--- title: Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Yellowstone Park Violation description: A week after a man disappeared into an acidic hot spring canonical: https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-16T21:06:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:40:16.291Z article:section: Science og:title: Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Leaving Boardwalk at Yellowstone og:description: At the Mammoth Hot Springs thermal area og:url: https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0627e5113f14a877/698898400a4a223cb99ca1de/liberty-cap-yellowstone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Big Skies Of Yellowstone Montana And Wyoming og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Leaving Boardwalk at Yellowstone twitter:description: At the Mammoth Hot Springs thermal area twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0627e5113f14a877/698898400a4a223cb99ca1de/liberty-cap-yellowstone.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Leaving Boardwalk at Yellowstone National Park  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 16, 2016 9:06 PM CUT  The rock structure known as Liberty Cap in the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park on Oct. 8, 2008. The rock structure known as Liberty Cap in the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park on Oct. 8, 2008.Nina Raingold—Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Jun 16, 2016 9:06 PM CUT A Chinese [visitor](http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2016/06/chinese-visit-fined-1000-going-boardwalk-yellowstone-national-park "undefined") to Yellowstone National Park has been fined $1,000 after park officials busted him walking off the designated boardwalk at the Mammoth Hot Springs thermal area. The tourist, who has not been named, was seen walking along terrace formations near hot springs and collecting water from the thermal runoff, National Parks Traveler. reports. He was also seen breaking through the fragile terrace crust of [travertine](https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/terraces.htm "undefined"), a sedimentary form of limestone formed as thermal water rises through limestone to deposit calcium carbonate over a long period of time. The man admitted to collecting hot springs water and said he did not read the safety information provided at the park entrance. The incident comes just a week after Colin Scott, 23, wandered off the boardwalk at Norris Geyser Basin and either fell into a slightly acidic, 199-degree-Fahrenheit hot spring near Porkchop Geyser. Park Rangers were unable to recover any of his remains. \[[National Parks Traveler](http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2016/06/chinese-visit-fined-1000-going-boardwalk-yellowstone-national-park "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/"},"headline":"Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Leaving Boardwalk at Yellowstone National Park","datePublished":"2016-06-16T21:06:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:40:16.291Z","description":"A week after a man disappeared into an acidic hot spring","url":"https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/","keywords":["Environment","China","Travel","Chinese","Fine","National Parks"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0627e5113f14a877/698898400a4a223cb99ca1de/liberty-cap-yellowstone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0627e5113f14a877/698898400a4a223cb99ca1de/liberty-cap-yellowstone.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Big Skies Of Yellowstone Montana And Wyoming","caption":"YELLOWSTONE, MT - OCTOBER 8: A rock structure known as Liberty Cap, in the Mammoth Hot Springs area of Yellowstone National Park on October 8, 2008 in Yellowstone, Montana. Yellowstone, located in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, was the first National Park t","creditText":"Nina Raingold—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4372474/chinese-tourist-fined-yellowstone-national-park/","name":"Chinese Tourist Fined $1,000 for Leaving Boardwalk at Yellowstone National Park"}}]}] ```