in the Shoshone Geyser Basin region, East Idaho News reported.
Traveling through thermal areas is prohibited in Yellowstone, due to a risk of danger and injury, and the man was cited for violating closures and use limits.
He pleaded guilty in Mammoth Hot Springs court on September 10, and was fined $1,200. He was also ordered to serve two years of unsupervised probation — during which he'll be banned from Yellowstone National Park.
Two others in a group the man had been traveling with were also cited by park rangers, East Idaho News reported. The status of their cases is unclear.
Yellowstone warned people against getting too close to hot springs in a statement to Insider.
"In thermal areas, always stay on boardwalks and designated trails," a spokesperson for the park told Insider. "It is illegal to touch thermal features or throw objects into hot springs or other hydrothermal features. Water in hot springs can cause severe or fatal burns, and scalding water underlies most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs."
Tourists have been seriously injured and killed by hot springs at Yellowstone, which can reach burning temperatures and are sometimes highly acidic.
Just last month a 3-year-old was badly burned after falling in to a hot-spring-like hydrothermal area.
Last year a 48-year-old man was burned when he fell into a hot spring, and another tourist was killed when he fell into a scalding hot spring in 2016.
- Read more:
- Fat Bear Week 2020 crowns a worthy winner — meet '747' and his chunky competitors
- A national park in Thailand is mailing trash back to campers who littered
- A 72-year-old woman was gored by a bison at Yellowstone National Park after she got too close to it while taking photos
- A toddler suffered a second-degree burns after falling into a 'thermal feature' at Yellowstone National Park