Man banned from Yellowstone for cooking a chicken in a hot spring!

I am not a geologist, but I know that hot springs and geysers have the potential to be dangerous, so what follows is the usual warning for those lacking in common sense, don't do this, it probably won't end well.

Luckily for one chap from Idaho Falls, Idaho, he managed to get away with just a two-year ban and a $1,200 fine, which compared to having the skin steamed from ya bones is a pretty comfy result. What was he trying to do that nearly earned him a Darwin award? Trying to cook a chicken in a hot spring.

Stay on the footpaths!

Stay on the footpaths!

The man, who has not been publicly named (boooo), was found by park rangers on the 7th August, with cooking pots and two chickens in a burlap sack in a hot spring in the Shoshone Geyser Basin region in Yellowstone. Travelling through geothermally active areas is prohibited in the Yellowstone National Park, due to a risk of danger and injury. The terrain in the area is a thin crust that covers the boiling waters and is particularly fragile around the edge of the craters.

Old Faithful doing what it does best. Going sploosh.

Old Faithful doing what it does best. Going sploosh.

"In thermal areas, always stay on boardwalks and designated trails," a spokesperson for the park said. It is illegal to touch thermal features or throw objects into hot springs or other hydrothermal features. There is a history of tourists being injured and killed by the burning temperatures and sometimes highly acidic springs when breaking from the trails in Yellowstone.