Officials at the Death Valley National Park have appealed to visitors to refrain from trying to fry eggs on rocks or the ground. The park has been inundated with visitors trying to test the theory that it is hot enough to fry an egg ever since a park employee posted a video on YouTube of her attempts to do so. The online clip, together with soaring temperatures nearing 50°C and the centennial on Wednesday of the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, encouraged many people to try their own experiment, with messy results. Park cleaners are being kept busy cleaning up egg shells, discarded egg cartons, and the foul-smelling goo from hundreds of unsuccessful attempts at a sunny-side up under the sun.

Park rangers urged people on their Facebook page to not fry eggs. It read: "An employee's posting of frying an egg in a pan in Death Valley was intended to demonstrate how hot it can get here, with the recommendation that if you do this, use a pan or tin foil and properly dispose of the contents. However, the…maintenance crew has been busy cleaning up eggs cracked directly on the sidewalk, including egg cartons and shells strewn across the parking lot." It added: "Please put trash in the garbage or recycle bins provided and don't crack eggs on the sidewalks." A comment on the park's YouTube page stated how hot it got in Saudi Arabia, joking that, "you can throw a chicken in the air and you will catch it cooked".