Filmmakers Trample Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring, Want YOU To Work To Make It Right

by Michael Bonocore

It appears there is something in the water at Yellowstone National Park, as not one, but two mind-boggling decisions were made there this week that really make it hard for us to have faith in the future of mankind. Earlier this week, a bison calf had to be euthanized after it’s herd refused to accept it back due to the acts of some tourists who put the calf in their car and brought it to a Ranger Station because they thought it was cold. Yes, you read that right.

Courtesy of Karen Richardson

Courtesy of Karen Richardson

If you thought that was the dumbest things that tourists did in Yellowstone this week, the clothing/filmmaking guys from High On Life might change your mind.

On the afternoon of May 14, 2016, visitors to the nation’s first National Park were enjoying the view of the Grand Prismatic Spring from the boardwalk and marked trails that surround this beautiful natural wonder. The calm and peaceful setting was shattered when four men were suddenly seen walking across the incredibly sensitive terrain. To visitors, it was easy to see what their self-serving agenda was, as three of the men were followed closely by a fourth man holding a Glidecam, used for stable video capture. It was obvious these guys weren’t amateurs.

YellowStone People Walk on Grand Prismatic Spring 1

 

As it turns out, the team is from a Canadian clothing called High On Life. The team consists of Alexey Lyakh, Ryker Gamble, Justis Cooper and Parker Heuser. According to their website, they have known each other since middle school and spent their younger days idolizing videos from the Jackass crew. They even went to far as to make their own videos called “Dumbass” and sell them to kids at their high school.

With a pretty large following on Instagram of almost one million people, these guys have obviously traveled the world and created some great content. You would think with all that travel, they would have learned to show respect for the places they visit, especially ones as sensitive as the Grand Prismatic Spring. But quite the opposite. The team went onto the land knowing it was dangerous, fragile and illegal. There are posted signs everywhere, and on the YouTube video that they posted from the adventure (which has since been removed) you can see the men actually filming the sign telling them not to leave the Boardwalk.

YellowStone High On Life

Well, they left the boardwalk, even as people standing by shouted at them not too. Check out the video and photos below, which were captured by concerned visitors and promptly turned over to the Park Service.

https://youtu.be/wwZVr0VQvrU

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People Walk on Grand Prismatic Spring YellowStone4
People Walk on Grand Prismatic Spring YellowStone3

But at least they got photos for the social media likes (which have also been deleted).

Obviously, once the culprits were identified, the Internet was relentless. Hundreds of comments flooded the group’s social media accounts, and none of them were supportive. Many people have been writing the team’s sponsors voicing their displeasure at the brand ambassadors’ actions.

*Update – We reached out to Red Bull for a comment, and they were kind enough to give us a statement. “Red Bull does not have a formal relationship with this group and were not involved in this particular production.

*Update – We reached out to Contiki and they were kind enough to give us a statement. “Contiki is committed to responsible travel and had no involvement in the recent High on Life Road Trip in Yellowstone.  Although we have worked with High on Life in the past, our last partnership was over two years ago. We don’t have any future projects planned with them, and the page referencing our brand and logo has been taken down.”

So, you would think that with all of the negative attention, the team surely realized their mistakes and would bend over backwards to make it right. Well, not quite. On the “apology” posted on their Facebook account, the team claims “We wandered off the laid out path and took photos of the Grand Prismatic Springs, unaware of the ecological ramifications and safety precautions.” Already, this apology is infuriating, as per the YouTube screenshot above, the men saw every sign making them aware of the ecological ramifications and safety precautions. Ok, but we will give them a chance to prove that they care for the places they visit. Surely they will do anything, and work as hard as they have to in order to make this right. 

For the next two days, every time someone shares their favorite positive personal memory from Yellowstone National Park on the park’s Facebook page with the hashtag#DonationforYellowstone, we will donate a dollar per personal story post, up to five thousand donation.

