Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake

balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 01:58PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

Just saw at www.myyosemite.com that the balanced rocks at Mirror Lake have been knocked down. There is a before and after picture.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 02:27PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 6

Good!!

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 04:48PM

Moderator
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,634

I plan on making several trips to Mirror Lake this summer specifically to knock them down. They do not belong there. It's
graphiti and an eyesore.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 05:44PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

According to the picture at www.myyosemite.com they are all gone now but I am sure between now and your next trip, someone will put up some more for you to knock down.

ryanmj

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 06:06PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 285

Quote
parklover
According to the picture at www.myyosemite.com they are all gone now but I am sure between now and your next trip, someone will put up some more for you to knock down.

hopefully, my kids love those

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 04, 2013 09:37PM

Moderator
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,634

Hopefully they love to knock them down. They, the rock stacks not your kids, don't belong in the park. Outside the park; I don't care about what anyone does with any rock.

ryanmj

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 05, 2013 03:54PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 285

its a stack of rock, its more like a sandcastle than graphitti.
Ill make a few for you to knock down this summer if you can find them

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 05, 2013 04:22PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

Rock stacks don't belong in parks unless they are used as cairns to mark trails. It is one thing to see one or two in one place but there must have been hundreds at Mirror Lake and it took away from the natural beauty of the area. Sandcastles are short term and will wash away with the next tide so the next person that comes along will be able to enjoy the beach as it looks naturally. Can you imagine if every sandcastle made was still on a beach for years after they were built? If you must join in the challenge of rock stacking, do so with the ones that are on the ground around you and then knock it down when you are done. I just showed my son a video on YouTube of the rock stacks at Mirror Lake and his comment was "That is soooo wrong."

Remember what Chief Seattle said in 1854 "Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints."

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2013 04:30PM by parklover.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 05, 2013 04:25PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 6

Quote
ryanmj
its a stack of rock, its more like a sandcastle than graphitti.
Ill make a few for you to knock down this summer if you can find them

I don't go to Yosemite to see the rock stacks you or your kids put up. I intend to see it in its natural beauty. Be part of the solution, not the problem!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2013 04:17AM by mrcondron.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 05, 2013 04:37PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

See my post above. If your kids want to stack rocks then have them knock them down afterwards. That is what we did when my son was that age. When he was old enough we also started teaching him about Leave No Trace and he takes that principle very much to heart.

Clewin20 that was a rude comment and if you want people to understand the importance of LNT then educate them nicely and not call them names. As for ryanmj's response back, that was inexcusable to wish someone to die with aids in a fire no matter if they were rude first.

ttilley

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 05, 2013 04:37PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 1,351

A sand-castle goes away with the tide.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 12:08AM

Moderator
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,634

Quote
ryanmj
its a stack of rock, its more like a sandcastle than graphitti.
Ill make a few for you to knock down this summer if you can find them

That's not something that a sane person would brag about.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 04:49PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

One bothersome thing is that in his profile he is listed as an advanced hiker and a climber so he should know better.

ryanmj

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 07, 2013 09:37AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 285

Quote
parklover
One bothersome thing is that in his profile he is listed as an advanced hiker and a climber so he should know better.

know better? they bother you and don't bother me, that's all there is to it. The most unsightly thing in the park is the flocks of tourists.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 11:00PM by mrcondron.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 07, 2013 09:40AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

You have your opinion and other's have theirs. Just leave it at that.

hotrod4x5

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 07, 2013 02:56PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 1,697

Quote
ryanmj

Quote
parklover
One bothersome thing is that in his profile he is listed as an advanced hiker and a climber so he should know better.

know better? they bother you and don't bother me, that's all there is to it. The most unsightly thing in the park is the flocks of tourists.

Not crying over them is sad. You think John Muir would be in favor of these stacks?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 10:59PM by mrcondron.

AlmostThere

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 07, 2013 06:58PM

Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 923

Quote
ryanmj

Quote
parklover
One bothersome thing is that in his profile he is listed as an advanced hiker and a climber so he should know better.

know better? they bother you and don't bother me, that's all there is to it. The most unsightly thing in the park is the flocks of tourists.

You don't have to be a conservationist to hate 'em. People put them up where they don't belong in the backcountry and lead people on wild goose chases looking for a route or trail. I knock them down if they are misleading.

