This shot was taken on April Fool Day this year. I thought that when the weather starts to heat up in May, it will start to look better every day.
Access to the Eagle Craigs is from Rockville. The Eagle Craigs are part of a “Wilderness Study Area” but there’s always controversy. For example, a few years ago, Dan Jessop (one of the “Colorado City” Jessops) turned a fine for trespassing with 4X4 trucks on a nearby Wilderness Study Area into a multi-year legal battle that has become the poster child case for every off-road group in the country. By most accounts, about a hundred thousand dollars has been spent fighting a fine of a few hundred dollars. I couldn’t find any information about what eventually happened. Perhaps someone will let me know.
The view is toward the southeast across State Road 9 just at the entrance to Zion Canyon. The left side of the picture shows the entrance to Parunuweap Canyon – AKA – the East Fork of the Virgin. The entire access to Parunuweap is private property and it’s difficult to get there. You can hike down from the top, but it’s a difficult descent. One section of the trail has the name “Fat Man’s Misery”.
Do you know Jessop’s stated justification, his defense, for having trespassed in a Wilderness Study Area, Dan? And do you know who, what groups, supplied the hundred thousand dollars to fund the legal battle?
That is majestic country. It always should remain unspoiled and kept as nature created it. The deepest part of our souls need wild places like that unintruded on by Man. We have no right to dominate everything and we are wrong when we try to do so. Humankind is only one small part of the ecosystem of this Earth.
You live in marvelous country. Thanks for sharing it. The photo brings me peace.
probably your best calendar picture yet
thanks
There was actually a road. It had been created very early in the century (like, 1910 or something) for a sawmill. It was abandoned in something like 1920 or so. Jessop claimed that it was re-established around 1958 and that made it a public road.
As for where the money came from … that’s easy. I did look hard for some clue as to how the case was resolved and I ran onto a lot of old pages answering this question. There are lots of four-wheeler organizations and magazines. It seems all of them appealed to their membership to donate to the defense of four-wheeling.
Thanks, RP!! I thought it worked out well.
And so how does one “re-establish” a road. If he, Jessop, goes and drives on the 1910 road, does tht “re-establish” it and then it becomes a public road? How many times does an abandoned road need to be driven on to be officially “re-established”? What is the definition of a “public road”?
Do you know if vehicles are using the road or running around up there now?
And, by the way, the name is Eagle Crags. – But I still love you.
I’ve made that spelling error before!!! Must be psychological.
I don’t know the answers to your questions. I pretty much told you what I know already.