Backcountry thermal area access


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Posted by TravelingBear (192.88.135.18) on 20:24:17 05/20/20

In Reply to: Harsh changes posted by Ballpark Frank

I believe the wording in the Code of Federal Regulations for Yellowstone was changed a few years back to be more explicit about forbidding off trail travel in thermal areas. My recollection of the original wording of that section is that it had "wiggle room" for interpretation. The new words do not and LE and the Yellowstone magistrate are enforcing it.

I really lay blame on the irresponsible behavior of Xanterra employees at the River Group for the final straw that precipitated this move after some resource damage caused other thermal areas to be closed first.

Not that many years ago (twelve, at most), NPS rangers led visitors to see "The Gumper" off trail at Mud Volcano as part of the "Mud Volcano Ramble" and to see the mud pots at Pocket Basin. These were officially sanctioned ranger walks and I have spoken to one of the rangers who told me she led many trips to Pocket Basin.

The tour to Crater Hills in 2016 for big donors to the Yellowstone Park Foundation was one of the more recent "official" excursions to back country thermal areas. So I don't buy the current line of the (relatively new) Yellowstone geologist and others who say that such travel has always been illegal. Bison crap. Not so.

It's a damn shame because I've seen some extraordinary back country thermal features over the years that are just downright spectacular. To my knowledge, the responsible back country thermal area visitors like you, Frank, me and others I know or know of never had an injury or did damage. We respected the ground and were constantly aware of the danger, behaving appropriately in our movements and actions.

Not true of the occasional hot potter or other casual visitors who ventured off the trails and boardwalks in popular areas. Those are the ones who got hurt and some died in the process.

I'm guessing that the number of experienced Yellowstone visitors willing to bushwhack to some of the more remote places I've been to was between 10 and 30 per season, so not exactly a high number compared to the four million visitors to the park each year.

Even with the River Group, the most accessible thermal area, I never once met anyone else there over the years other than the fishermen in the Firehole River.

I'm glad I got to see 7 of the 10 back country thermal areas on my bucket list before the hammer came down on such exploration. I treasure those memories and photographs.



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