Visitors to Yellowstone National Park were left outraged after a tourist was seen intentionally walking through an off-limits area.
The incident was shared in a Facebook group called “Yellowstone: Invasion of the Idiots,” which is known for calling out visitors who break park rules or behave irresponsibly.
The tourist, who remains anonymous, was seen illegally walking across the fragile bacterial mats near Grand Prismatic Spring, according to the post. His only footwear protection was open-toed sandals.
Onlookers claim he was collecting hats that had blown off other visitors’ heads due to the high winds.
This obviously upset many visitors. Many saw the man’s actions as very disrespectful to such a precious part of the park’s environment.
Comments flooded in, with people saying he should be found and punished, and some even called for him to be banned from the park for life.
“This is absolutely terrible! He should be fined and banned from all national parks!” one person wrote.
“This makes me so mad and sad. Just destroying everything beautiful about this planet,” wrote another.
“Ban him from all National Parks for life. He can’t read or follow directions and obviously has no regard for the importance and fragility of the area,” someone else said.
No information about the man has been released publicly yet. It’s also unclear whether he truly intended to do a good deed by picking up the hats.
Regardless of his motives, walking on the bacterial mats is against the law.
It’s considered “thermal trespassing,” and anyone caught can face fines or even serve jail time.
The reason this is such a serious offense is because the bacterial mats are made up of living organisms called thermophiles.
These organisms give the landscape its vibrant colors and thrive in the intense heat of the park’s thermal basins.
However, they’re extremely sensitive to outside disturbances and can be permanently damaged by something as simple as a footprint.