Yellowstone National Park is one of the most thermally active areas on Earth, because practically the entire park sits in the middle of a giant dormant volcano. It is what is responsible for all those awesome geysers and hot springs that tourists marvel over while visiting the park. They can be beautiful and awe-inspiring, but these features often spew hot water and gases that can be extremely dangerous. There is also the possibility of falling through a thin crust into a hot pool below.
That is why the National Park Service doesn't take too kindly to people who flagrantly ignore the rules and wander off the boardwalks that have been constructed for the safety of visitors. The Instagram account "touronsofyellowstone" recently posted a video of a woman who apparently decided the boardwalk was too far away from the famous Old Faithful Geyser, and she needed a closer look.
It's a scenario that happens far too often, and there is not always an authority figure nearby to intervene. Fortunately, this is not one of those cases. The woman is just getting back to the boardwalk when a park ranger immediately walks up to confront her. He quickly chews her out and re-hashes the clearly posted rules about wandering off the walkways. It's hard to hear what the woman is saying, but she seems utterly confused about why her actions were deemed wrong. Click the arrows on the post to see the clips documenting the interaction. The ranger's frustration is clear to hear in this situation.
This made for a satisfying watch, especially if you've been to Yellowstone and have seen people do things like this and get away with it. I even once witnessed some children rolling rocks into a hot spring while their parents stood by and watched. It's infuriating to see behavior like this when you are doing your best to follow all the rules.
Unfortunately, far too many people wander into Yellowstone and either don't read the rules and posted signs, or they simply do not care. Many are not caught because there aren't enough rangers to patrol a park this massive. We're not sure why this woman chose to blatantly ignore the rules. Unfortunately, the video cuts off before we find out the rest of the story. However, we wouldn't be surprised to learn she was issued a citation for going off the boardwalk. If so, hopefully she learned a lesson about following park rules and regulations.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Instagram For original videos, check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
