FILE: Mound Terrace in Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park on May 27, 2021.

There are lots of ways to get in trouble in Yellowstone National Park: get too close to wolves, get too close to bears, get too close to bison. Last fall, a man from Texas demonstrated another way: He got too close to hot springs. 

Eric Bedient, a 50-year-old from Frisco, Texas, stepped off trail and walked on “several fragile and dangerous hydrothermal features” on Nov. 8, 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Wyoming. Last week, he was sentenced to five days in jail as a result. According to court documents, his sentence will be served at a federal facility near his home in Texas. 

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It’s against the law to “thermal trespass” in Yellowstone. It’s also deadly. Thin rock crusts surround hot springs filled with water hot enough to severely burn or kill people. More than 20 people have died from Yellowstone hot spring burns. 

FILE: An aerial view of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park on June 23, 2022.

“Yellowstone’s thermal areas are among the most dangerous natural features in........

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