The chicken industry has done much to promote the versatility of its products and the ease of preparing them.
But I have never before heard that chicken meat can be prepared in one particular way, until recently. And that method of preparation is ill-advised.
According to a report from Newsweek, an Idaho man was banned from Yellowstone National Park for two years after he was apparently caught trying to cook chickens in one of the park’s hot springs. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $1,200.
The incident apparently took place two years ago, but just recently, the man, whose identity was not released, was sentenced for the creative cookery and disrespect for nature. His fine stemmed from guilty pleas of foot travel in a thermal area and violating closures and use limits.
The charges followed a report to authorities that a group of 10 people were hiking toward the Shoshone Geyser Basin with cooking pots, ultimately to be found with two chickens in a sack, placed inside a hot spring.
While you can’t help but kind of admire his culinary ingenuity, and his commitment to going the extra mile to prepare chickens as (hopefully) nobody has before, it’s certainly a head scratcher. Why on Earth did he think this was a good idea?
I love camping and prefer staying in a tent in a remote area over hanging out in a swanky hotel in the city, but I must admit, gathering firewood is a bit of a nuisance. I guess that’s one way to avoid that.
But as the Newsweek article stated, Yellowstone has the biggest concentration of active geysers in the world with more than 10,000 thermal features. The park has rules against going off-trail to get closer to those springs. Those rules are there for the visitors’ own good, as the water in those springs can cause fatal burns.
So my advice, which hopefully isn’t needed, is it is O.K. to get creative with your poultry preparation, but whatever you do, respect nature and its hazards.