Oh. So, wait. In order to make up for your brazen, idiotic and disrespectful act, 5,000 hard working Americans need to take time out of their busy day and write a story on Yellowstone’s Facebook page? For just $1 each? This reminds me that time 50 Cent used African children for extortion. The team from High on Life has obviously already earmarked $5,000 to donate, so why make the very people you disrespected do all of the work? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just donate the money right now? And honestly, 5,000 people writing their favorite stories in 48 hours? No matter how viral this story goes, we all know that isn’t happening. You know, because most people work more than one job to make ends meet, have children to take care of, bills to pay, rush-hour traffic to sit in. Not everyone has time to drive around the world in a big blue bus. Which, by the way, doesn’t look cheap…which makes their offer of $5,000 (for our hard work) even more insulting.

*Update High on Life has  changed the Facebook post from offering to donate $1 for every story told to “We will be donating”. Per the below screenshot, you can see the original quote referenced above. 

Screen Shot 2016-05-17 at 10.15.34 AM

So it appears this story is far from over. Let us know your thoughts. Should the boys be forgiven? Should they just pony up the donation and not make people work for it? Should they be banned from entering the US for committing a crime on federal land?

*Update – Three of the four individuals have been charged with crimes and warrants have been issued for their arrests. The crimes include “creating a hazardous or physically offensive condition” according to K2Radio.com. Strangely, the fourth member has not been charged as of yet. 

*Update – Fox 13 in Salt Lake City has posted some incriminating photos of the High On Life team waterskiing behind their massive RV at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Per the screenshot of the rules of the Bonneville Salt Flats, all visitors must stay off of the Salt Flats when wet. 

 

Screenshots via Buckrail and DIYPhotography.

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28 comments

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28 comments

Wick Sakit May 17, 2016 - 1:38 pm

Get a rope.

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Jason J. Hatfield May 17, 2016 - 1:45 pm

Ban them from all parklands in the U.S. at least.

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Astro Landscapes May 17, 2016 - 2:10 pm

It is “adventurers” like this that give a horrible, horrible bad name to the rest of us who actually appreciate the outdoors and also dare to try and make a living from it.

Considering they own an RV and a clothing company, $5K is probably chump change to them. They probably spend twice that on gas in less than a year.

This is just another depressing story in a long string of events that prove we the human society are completely backwards when it comes to priorities, and completely hypocritical when it comes to our alleged appreciation for the outdoors.

Please, stop letting social media’s spectacularization of EVERYTHING in life be your only rulebook. Stop being so wasteful and disrespectful towards our planet.

Oh, and while you’re at it, sell that stupid RV, donate those proceeds to the NPS, and buy a couple Subarus, then spend that $5K you were going to donate and live off it for 6 months in a local campground. THEN we’ll let you back into the greater outdoors, and MAYBE a national park someday.

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Wild Biker Bill September 10, 2016 - 7:27 pm

For an RV like that I would bet they spend close to $5K / month.

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Astro Landscapes May 17, 2016 - 2:46 pm

Also, to the folks who chime in saying that we’re being too harsh, or blowing it out of proportion, or simply not doing enough to actually save the planet:

The internet is actually a perfect place to mercilessly shame people like this. It is social media’s sensationalized realm that is making these folks’ “fundayz” lifestyle possible in the first place, so it is only fitting that social media lay the smackdown on folks when they step this far out of line.

Yes, we need to worry about world hunger and so many other things. But in this sphere of self-promotion and “first world problems”, justice is being served.

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Michael Bonocore May 17, 2016 - 2:50 pm

Ha, I have yet to read a comment anywhere saying people are being to harsh. I think most people are pretty furious :)

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Astro Landscapes May 17, 2016 - 3:12 pm

Usually it’s just friends or relatives of the culprits, but for example in the case of the Point Reyes Shipwreck fire, the “jeez, get over it” attitude was shockingly prevalent after the first initial wave of harsh ridicule.

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Michael Bonocore May 17, 2016 - 3:37 pm

Ah yes, true. Well in that case, the backlash came against a man who may have not actually had a hand in the fire, although he was guilty by association for being there and not trying to stop it. But in this case, the culprits are actually caught on video and photos. So much harder for people to come to any sort of defense outside of their friends and family circle.

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Astro Landscapes May 17, 2016 - 5:06 pm

From what I recall, people weren’t differentiating as much as I thought they would between the guy who was present, and the culprits who actually did it. Mainly my shock came from the folks who were saying general things like “get over it, it’s just an old boat, it was junk anyways” :-

Dave DeBaeremaeker May 17, 2016 - 3:08 pm

They should be forced to pay it all, plus a hefty fine. No excuses make up for this sort of reckless abandon.

