Yellowstone National Park announced last week that a tourist who trespassed into a “dangerous” geothermal area and walked close to one of the park’s geysers has been sentenced to a week in jail.
The Department of Justice shared the news in a press release last week, noting that Viktor Pyshniuk, of Lynwood, Washington, was sentenced to seven days in jail over the trespassing incident.
The 21-year-old is said to have wandered from the boardwalk area near the Steamboat Geyser in the park’s Norris Geyser Basin.
Not only is the Steamboat Geyser considered the world’s tallest active geyser, but the DOJ also noted that it is “the most dangerous” in the world.
“It has erratic and unpredictable eruptions that can rise anywhere from six to 300 feet high,” officials said.
On the day of the incident, an employee of the National Park Service reported seeing someone “walking off the boardwalk” near the geyser. When Pyshniuk was confronted, he reportedly told the NPS officer he was trying to get a picture.
“The employee had taken a photo of the defendant who had clearly crossed over the fence and was walking up the hillside within 15-20 feet of Steamboat Geyser’s steam vent,” the DOJ wrote. “When contacted, Pyshniuk told the officer he left the boardwalk to take photos.”
The press release went on to say that the man was notified where he was wandering was against the law, explaining that the “thermal area is very dangerous due to possible weak ground layer, the geothermal features of mud pots, heated steam and water, and all other dangers associated with walking in a heated, unpredictable geothermal area.”
Along with surviving jail time, Pyshniuk will also have to pay fines totaling $1,550 and serve two years of unsupervised release. He will also be banned from the park for two years.
While Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick said that the sentence was for Pyshniuk, it was also to deter “the public from leaving the boardwalk in this area.”
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“She expressed her concern that the defendant’s actions were seen by the people around him, and they might have thought it was okay to do the same thing,” the DOJ said. “And if every visitor to [Yellowstone] disobeyed the rules, the park would be destroyed, and no-one would be able to enjoy it.”
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