Unfortunately, many tourists treat nature like it's their own personal sandbox. That behavior comes with frustrating consequences for people who want to safeguard it or enjoy it in its pristine state.

A park worker, Holly Minor, shared an alarming example of it to a Facebook group devoted to misbehavior at Yellowstone National Park. They clarified that the destructive acts around the pictured salt formations didn't occur at Yellowstone, but at their place of work.

The photo shows broken up natural elements, and Minor claimed it is the "only place in all of the U.S. where these formations have been documented." In a follow-up post, Minor shared a picture from before the vandalism and added that the formations "are called mirabilite mounds and they form on the shore of the Great Salt Lake."

The formation is indeed stunning, and Minor described it as a "rare phenomenon." In Minor's telling, the camp host spotted the perpetrators wrecking the mirability mounds and reported it. A manager went and stopped it, but the damage was done.

One silver lining is that Minor said the mounds do naturally break down later in the season and then reform in the late fall. For that reason, they didn't get law enforcement involved, as Minor noted that "it would be hard to persecute the destruction of something that's going away anyway."

It is heartening to hear that the salt formations will come back because that is not always the case for vandalized areas like Yellowstone's Morning Glory Pool. That pool has a permanently changed color due to years of tourists throwing items into it.

Unfortunately, there's a widespread temptation for tourists to deface rocks, litter natural areas, and disturb natural elements. These sorts of actions can threaten the local ecosystem and impact the natural beauty of the areas permanently.

For that reason, following park rules and making an effort to Leave No Trace is an important part of vacationing responsibly and allowing future visitors to enjoy the elements in all their glory.

Commenters on Facebook were disillusioned with the saga.

"People truly make me sick," one remarked. "Why do we always feel the need to destroy?"

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"After a while I just run out of adjectives to describe these people," another shared.

"I write tickets for this type of thing every week," a poster, who said they were in the U.S. Forest Service, added.

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