So, what were these people running to get a picture of? A huge grizzly bear! There are a lot of stupid people in this world.
And the Bear was trying to solve the stupid people problem!
Fewer stupid people & the bear gets to eat!
Win-win if you ask me!
I was in Yellowstone in 1969, when there were a lot of “bear jams”. Nearly everyone stops to take pictures of the “cute” bears, approach the bears, give the bears cookies, and get mauled by the bears. Yes, even the black bears would maul. And the bears were conditioned then to mooch from the side of the road, thanks to tourists and their idea of bears being from Yogi Bear cartoons.
I got a real good impression of what a bear can do while watching a moose feeding in the shallows of the Yellowstone River, not to far from the lake and well upstream of the falls. This was using binoculars, so I was a good distance away. Grizzly just exploded and took the moose down.
As for the thermal features, there are places not too far from the boardwalks where the crust is thin, steam or boiling water just beneath.
>>There are a lot of stupid people in this world.<<
Bear chow.
Seen the video of two dutch guys in their care in a Safari park (africa,europe?) following a carload of french people with a little child.
Stop at a group of wild cheetahs lounging in the shade,and begin to unpack their picnic gear and food—thought better of it and drove to an open field about 400 yards away.
They got out with the gear— and the dutch guys following in the car noted the 5 or 6 cheetahs covering the distance in seconds and then the screeching family running (and being chased) to their car— their kid was primary target. Stupid people vs. wild animals. It’s on the net— went viral— the guys talking are speaking in Dutch mit der swear words— how stupid the frenchies are.