Millard Falls chockstone - kablooey? (cancelled!)

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:28 am

Editing to say the plans have been cancelled as of 3/16/11. No cause for outrage anymore.

Altadenablog is reporting there are plans to blast the boulder at the top of the falls.

http://www.altadenablog.com/2011/03/mil ... w-off.html

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:44 am

That rock has been there for how long? Dumb.

HJ

Post by **Taco** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:25 pm

They're going to blow it up because.....????

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:32 pm

Taco wrote: ↑They're going to blow it up because.....????

Because it adds seeming meaning and purpose to their otherwise empty lives.

HJ

Post by **Taco** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:35 pm

But if that thing's been sitting there for years not doing anything, with what amounts to no risk of falling (no more than any other object unseen on a higher slope, by far)...

Shit, can we even go back there yet, or is it still off-limits? I went there with my buddy Johnny to do some aid climbing last summer, and it had a billion signs around the road saying we'd be brutally decapitated and burned if we so much as thought of going there.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:41 pm

Taco wrote: ↑But if that thing's been sitting there for years not doing anything, with what amounts to no risk of falling (no more than any other object unseen on a higher slope, by far)...

Shit, can we even go back there yet, or is it still off-limits? I went there with my buddy Johnny to do some aid climbing last summer, and it had a billion signs around the road saying we'd be brutally decapitated and burned if we so much as thought of going there.

No, that's the irony of the whole thing. It's been there for years and years, but for some unknown reason suddenly it's a threat to public health.

I call "BS" on this one.

HJ

Post by **HikeUp** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 5:54 pm

It's still off limits officially as far as I can tell.

It's a rock...they need to be blowed up. They're stupid after all.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 6:56 pm

"There were reports that the rock had shifted in the recent rains, Rollman said"

Could be ...maybe from this guy..."In a debris flow after the Station Fire, Lori Paul said the boulder was "overtopped" by a Volkswagen-sized rock that landed in the creek, showing it was "pretty darned well wedged in."

"break splitting rock boulder millard canyon.creek "
":boulder that got sent down from upstream Millard creek during flash flood after station fire . where landed up against 3 alder trees , during heavy rains deflected water into campground and up towards road..."

Could be the rush is from Station fire funds to expire...heck if I know.....all I say is "Reeeeeee-diculous"...whats next? The more suspect boulder perched above Eaton Canyon Falls?

Post by **Taco** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:08 pm

They should pay me to shoot at it or something. Then I'll go off and drink beer all day and not do what they want.

Problem solved.

Post by **HikeUp** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:09 pm

Heck...get rid of ACH. All it ever does is get washed down some steep ravine, killing all sorts of squirrels and toads and hikers.

Post by **Taco** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:10 pm

That too.

Heck, get rid of Los Angeles. All it ever does is suck.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:36 pm

I bet Aron Ralston is behind all this!

Post by **Taco** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:41 pm

I can see him dressed in a suit with a fake mustache, dark sunglasses, and a cigar, laughing maniacally while a crew works before him to destroy the boulder.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:51 am

Taco wrote: ↑They should pay me to shoot at it or something. Then I'll go off and drink beer all day and not do what they want.

Problem solved.

Yesh.

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 11:44 am

Any idea who the appropriate person to contact is to express my disdain for this decision? What a waste of $$$ and time.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:40 pm

Th blasting has been cancelled, with no plan to resume. The boulder is safe (long live the boulder!)

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:59 pm

Huzzah!

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:00 pm

The System can be beaten but it takes a BMF rock.

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:10 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑Th blasting has been cancelled, with no plan to resume. The boulder is safe (long live the boulder!)

Cool! Long Live The Boulder!

Post by **HikeUp** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:16 pm

Some blah blah blah in the Pasadena Star News...

Rock-blasting cancelled at Millard Canyon Waterfall
by Janette Williams, Staff Writer
Posted: 03/15/2011 06:22:44 PM PDT

ALTADENA - Plans to blast the giant rock wedged at the head of the Millard Canyon waterfall, due to start this week, have been "cancelled until further notice," according to Mike Alarid, the man asked to do the work by the U.S. Forest Service.

"Well, apparently there was a possible hazard to the public," said Alarid, superintendent of the Bear Divide Hotshots, a crew of forest fire-fighters based in the Angeles National Forest. "I went in, told them we could probably do it. But at this point it's cancelled indefinitely."

