MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wy. — An Idaho man was banned from Yellowstone National Park for two years after trying to cook chicken in a hot spring.
Rangers received reports Aug. 7 that a group of 10 people were hiking near the Shoshone Geyser Basin, a thermal area which is off limits to hikers, East Idaho News reported.
When rangers reached the area, they found two whole chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring and a cooking pot close by.
The Idaho man and two others were cited for traveling in a thermal area.
The man was also cited for violating closures and use limits. He pleaded guilty to the citation Sept. 10 and was ordered to pay $600 for each charge and will serve two years unsupervised probation. He is also banned from the park during that time.
This is not the first time visitors have tried to use the park’s thermal features for cooking.
In 2001, a Seattle television personality dug a hole near a geyser to show how the natural heat could cook a chicken. The show was fined $150 and placed on probation for two years for disturbing mineral deposits in a national park and stepping off trails near steaming geysers.
Cox Media Group
