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.
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.
"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?
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.
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."
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.
I call "BS" on this one.
