Yellowstone Visitor Sentenced To A Week In Jail Over 'Dangerous' Act

A visitor to Yellowstone National Park has been sentenced to seven days in jail for trespassing near an active geothermal geyser.

Washington man Viktor Pyshniuk, 21, walked off the boardwalk near Steamboat Geyser, the National Park Service and Justice Department said in a news release. He was photographed in the off-limits area by a park employee, who reported the incident to Yellowstone National Park law enforcement.

According to the release, he “had clearly crossed over the fence and was walking up the hillside within 15-20 feet of Steamboat Geyser’s steam vent.”

Pyshniuk told park law enforcement that he left the boardwalk to take photos, the release said.

Steamboat Geyser is the world’s tallest active geyser.

“It has erratic and unpredictable eruptions that can rise anywhere from six to 300 feet high,” the park website states. “In the last four years, the intervals between eruptions ranged anywhere from three to 89 days.”

Park authorities noted that signs throughout the area state that it is illegal to leave the boardwalk.

“Trespassing in closed, thermal areas of Yellowstone National Park is dangerous and harms the natural resource,”said Eric Heimann, acting U.S. attorney in the District of Wyoming. “In cases like this one where we have strong evidence showing a person has willfully disregarded signs and entered a closed, thermal area, federal prosecutors will seek significant penalties, including jail time.”

During sentencing earlier this month, Stephanie A. Hambrick, magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court of Wyoming, reportedly told Pyshniuk the sentence was designed to deter him and other members of the public from leaving the boardwalk in the future.

In addition to jail time, Pyshniuk was placed on two years of unsupervised release, received a two-year ban from the national park and was fined $1,550.