A Yellowstone National Park tourist who walked off a designated path and came within 15 to 20 feet of a steam vent belonging to the world’s tallest active geyser was sentenced this month to seven days in jail and banned from the park for two years, the Justice Department said. The tourist, Viktor Pyshniuk, 21, ignored signs that said it was illegal to leave the boardwalk area and crossed a fence to walk up a hillside near Steamboat Geyser, which can shoot water more than 300 feet in the air during its unpredictable eruptions, the Justice Department said last week. At Yellowstone, there are more than 15 miles of boardwalks to protect the environment and tourists hoping to observe the national park’s thermal features, such as geysers, hot springs and mudpots, acidic hot springs that usually smell like rotten eggs.
These thermal features are unpredictable and can be dangerous, causing more injuries and deaths than encounters with wildlife. As of September, 22 people have died from burns suffered after they entered or fell into a hot spring at Yellowstone since the park opened in 1872, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey. In that time, two people have been killed because of bison encounters and eight people from bear encounters. Pyshniuk, of Lynnwood, Washington, was visiting Yellowstone in April when a park employee saw him walk off the boardwalk, according to the Justice Department.
The employee called a Yellowstone law enforcement officer, who showed Pyshniuk the signs.