Poached eggs narrowly averted in Yellowstone's Biscuit BasinA tour group in Yellowstone National Park hoped to hard-boil eggs in geothermal water at the park, but rangers acting with dispatch put the kibosh on the tourists' culinary malefactions.

“There was an Asian tour group in early July that was found cooking eggs in a thermal feature in Biscuit Basin (near Old Faithful),” said Yellowstone Park spokesman Al Nash.

Rangers made them stop, but no citations were issued, Nash said.

It is against National Park Service rules to put objects, including food, in the park's thermal features.

Literature that each visitor receives at park entrances forbids spoiling the park's thermal features. But back in Yellowstone's bygone days, it was considered a bit of a lark to plunge foreign objects in the hot pools.

At the Fishing Cone in the West Thumb area, tourists would catch fish and then dip the ill-fated fish into the geyser to cook, Nash said.

Sometimes, runny-nosed visitors would toss their soiled kerchiefs in Handkerchief Pool near Old Faithful. The tourists would toss hankies in, and the pool would spit them out, Nash said.

There was even an entrepreneur who provided a laundry service with water piped in from a hot pool, Nash said.

Those scenarios occurred in the late 1800s and early 1900s before the Park Service was in charge, he said.

Nowadays, most folks are cognizant of the park's delicate features. People who ignore the rules face criminal penalties.

“You could receive a citation and a fine,” Nash said.