Tag: tourist

Watch: Yellowstone bison, feeling ornery, headbutts vehicle

A large bison was captured on video recently head-butting a small car in Yellowstone National Park, proving again that these animals warrant a wide berth.

A large bison was captured on video recently headbutting a small car in Yellowstone National Park, proving again that these animals warrant a wide berth.

The accompanying footage, uploaded to YouTube on Sunday, shows the motorist idling on a road in Hayden Valley, seemingly from a safe distance.

RELATED: Bison fight halts traffic on Yellowstone road; video

But this is the bison rut, or mating season, and some of the animals can be ornery at times.

The YouTube user, xConcertChicksx, wrote in the description:

“This large bison was standing still in the middle of the road, so cars stopped in both directions with plenty of room between them and the bison. Along comes another bison from the valley, up to the road, much closer to car.

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“The larger bison then decides to walk over to the smaller (yet still large) bison. That’s when this happened. Just think if he really put all his force into the ram. Luckily no one was hurt, not even the bison.”

The tourist might have had an interesting conversation with his insurance company, though, because the bison appears to have to have caused minor front-end damage.

–Image is generic, courtesy of ©Pete Thomas

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Yellowstone tourist gets jail time for approaching grizzly bear

A woman who starred in a viral video that shows her approaching and being charged by a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park will spend four days in jail.

A woman who starred in a viral video that shows her being charged by a grizzly bear at close quarters in Yellowstone National Park will spend four days in jail.

Samantha R. Dehring, 25, of Carol Stream, Ill., pleaded guilty Wednesday to “willfully remaining, approaching, and photographing wildlife within 100 yards” during the May 10 encounter, according to a National Park Service news release.

The encounter, at Roaring Mountain,  was captured on video by another tourist from inside her vehicle.

 

Yellowstone has strict rules pertaining bears, bison, and wolves. Tourists must remain at least 100 yards from these unpredictable animals for their own safety and that of the critters.

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Dehring appeared before Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming. She was sentenced to four days in custody and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, and an additional $1,000 to the Yellowstone Forever Wildlife Protection Fund.

Dehring also is banned from entering Yellowstone National Park for one year.

Court records show that tourists had stopped at Roaring Mountain to watch a grizzly bear sow with three cubs. Most of them remained inside or quickly retreated to their vehicles.

Dehring held her ground, aiming her phone at the bear until it briefly charged toward her from a distance of less than 30 yards.

Said Acting United States Atty. Bob Murray:

“Wildlife in Yellowstone National Park are, indeed, wild. The park is not a zoo where animals can be viewed within the safety of a fenced enclosure. They roam freely in their natural habitat and when threatened will react accordingly. Approaching a sow grizzly with cubs is absolutely foolish. Here, pure luck is why Dehring is a criminal defendant and not a mauled tourist.”

–Image courtesy of Darcie Addington

Yellowstone tourist gets jail time for trespassing in thermal area

A Yellowstone National Park tourist who trespassed in a dangerous thermal area in July has been sentenced to seven days in jail. 

A Yellowstone National Park tourist who trespassed in a dangerous thermal area in July will spend seven days in jail.

Madeline S. Casey, 26, of New Hartford, Conn., was sentenced Aug. 18 in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, in the park’s northwest corner. Casey also was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, another $1,000 to the Yellowstone Forever Resource Fund, and $40 in fees.

The violation occurred July 22 at the Norris Geyser Basin. Casey and one other person left the boardwalk and walked across a thermal feature, to the consternation of tourists who documented their actions with cameras.

Yellowstone’s thermal areas are lined with boardwalks and signs warning tourists not to step from boardwalks onto the fragile and extremely dangerous thermal surface.

“Boardwalks in geyser basins protect visitors and delicate thermal formations,” Morgan Warthin, Yellowstone National Park Public Affairs Officer, stated in a U.S. Justice Department/District of Wyoming news release issued Wednesday. “The ground is fragile and thin and scalding water just below the surface can cause severe or fatal burns.

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“More than 20 people have died from burns suffered after they entered or fell into Yellowstone’s hot springs.”

Added Acting U.S. Atty. Bob Murray: “For those who lack a natural ability to appreciate the dangerousness of crusty and unstable ground, boiling water, and scalding mud, the National Park Service does a darn good job of warning them to stay on the boardwalk in thermal areas.

“Yet there will always be those like Ms. Casey who don’t get it.  Although a criminal prosecution and jail time may seem harsh, it’s better than spending time in a hospital’s burn unit.”

The case was investigated by Yellowstone National Park law enforcement officers and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephanie Hambrick.

–Images showing Yellowstone thermal features are courtesy of NPS/Yellowstone National Park

See it: Dabo Swinney’s tour of Notre Dame

Dabo Swinney took the opportunity to go full-tourist on Friday on his first trip to Notre Dame. See the pictures from him around campus.

Clemson head football coach Dabo Swinney did something I thought was pretty cool this week.

Often times you’ll hear coaches talk about “business trips” and “eyes on the prize” and “tunnel vision” when their teams are playing in big games.

Clemson is ranked first in the country and clearly has a huge game at an iconic venue this week as they’re at No. 4 Notre Dame.  But instead of Swinney downplaying the opponent or the venue, he embraced it as it’s Clemson’s first trip to Notre Dame since 1979.

Instead of avoiding the opposing stadium like he said Clemson usually does, Swinney made it a point for his team to have a walk through at Notre Dame Stadium on Friday afternoon.

He then took it a step further and took a tour of the Notre Dame campus.

For those that don’t know, Tim Bourret was the football SID at Clemson for 40 years and is a 1977 graduate of Notre Dame.  It’s safe to say Swinney saw all the necessary sites on campus that a first-time visitor to Notre Dame needs to see.

I won’t say any names (cough, NICK SABAN, cough) but plenty of coaches act too cool or above embracing anything in regards to the history of college football so seeing Swinney eat up some of the landmarks of the campus just over 24 before his biggest game of the regular season is pretty cool to see for this college football fan.