Yellowstone Park Rangers Never Planned on Telling Hikers Not to Cook Chicken in Their Hot Springs (Until Now)

National Park rangers have specific duties that their job requires on a daily basis. Besides looking fresh in their ranger duds, they have to patrol the grounds, enforce park regulations, conduct investigations, perform search and rescue when needed, and make arrests if they’re warranted. What they don’t ever expect to do is fine someone for attempting to cook dinner.

The strange event took place last week at Yellowstone National Park. And while it’s normal for people to grill their dinner in parks, dunking your dinner in the iconic hot springs definitely isn’t. That’s right, park rangers found a pair of chickens cooking in the blistering hot springs of the famed national park.

After removing the chickens from the boiling water, the rangers were tasked with scolding (and fining) the three hikers involved. But they had to find them first. And, when they did, it was clear the trio that was toting around cooking utensils and a pot were the people they were looking for.

Eric Roberts (not that Eric Roberts) and Eric Romriell from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Dallas Roberts from West Valley, Utah, soon learned that you get more than just a slap on the wrist for tampering with the park’s hot springs.

Eric Roberts and Dallas Roberts will have to serve two days in jail and pay $540 in fines while Romriell avoided jail time but has to pay $1,250. All three were banned from the park. The real question on our minds is this: was the potential of eating boiled chicken worth it? It doesn’t sound mouth-watering enough for all the trouble they got in.

Photo: Noppawat Tom Charoensinphon (Getty Images)

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