# Is Pouring METAMUCIL Into Geysers Illegal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489 "2004-04-22T19:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/1 "2004-04-22T19:50:41Z")
I just saw that METAMUCILad on TV…where the guy asks the park ranger why OLD FAITHFUL is so regular…and it shows the ranger mixing up a glassful and pouring into the geyser! The disclaimer says you shouldn’t do this…what kind of jail term am I looking at? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/2 "2004-04-22T20:06:29Z")
Vandalism to government property is a federal offense punishable by up to one year in jail and up to a $100,000 fine. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/3 "2004-04-22T20:09:48Z")
I don’t think that warning is there because it’s illegal, it’s there because it’s dangerous. Geysers shoot boiling water: they’re not something you want to get too close to, unless you fancy getting cooked like a lobster. ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/4 "2004-04-22T21:44:50Z")
I can’t find the cite, but I recall that the Chicago Sun-Times ran an article (probably AP) about this commercial and it included an admonition by the…National Park Service (?) that one shouldn’t do this and they were worried that some numbnut would try. I can’t recall the exact reason they gave, but I believe it was along the lines of “you’ll screw it up.” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/5 "2004-04-22T21:46:11Z")
There’s a Yellowstone story - not sure if it’s apocryphal - that one could stand on the shore of the lake and catch a fish, then turn around and drop the fish into the [fishing cone](http://www.vacationidea.com/yellowstone_vacation/fishing_cone_west_thumb.html) and boil the fish right there on the spot. The story goes that this was allowed until one unfortunate day when the cone became a geyser and parboiled the poor slob fishing too close to it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/6 "2004-04-22T22:38:53Z")
Plus, I understand one reason why many geysers aren’t so “faithful” anymore is BECAUSE people have dumped stuff into them, assumably “just to see what would happen.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/7 "2004-04-22T22:52:01Z")
Is “assumably” even a word? Anyhoo, at the very least, dumping metamucil or any other substance into a water source could arguably be polluting. Dumping in a cherry bomb, however, is a million laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/8 "2004-04-22T23:16:52Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Is “assumably” even a word? [Apparently so.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=assumably) Damn you for making me doubt my own knowledge of the English language! > [@](#): > > Anyhoo, at the very least, dumping metamucil or any other substance into a water source could arguably be polluting. > > Dumping in a cherry bomb, however, is a million laughs. Like I said. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/9 "2004-04-23T23:41:10Z")
I don’t think that the warning is there to protect the person who would try it. The times I’ve been to the park, the attitude towards human safety seems to be reminiscent of Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory: “don’t walk in the geysers you’ll be killed and don’t say I didn’t warn you” and then stand back and let natural selection take its course. But they are absolutely concerned about protecting the wildlife, geological formations, and other natural aspects of the park. I don’t know exactly what you could be charged with if they caught you dumping things down a geyser, but I do know that whatever they could charge you with, they would. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/10 "2004-04-24T00:03:47Z")
(minor hijack concerning Ogre’s post) I’ve never heard of anyone dying in Yellowstone because of a geyser suddenly going off on them, but according to the book _Death in Yellowstone_ by Lee H. Whittlesey, a man named James McFerson died in 1936 when he hooked a trout near the fishing cone, then stumbled backwards into a boiling spring and was burned to death. The signs in Yellowstone nowadays pretty clearly state that visitors are to remain on the boardwalks and not leave the boardwalks in order to approach the geysers or hot springs. But I’m sure many people think this rule does not apply to them. (hijack over) ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/11 "2004-04-24T00:04:27Z")
Well, they do have those signs posted every few feet in the hot springs areas that _graphically_ depict the dire consequences of stepping off the trail and breaking through the thin, acid-eaten crust into boiling or acidic water. As I recall, it’s a little picture (not even a pictogram, really) of a little boy in agonizing pain as the boiling water strips the flesh from his lower leg, which has broken through the crust. You can see this common image [here](http://www.allwhowander.net/y070229.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/12 "2004-04-24T00:08:47Z")
The previous post was in response to **Chronos**. **KRC** , that must be what really happened. The story as presented to me was modified to be an anecdote relating the changeability of the Yellowstone plumbing. Fishing cone was a geyser at one, as evidenced by the cone, and the ranger told me the story possibly to underline the fact that it could potentially become a geyser once again. Which I knew already, but OK. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/13 "2004-04-24T00:11:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I don’t think that the warning is there to protect the person who would try it. The times I’ve been to the park, the attitude towards human safety seems to be reminiscent of Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory: “don’t walk in the geysers you’ll be killed and don’t say I didn’t warn you” and then stand back and let natural selection take its course. Yellowstone may not care, but Yellowstone didn’t make the commercial: Metamucil did. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/14 "2004-04-24T02:17:15Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Well, they do have those signs posted every few feet in the hot springs areas that _graphically_ depict the dire consequences of stepping off the trail and breaking through the thin, acid-eaten crust into boiling or acidic water. Wow, Yellowstone is a regular Itchy & Scratchy Land. ---
**Author:** ![Qburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/bc79bd/32.png) [@Qburn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qburn)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2004, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-pouring-metamucil-into-geysers-illegal/241489/15 "2004-04-24T05:52:08Z")
FYI, Here’s a CBS News article about the ad: [Park Service Steamed Over Geyser Ad](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/24/entertainment/main537793.shtml) "In 2000, a summer employee was killed and two others were severely burned when they jumped into a thermal pool thinking it was not especially hot. "