The Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the U.S., and it’s restricted to walk directly on the spring’s surface. Alexey Lyakh, Ryker Gamble, Justis Cooper, and Parker Heuser felt as though the rules didn’t apply to them, and posted images on Instagram of their extravagant walk on the spring. Those images have since been deleted, but not before several people took screenshots for evidence.
A Wyoming resident in the area filmed the crew from High on Life SundayFundayz and turned over the footage to rangers, who are investigating the trespassers, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
After a heavy backlash from the Facebook community and other social networks where the video/images were posted, the High on Life crew released an official apology with the promise to donate $5,000 to Yellowstone National Park. A “small gesture to try to show how incredibly apologetic” the group is. But as is common once a social media backlash begins, many are still angry and do not find the posted apology to be sufficient.
The group closed their official apology looking to the future, hoping to put this all behind them.
“We take your comments, messages and every piece of feedback seriously, and we will be accepting the ramifications of our actions,” according to the Facebook page. “We hope that our community will forgive us for our misstep and continue to see us as a source of positivity and inspiration as we continue to capture this life worth living.”
These sort of missteps have been known to ruin people and businesses, but it’s unclear what kind of ramifications the group will face from Yellowstone authorities.
Let this be yet another reminder for when visiting fragile natural landmarks: Stick to the designated paths, follow the signs, and do your part to ensure that others will be able to enjoy it without having to see that you were there.
