As the Eagle Creek Fire continued to burn, two men hiked into the active fire area, flew a drone over a smoking patch of trees, recorded themselves doing all of it and uploaded the video to YouTube.

That's a no-no. Federal, state and local agencies are still working to contain the fire, and authorities said the Saturday drone flight violated the Federal Aviation Administration's ban on drones around wildfires. The U.S. Forest Service has been alerting people to stay away from nearby trails, which are closed as crews fight the fire.

"It is illegal to hike into the closed area, whether or not we put up signs," said Rachel Pawlitz, spokeswoman for the scenic area. "It's not safe for anyone to hike on these trails right now. You're creating a hazard for yourself [and] you're creating a hazard for others."

As curiosity continues about the state of the gorge, and the extent of damage to trails from the Eagle Creek Fire, the challenge facing forest officials and local law enforcement will be how to keep people out of restricted areas.

Pawlitz said the forest service will erect physical barricades at affected trailheads and plans on staffing them as well. With the barriers in place, she said, "it's never an excuse for people to say they didn't know."

Travel blogger Wes Griffin uploaded the video to YouTube Saturday under the account he uses for his website, Misguided Idiot. He took the video down Monday after a Reddit user shared it, though another person downloaded and re-uploaded the video to YouTube on Tuesday. In an interview Tuesday, Griffin said he meant no harm, and was just trying to give people a look at the damage from the fire.

He wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive, "I wanted to give all the hikers, onlookers and drive by tourist a real glimpse of this area of the gorge that they love."

Griffin said he lives near the Angel's Rest trailhead and was able to walk in without issue. There were no signs or officials to turn him back, he said, and no large fires burning in the immediate vicinity.

Griffin and the other man were not facing criminal charges as of Tuesday afternoon. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office did not respond to requests for comment on the incident.

The other issue is Griffin's use of a drone at the top of Angels Rest. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, firefighting aircraft have to land if any unauthorized drones are seen near a fire. That could be deemed an interference with the effort to fight a fire, which is illegal under regulations established by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The aviation agency regulates drone and other flights using temporary flight restrictions, one of which was in place Saturday around the Eagle Creek Fire, including Angel's Rest.

Consequences for breaking those restrictions can be serious: In July, an Arizona man caught flying a drone over a wildfire was initially charged with 14 felony counts of endangerment, though prosecutors later reduced the charges to two counts.

Matt Waite, founder of the Drone Journalism Lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said there are no excuses in the case at Angel's Rest.

"At the very least you're taking an unauthorized flight in a temporary flight restriction, and the FAA can go after the pilot," he said. "The nightmare scenario is the drone is in the way of that firefighting aircraft, and people die."

The temporary flight restrictions are put in place for good reason, Waite said, and are drawn with wide boundaries so firefighting pilots don't have to worry about altering their course while making difficult maneuvers.

Griffin maintains his intentions were pure.

"I would like to add that to anyone who is mad, ashamed or somehow hurt by my actions, that I in no way meant to cause any harm," Griffin said. "The gorge is my home, always has been and most likely always will be and I have no intentions of ever trying to ruin the beauty that I'm fortunate to be surrounded by on a daily basis."

Latest photos from Eagle Creek fire in Oregon 89 Gallery: Latest photos from Eagle Creek fire in Oregon

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB