Two men were caught on camera trespassing and taking close-up pictures of Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park. (Photo Credit: Kimberly Guilliams / Facebook)
Two tourists are facing charges after a visitor photographed them trespassing and leaning dangerously close to Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful geyser on September 10.
Kimberly Guilliams was visiting Old Faithful with her family when she spotted the men ignoring the no trespassing signs and leaving a designated boardwalk to get a better view of the geyser, ABC News reported. Guilliams snapped pictures of the tourists, whose names were not disclosed yet, and reported them to Yellowstone National Park rangers.
“My family and I just couldn’t believe what was happening,” Guilliams told ABC’s Good Morning America on Sunday. “They just didn’t care and we couldn’t believe that they thought that that was OK.”
Both men, which were charged with thermal trespassing, are scheduled to appear in court in December.
Shameful behavior at #Yellowstone this morning. While hundreds of people waited for Old Faithful to go off, some guy shamelessly walked within feet of the geyser to take a picture, then flipped off the boo-ing crowd.
Park staff has his photo & followed him until rangers arrived. pic.twitter.com/doKlUTdWQZ
— Devin Bartolotta (@devinbartolotta) August 17, 2019
This isn’t the first time a visitor went right up to Old Faithful: In August, a tourist was caught on camera breaking park rules and walking close to the geyser moments before it was supposed to erupt. When other people tried telling him to move away, he reportedly flipped them off.
Yellowstone National Park has thermal area safety guidelines online and urges visitors to stay in designated areas to prevent injuries.
“Boardwalks and trails protect you and delicate thermal formations,” park officials said on Yellowstone’s website. “Water in hot springs can cause severe or fatal burns, and scalding water underlies most of the thin, breakable crust around hot springs.”
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