Yosemite hiker sparks outrage with scariest 'touron' stunt yet: 'I lost brain cells witnessing this'

A hiker visiting Yosemite National Park captured the shocking moment a tourist put their life at risk by getting dangerously close to one of the park's iconic waterfalls.

Instagram account Tourons of National Parks posted a video earlier this month submitted by Maddie Hopkins showing two men climbing over the railing at the national park's Vernal Falls.

One of the tourists, who seemingly traveled together, hopped over the safety fence so that he could pose for pictures precariously near the cliff's edge. The second then joined him over the barrier soon after to record his stunt.

Vernal Falls has a 317-foot drop, and the Yosemite Mariposa County website said it is 'among the most powerful waterfalls' in the park. 

In response to their palm-sweating stunt, Hopkins wrote that she 'lost brain cells witnessing this.'

Once the two men got over the fence, one knelt down on the cliff's edge, which can take up to six hours to hike to, while the other stood close to the railing and took a picture on their phone.

The man posing then tempted fate by pretending to dive off the cliff, before the two wrapped up their dangerous photo session.

Instagram users have since referred to the men as 'tourons' - a combination of the words tourist and moron.

The pair's wild antics are far from the first 'touron' sightings this year, though they might be the most dangerous recorded so far.

The incident happened just two months after other ignorant tourists pulled a separate dangerous stunt in Yellowstone National Park. 

The sister account of Tourons of National Parks, Tourons of Yellowstone, posted a video recorded by Lydia Toelle of tourons who climbed over the stone wall at Upper Falls to get photos of themselves on the side of a mountain.

Another recurring theme of Tourons of Yellowstone's Instagram chronicles the various times people visiting the park get a little too close to the wildlife, specifically bison.

Tourons of Yellowstone's recently shared a video showing a man less than 25 yards away from bison approached the wild animate just to get photos.

Thankfully, the visitor, who casually stood there and smiled with a green hat, wasn't harmed by the animals during the video.

Needless to say, all of the above instances of tourists acting like morons garnered a lot of flak in the comments.

'These people need to be banned from all National Parks for life. Not to protect them but to protect the rescuers that have to put their own lives at risk if they fall,' an Instagram user wrote.

One person ranked the men's stunt '235 out of 1,000 ways to die' while another wrote: 'People have lost instincts and common sense.'

'I'm a hiking lead. I must say when people do things like this on hikes I lead, it does me great pleasure to inform them in no longer responsible for their safety. But I will call 911...,' commented an Instagrammer.

'At this point, honestly, if there is any type of rescue that needs to happen, I say a hefty fine,' another Instagram user wrote.

'Lifetime ban from all national parks and send them the bill for said rescue, and that’s only if they survive.'