3 Visitors Banned From Yellowstone After Cooking Chickens in Hot Spring

3 Visitors Banned From Yellowstone After Cooking Chickens in Hot Spring

It is illegal(i(l)ˈlēɡəl) to touch or throw objects into hot springs or other hydrothermal(ˌhīdrōˈTHərməl) features at the park, officials said.

By Johnny Diaz and Concepción de León

It was supposed to be a fun family summer trip to Yellowstone National Park. Two cousins(ˈkəz(ə)n), a neighbor and their families packed two chickens, canoed(kəˈno͞o) about eight hours and hiked(hīk) to the Shoshone(SHōˈSHōnē) Geyser(ˈɡīzər) Basin(ˈbās(ə)n), where they decided to cook their chickens in a hot spring.

But dinner didn’t go quite as planned. In fact, it led to three of them pleading(ˈplēdiNG) guilty(ˈɡiltē) to petty offenses(əˈfens). They were sentenced(ˈsen(t)əns) to two years’ probation(prōˈbāSH(ə)n), banned from the park for that period(ˈpirēəd) and fined between $500 and $1,200, according to court(kôrt) documents.

The men, said park officials, had violated(ˈvīəˌlāt) laws governing(ˈɡəvərniNG) the use of the national park.

It is illegal to go off the boardwalk(ˈbôrdwôk) or designated(ˈdeziɡˌnāt) trails(trāl) and to touch or throw objects into hot springs or other hydrothermal features at the park, said Linda Veress, a park spokeswoman. It’s also dangerous, she added. The water in the park’s hydrothermal systems can exceed(ikˈsēd) 400 degrees Fahrenheit(ˈferənˌhīt) and can cause “severe(səˈvir) or fatal(ˈfādl) burns,” she said.

The three, Eric Romriell, 49, and Eric Roberts, 51, both of Idaho(ˈīdəˌhō), and Dallas(ˈdaləs) Roberts, 41, of Utah(ˈyo͞oˌtô, ˈyo͞oˌtä), were among a group that a park ranger found after receiving reports of people hiking with “cooking pots” toward the basin(ˈbās(ə)n) on Aug. 7, Ms. Veress said.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/us/yellowstone-chickens.html