TikTok Influencer Is Fined After Hitting a Golf Ball Into the Grand Canyon

Phone cams were rolling, so the TikTok influencer curved her knees, changed her position and also turned her club at a golf sphere that had actually been put near the side of a precipice at the Grand Canyon. The sphere skyrocketed. The club did, as well, after it flew out of her hand.

” How did that occur,” asked the message on the clip, which was taped on Oct. 26 and also uploaded on TikTok the exact same day.

The authorities, nevertheless, showed up to have one more inquiry after seeing the video clip: Who was accountable for cluttering at one of the nation’s most renowned national forests?

Tips can be found in, and also police quickly had a name: Katie Sigmond, an influencer with around 7 million fans on TikTok that publishes exercise and also modeling video clips, along with clips highlighting her golf video game at driving training courses and also arrays.

Her golf swing at the Grand Canyon, nevertheless, promptly attracted objection, consisting of from park authorities.

” Do we actually require to claim, ‘do not strike golf rounds right into the Grand Canyon?'” the Grand Canyon National Park stated on Instagram

In enhancement to objection, the feat likewise caused lawful problem for Ms. Sigmond, that ultimately confessed to park rangers that she had actually been the one in the video clip, according to Joelle Baird, a spokesperson for Grand Canyon National Park’s Office of Public Affairs.

Ms. Baird stated that Ms. Sigmond, 20, was at first billed with littering, throwing products right into the Grand Canyon and also developing dangerous problems with disorderly conduct. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona lately fixed her situation with an out-of-court arrangement that caused a penalty, Ms. Baird stated.

She did not recognize which costs were inevitably consisted of in the arrangement, and also the government district attorney’s workplace did not right away react to e-mails and also telephone calls looking for remark.

Ms. Baird stated she did not recognize the quantity of the penalty. In comparable instances, penalties can get to about $280, she stated. The Arizona Republic reported on the information of Ms. Sigmond’s penalty on Thursday.

Ms. Sigmond did not react to an e-mail looking for discuss Saturday. The video clip of her golf swing at the Grand Canyon shows up to have actually been erased from her social media sites web pages.

The episode was the current situation of site visitors being mischievous at the Grand Canyon, an incident that, in the past, has actually encouraged park authorities to openly ridicule the activities of those that fall short to value the cherished, worn down landscape.

In September of in 2014, the park uploaded an image of a lock that had actually been put on a fencing at the Grand Canyon with an engraving of “Alex + Cas.” The company did not locate any type of charming worth in it, creating, “You might assume your lock of love left on the park fencing is brilliant, yet it will not stand the examination of time to our screw cutters.” The blog post pointed out the prospective risks to wild animals.

The Park Service faced a much less glowing concern in October 2020 when it reported a spike in “the quantity of human waste on (or simply off) path” at the Grand Canyon.

” No one else must require to manage your waste,” it stated. And also last summertime, rangers at the Grand Canyon had a straightforward message to those throwing their cigarettes on the completely dry mineral dirt: “Bighorn lamb butts are adorable! Cigarette butts, not so much.”

Ms. Baird stated rangers had actually likewise taken care of individuals throwing baseballs, football rounds and also various other things right into the canyon.

” You call it, and also individuals toss it over the canyon,” she stated, including that “it’s one of these points that however takes place over and over again.”

Grand Canyon authorities stated Ms. Sigmond had actually thrown her club and also struck the golf sphere near Mather Point, which supplies a scenic sight of the canyon’s several layers of subjected rock.

” Throwing things over the edge of the canyon is not just prohibited yet can likewise threaten walkers and also wild animals that might be below,” park authorities stated.