Update on toppled hoodoo

Just in case anyone is interested, this is latest word in response to my query to BLM on the status of the toppled balanced rock at the Wahweap Hoodoos:

Thank you for keeping in touch and involved. We really do appreciate our visitors taking an active role in helping us to monitor these special places. To answer your question, we have had one of our staff go out and do a preliminary examination of the site. She has submitted a report and the mangers will be exploring our options in the next few months. Several factors come into consideration when making a determination as to what course of action they may decide to take in this matter, including: if the toppling of the capstone was a natural occurrence or an act of vandalism; and what effect any action will have on the safety of our staff and visitors. The managers must weigh these factors carefully and may decide that they need additional assessments by our specialists before they decide anything. Until then, keep in touch and I will try to keep you updated.

Mary A. Dewitz
Visitor Center ManagerGrand Staircase-Escalante National Monument190 East Center Street
Kanab, UT 84741
435 644-4686
Mary_Dewitz@blm.gov

So how long do you think before they put a permit system in place and start conducting regular patrols there?

Guy

Thanks for the update, Tony. It's good to hear they're supportive of vistor interest and are actually looking into doing something about it. I'll be interested to know the final outcome.

Lori

I hate the hassle of permits in places that I live near, but this place clearly needs protection. When we first went there, Guy, remember how few trails there were? There's are lots of paths now that have been worn around the hoodoos. This year especially, there must've been a lot of visitors as the number of trails has increased substantially. Nature-lovers and fotogs are truly loving this place to death and it impacts the experience when you visit.

I know this isn't going to sit well with those who have made up their minds that this wasn't a natural event, but what hard evidence is there that it wasn't? I mean, look at what you're talking about, a heavy capstone of very dense material on a softer material pedestal. At some point it's going to find its angle of repose, and then BAM!, it's coming down. How do we know the integrity of the soil directly underneath the capstone? Hell, there could've even been a slight tremor that shook it loose. Before anyone gets on a big put-it-back-up kick, perhaps there should be definitive proof that a human caused the collapse in the first place. If it's natural, it needs to stay put.

But if it was a human, my vote is that a photographer did it. The memory's still fresh of a certain Turkish immigrant pleading guilty to damaging 500-year-old juniper trees in Garden of the Gods. When I first noticed damage to trees in the Garden, I went and told the rangers that a photographer did it, owing to the fact that in many cases the damage either opened up a previously blocked scene, or forever altered one so that others couldn't copy it.

Furthermore, the pedestal looks pretty thin, making for an even more precarious perch. Add to that that no other capstones were disturbed. Seems to me that, whether a photographer or garden variety vandal, they would've toppled more than one.

It's interesting to see the follow up on this case... Thanks Tony for letting us know...
Todd, maybe I missunderstand your writing but...I don't see the necessity to mention the one pleading guilty about the Juniper is a "turkish immigrant"...I really don't see.

Sincerly

Okay, let me clarify: He stated he had fled Iran - "the Ayatollah and his crazies" is how he once described it to me - and was therefore begging not to be deported from the US after pleading guilty of his crimes - but when I saw his case on Court-TV years ago, they said he was a Turkish immigrant. I always felt duped by him over that.

I'd be interested to see further updates on this if there are any. Hopefully they'll put in a reasonable system to keep vandals or the oblivious from destroying the area.