Forest service spokeswoman Sherry Rollman said Tuesday that plans to remove the rock - which some locals said has been there for at least 70 years - had been cancelled to allow for "further evaluation" of the need to move it.

There were reports that the rock had shifted in the recent rains, Rollman said, although she did not know who had decided the rock could be a public danger, or who asked for its removal. The canyon has been closed to the public since the 2009 Station Fire.

"I don't have any information on who asked," she said. Possibly it was someone in the forest service, since it owns the land, Rollman said.

In an e-mail from forest service Supervisor Mike McIntyre, Alarid was asked to get the word out that Millard Canyon cabin owners and nearby residents should expect "a large boom" during three days of blasting.

Rollman said the forest service simply wanted to inform residents "just in case they went out and it was an imminent safety hazard once they took a look."

They did go out, and decided it was not an imminent threat, Rollman said.

It's now determined that there's "a need for further analysis by a geologist" before anything is done to remove the rock, she said.

News of the planned blasting passed on to Millard Canyon residents got the attention of local trail-users and environmentalists. Several contacted the offices of Congressman Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, and e-mails spread word about the planned blasting.

Lori Paul, vice president of the Altadena-based Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, said there was outrage over the plan.

"Everyone was wondering what the heck was going on," Paul said Tuesday. "It's absolutely shocking that a boulder that's iconic in the canyon, that dates back to the 1930s, that's part of the scenic beauty of the waterfall" would be blown up.

In a debris flow after the Station Fire, Paul said the boulder was "overtopped" by a Volkswagen-sized rock that landed in the creek, showing it was "pretty darned well wedged in."

The "lack of formal process" - including environmental studies and public input - in an ecologically sensitive area was disturbing, she said.

"We all remember when Rubio Canon Water Company was allowed by the forest service to blast a small shelf," Paul said, referring to the massive landslilde that buried three waterfalls and filled Rubio Canyon in a water-pipe replacement project in 1998. The canyon was scoured out by torrential rains in the winter of 2004.

There's a natural process to rocks washing down, Paul said, but since Millard Canyon is closed to the public there would be no danger to anyone even if it did fall.

"There's no one up there to be harmed," she said. "What was the rush? It didn't make sense."

Read more: http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci ... z1Go7PX02q

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:21 pm

Nothing like a call from a Congressman to the Forest Service I always say.

HJ

Post by **Taco** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:00 am

We could have a pic of that boulder on the next SGMDF sticker, with "LONG LIVE THE BOULDER!" underneath it.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 9:16 am

Taco wrote: ↑We could have a pic of that boulder on the next SGMDF sticker, with "LONG LIVE THE BOULDER!" underneath it.

NICE!

HJ

shreddy · Post by **shreddy** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:20 pm

Taco wrote: ↑We could have a pic of that boulder on the next SGMDF sticker, with "LONG LIVE THE BOULDER!" underneath it.

Newbie alert here. What's with the stickers? I packed out a Miller High Life bottle from Inspiration Point. Does that get me any cred?

Cheers!

Post by **Taco** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 2:04 am

This forum is really just a sham, a cover op for our illegal sticker manufacturing and distribution network.

dgrimreaper · Post by **dgrimreaper** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:04 pm

What will cost more: Blasting the old boulder or the geological and environmental impact analysis?

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:25 pm

dgrimreaper wrote: ↑What will cost more: Blasting the old boulder or the geological and environmental impact analysis?

Doing nothing would cost nothing. If it ain't broke...etc.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:34 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑
dgrimreaper wrote: ↑What will cost more: Blasting the old boulder or the geological and environmental impact analysis?
Doing nothing would cost nothing. If it ain't broke...etc.

I would definitely vote for leaving it alone and not doing the studies, but my answer to the question is that the analysis will cost a hell of a lot more than the actual blasting.

I have not seen money growing on trees in the Millard Falls area (it sure as hell doesn't grow on trees anywhere else). So, let's save that money that we don't have anyway and leave the boulder alone.

This post is valued at $0.02.

Post by **HikeUp** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:53 pm

AlanK wrote: ↑This post is valued at $0.02.

Send the invoice to Obama.

PackerGreg · Post by **PackerGreg** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:17 pm

The Supermoon is gonna knock it loose tonight.