Washington man spends week in jail after trespassing near Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser

A 21-year-old Washington man was sentenced on June 4 to seven days in prison for trespassing near the Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park while attempting to take photos.

Viktor Pyshniuk, of Lynwood, Washington, was also placed on two years of unsupervised release, fined $1,500 as well as court fees, and banned from the park for two years.

“Trespassing in closed, thermal areas of Yellowstone National Park is dangerous and harms the natural resource,” said Acting United States Attorney Eric Heimann in a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming. “In cases like this one where we have strong evidence showing a person has willfully disregarded signs and entered a closed, thermal area, federal prosecutors will seek significant penalties, including jail time.”

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Trespassing trying to take photos

According to court documents, a law enforcement officer for the park was dispatched on April 19 after Pyshniuk was photographed by another park employee after he had “clearly crossed over the fence” and was walking up a hillside to within 15-20 feet of the Steamboat Geyser. After Pyshniuk stated that he was trying to take photographs, the park officer showed him signs saying that it was illegal to stray from the public boardwalk and explained the danger of doing so due to mud pots, heated steam and water in an unpredictable geothermal area.

Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick further emphasized those dangers at Pyshniuk’s sentencing, saying that the sentence imposed was to deter not only him, but others who may have seen him and thought it was okay to disobey park safety rules.

Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser

Steamboat Geyser is the world’s tallest active geyser and one of Yellowstone National Park’s most prominent features, with its unpredictable eruptions of heights of more than 300 feet.

According to Yellowstone National Park, more than 20 people have been killed in accidents with some of the park's 10,000 geysers, hot springs, steam vents and geothermal pools. In 2022, a 70-year-old California man died after having entered the Abyss hot springs pool. And in 2016, a 23-year-old Oregon man died after slipping and falling into a hot spring near the Porkchop Geyser, having strayed more than 200 yards from a boardwalk in the Norris Geyser Basin.

Max Hauptman is a Trending Reporter for USA TODAY. He can be reached at MHauptman@gannett.com