Two young men were sentenced to 10 days in jail for walking on the cone of Old Faithful Geyser last September/NPS, Jacob W. Frank file
Two young men who paid no attention to signs to stay off the travertine cone of Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park will have ten days in a jail cell, and a $500 fine, to reconsider their transgression.
Eric Schefflin, 20, of Lakewood, Colorado, and Ryan Goetz, 25, of Woodstock, each received that punishment for walking onto the cone last September 10 shortly after sundown, according to court records.
When they appeared in U.S. Magistrate Court at Mammoth Hot Springs on December 5, they each pleaded guilty to trespassing on the cone.
According to park officials, employees and visitors spotted the two on the cone and reported it to park dispatch, which in turn sent a ranger to the geyser to cite the men.
Under the terms of their punishment, both Schefflin and Goetz are to serve 10 days in jail by March 1, pay a fine of $500 plus $40 in court costs, serve five years of unsupervised probation, and stay out of Yellowstone for five years.
“Visitors must realize that walking on thermal features is dangerous, damages the resource, and is illegal," said Chief Ranger Sarah Davis in a statement released Thursday. "Law enforcement officers take this violation seriously. Yellowstone National Park also appreciates the court for recognizing the impact thermal trespass can have on these amazing features.”
The ground in the park's hydrothermal areas is fragile and thin, and there is scalding water just below the surface. Park officials say visitors must always remain on boardwalks and exercise extreme caution around thermal features.
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Comments
They should do community service in the parks to gain appreciation for the natural beauty and resources.
Federal magistrates and US Attorneys are appointed not elected. The maginnstrate judge in Yellowstone is very concerned about resource protection and tends to be very strict on violators, however, these are class B misdemeanors and his judgements are subject to review by district court judges. For those of us who have been kicking around the Service for a long time, we see the sentences imposed in Yellowstone as very equitable, considering that the federal justice system treats resource crimes (or even person-on-person crimes) in other parks around the nation like a minor irritation to the system with consequences to defendants that are a joke. Many parks can't even get an US Attorney to engage with a case unless someone dies.