The ones at that junction near mirror lake were ridiculous and eye pollution, and I'm glad someone took the time to disperse them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 11:01PM by mrcondron.

Royalist

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 07, 2013 10:58AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 194

Sadly, lots of climbers have the "me me me" attitude with very little respect for their environment or anyone except their climbing buddies, coupled with a grotesquely exaggerated sense of entitlement/"rights". "Outsiders" are viewed with naked contempt, so the fact that many of us find defacing the park for their personal amusement offensive actually encourages them.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2013 10:59AM by Royalist.

hotrod4x5

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 05:33PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 1,697

There were hundreds of them there. I am amazed if they were all knocked down. It seems like it would become a rock pile.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 05:37PM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 1,976

I wonder who knocked them down. It must have taken a long time because there were so many. I am glad that they are gone.

AlmostThere

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 06:18PM

Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 923

A golf club early in the morning?

qumqats

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
May 06, 2013 06:51PM

Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 670

Hope the rocks were spread around.

In many places rocks like that are a major source of habitat for little bugs and other ground critters.

If the rocks are all stacked up that's depriving a lot of creatures a home.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2013 06:53PM by qumqats.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 08, 2013 11:19PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 6

I just got back from Yosemite today after a 5 day trip. This morning I was visiting Mirror Lake and saw the rock stacks. I sat there for 40 min and knocked every single one down. I even got a 13-15 yr old girl say how "immature" I was for knocking them down. I told her that these stacks are just another form of graffiti, but she still wasn't having it. I told her if what I was doing was wrong to go find a ranger and report me.. I saw no rangers!! I will post pics tomorrow..

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 07:09AM

Moderator
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,634

Thank you.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 02:12PM

Registered: 13 years ago
Posts: 6

Quote
clewin20
I just got back from Yosemite today after a 5 day trip. This morning I was visiting Mirror Lake and saw the rock stacks. I sat there for 40 min and knocked every single one down. I even got a 13-15 yr old girl say how "immature" I was for knocking them down. I told her that these stacks are just another form of graffiti, but she still wasn't having it. I told her if what I was doing was wrong to go find a ranger and report me.. I saw no rangers!! I will post pics tomorrow..

Bee

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 06:33PM

Moderator
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,347

This is GHASTLY! What an abomination!

Don't people realize that each area tells its "story" as it is, naturally? Imagine if someone moved all of the erratics to make a windblock?

The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 07:44PM

Moderator
Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 1,634

Maybe we should organize weekly, or monthly. trips there to keep the place free of those things?

Bee

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 08:28PM

Moderator
Registered: 15 years ago
Posts: 1,347

We need to do something to keep this cancer under control.

The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.

wherever

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 09, 2013 09:43PM

Registered: 14 years ago
Posts: 755

Just be thankful that they are not considered "prayer stones", as they are in some passes in Asia.

thechief

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 13, 2013 09:22AM

Registered: 11 years ago
Posts: 42

I have seen this same thing in Bryce Canyon as well. Though it is in an area of the trail where it does not take away from some other feature of the park. It looks alien, out of place, or like something for a movie set. I wonder if it is something that out of country visitors do in their parks at home, or is it Americans who build these stacks of rocks? I think it all comes down to respect for the National Park, and what a National Park is. I am often appalled by what I see people do in our parks. And I say something when I see it too. Not for myself, but for the protection of the park for those who come after me. There are not enough rangers to watch every area of the park all the time, so we have to be pro active, but polite, when we see people behaving in a way that is not in the best interest of the parks natural beauty. Sure I get an occasional F.U., but most of the time people stop doing what ever it was they were doing. I am just shy of 50, but I take my Jr. Ranger duties seriously. Yosemite is one of my favorite places in all the world, I want to know that it will be just as amazing when I am 90.

LBFam

Re: balanced rocks at Mirror Lake
June 13, 2013 09:46AM

Registered: 12 years ago
Posts: 30

Quote
thechief
I have seen this same thing in Bryce Canyon as well.

I saw them in Bryce Canyon a couple of weeks ago. Probably 50-75 stacks of all sizes in a small area between Sunrise and Sunset Points.
Definitely agree with them looking out of place and that they do not belong there.