A hiker who dangled his legs over a precipice at Yellowstone National Park set social media abuzz with his daring behavior.
TouronsOfYellowstone (@touronsofyellowstone) shared an Instagram video of the person's actions, which left at least one onlooker groaning in agony.Â
The clip showed the individual standing on an outcropping; they then lowered themselves to sit on the edge. The person quickly got back up, and the gripping footage ended.
"What is he doing?" one commenter said. "It's so high."
Another pointed out the danger of doing that in an area not inspected and cleared for looking over the edge: "The rock on the rim of that canyon is actually pretty crumbly so this guy is playing a dangerous game."
Park regulations don't indicate that visitors should remain on trails — except in hydrothermal areas — or avoid such stunts, but the wild adventure seemed to at least violate the spirit of the rules.
The person created a white-knuckle experience for other guests, even if not for themselves. And the park — the first national park in the world — is to be enjoyed by all. When "tourons" (a combination of the words "tourist" and "moron"), make decisions to endanger themselves, they often don't consider that they're endangering others.
Some pointed out that there are people who go rock climbing in dangerous areas of the park and that this is not much different, but those who do so bring safety equipment or climb in established areas with a lot of experience and planning. Those established areas also mean any needed rescue operations will be less complex.
In this case, many commenters asked those who were OK with what the thrill-seeker did to consider potential ramifications.
"Rescuers risk their lives saving ppl after these falls and also just recovering the bodies of the ppl who dont live," one user said. "[It's] not just the adrenaline junky affected."
This can happen whether you're on your own or with other people. Yellowstone explorers have been documented harassing the park's famous bison and grizzly bears as well as trampling delicate — and highly dangerous — natural areas.
Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, particularly if it could cause damage to something like a cliff edge. Respect the park by respecting others, and respect others by respecting the park. This mantra applies more broadly as well in terms of caring about things like personal and industry pollution.
Another commenter wrote: "People have died perched on cliffs like that because when they stand up they basically get vertigo, there's also the slip and fall risk. Super selfish especially for the rescuers who would be doing a body recovery."
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