R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Oak Point board walk with cottonwood fluff.

This land is your land, this land is my land, NO Wait! It's OUR land, Woody. Been a bad week on the respect-for-public-property beat ... from Yellowstone to the library newspapers.

What does a person working the crossword puzzle in the library's newspaper have to do with going off boardwalk into the sensitive, unique thermal features at Yellowstone? You can make a photocopy of the crossword puzzle so you don't ruin it for the next library patron. The wonders of our National Parks must be shared and respected. The hot water ecosystem is extremely fragile. Worse, the daredevils at Yellowstone had corporate sponsorship for their adolescent stunts.

DAN WENK: Part of their stick, if you will, is they took photographs of the warning signs and were literally ridiculing the warning signs. So they got it, they understood, but they willfully chose to ignore.

I bet their mothers are so very proud of them!

I managed to keep this little daredevil from going off-boardwalk thirty years ago. He was all muscle and motion and energy, with no self-control. Reasoning with him was pointless. He was 18 months old. He did not have corporate sponsorship for his exploits. Somehow, I managed to keep him out of the geysers, hot springs, and mud pots, while his dad explained the park to his big brother.

Geothermal Dangers 

Boardwalks and trails protect you and preserve delicate formations. You must stay on boardwalks and designated trails. Scalding water underlies most of the thin, breakable crust. Pools may be near or above the boiling temperature and can cause severe, possibly even fatal, burns.

• Keep your children close to you at all times; make sure they understand the danger.
• Pets are prohibited in thermal areas.
• Swimming or bathing in thermal pools or streams, where water flows entirely from a thermal spring or pool, is prohibited. Where swimming is allowed, swim at your own risk.
• Thermal waters may contain organisms know to cause infections and/or amoebic meningitis, which can quickly be fatal. Obtain more information at any ranger station or visitor center.
• Toxic gases may exist at dangerous levels in some hydrothermal areas. If you feel sick, leave immediately.

Hot, burbling mud pots!

© 2014-2016 Nancy L. Ruder