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W8post September 9, 2016 - 2:38 am

It seems that the MAX fine is $435…pp. SAD!

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actuallythinking May 17, 2016 - 3:50 pm Reply
Jon Blowhard May 17, 2016 - 5:07 pm

They should be banned from entering any National Park or parkland in the U.S., charged with their crime and prosecuted.

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Michael Bonocore May 17, 2016 - 5:25 pm

Agreed.

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Ianniqu Bcl Youssef May 23, 2016 - 7:13 am

And suck a dick in the meanwhile? go learn what life means bro and come back talking your lil bullshit society conditionning.

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Steve Crowley May 18, 2016 - 12:50 pm

Great write up on these douchebags. Glad to hear they have warrants for their arrest. They should have been arrested long ago for that eyesore of a bus.

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Jennifer Wyrwas Swant May 18, 2016 - 1:19 pm

Charges have been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming (Yellowstone NP branch) in the US Federal District for the District of Wyoming – YNP. and there are warrants out for their arrests!!!

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Addison May 18, 2016 - 1:43 pm

Those boys are HOT!!! I suggest prison time…and I’ll be the jailkeeper…

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dan waits May 18, 2016 - 6:14 pm

Parker Heuer was not with the group at the time. He had left a few days earlier & returned to Canada

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Coomunism is Totalitarianism May 18, 2016 - 6:55 pm

What has happened to this generation? The only thing that is important is how many likes you get on Facebook or Instagram? To the detriment of everything else around you? Schmucks. The public should go after the sponsors of these ignoramus toads! Follow the money!

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Jess May 18, 2016 - 8:13 pm

You know, as much as this pisses me off, there are much greater violations in this world against human beings, not just a lake. So everyone calm down.

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ABLE3 May 19, 2016 - 8:41 pm

Hey deal with the issue here, you want to jump to Geopolitics? We can, For now these kids, with no real want of integrity spit on everyone and sent a message to all idiots they can do this too, and be famous.

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GdayMate May 18, 2016 - 10:59 pm

gawd, idiots.

Just going to put this here so people remember every country has stupid people roaming their parks:

http://gawker.com/5932846/american-becomes-laughingstock-of-canada-after-letter-to-editor-lamenting-lack-of-handgun-during-mild-confrontation

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Chris May 19, 2016 - 1:38 am

It is too bad that stupidity is not a crime…. not those incidents that play put in our everyday lives that are genuine accidents, but where the person should and does know better and still decides to commit the act. These guys, and as popular as they are on YouTube and instagram, have amassed quite the following of wantabes. That places them in that rarefied air where they truly do need to take care with their decisions. There are several acts (the salt flats, drone flight in a NP, Yellowstone, and others), where there demonstrate the complete disregard for rules that were made to keep the human visitors and native animals safe, as well as protect the landscape form those people who make poor choices. I say, the courts need to make an example out of them.

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ABLE3 May 19, 2016 - 8:35 pm

Men like these represent the current Zeitgeist: Self Advancement over others and over nature. They are the sign of the sickness of the world now. Arrogant, trite, Superficial and filled with ( Fraternity Minds) All they care about is that they are known and all this ( media) makes them known to their followers – ( So they should get the book thrown at them) They Can Clean the Vault Toilets for free and I mean clean them. Any money they make from these stunts taken from them outright and for a period of time. And No Park Visits —They can go to Japan now and film the reactors and get real close: past all signs –that would be befitting – maybe I am bitter now after seeing all BS

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jevharr May 19, 2016 - 8:38 pm

The Contiki brand and logo are still on their partners page. Lies on top of idiotic antics… Boycott every one of these brands!

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Dave Cumming May 19, 2016 - 9:53 pm

I’d prefer they be BANNED FOR LIFE to (re)entering the USA, after their possessions have been confiscated, they’ve been tried, found guilty, served their time in prison, and properly DEPORTED.

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David X May 19, 2016 - 10:42 pm

At least their bus is easily recognizable. Who’s holding the molotov cocktails? Or at least the eggs?

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