What were they thinking at the Sierra Club when they dreamed up their latest solicitation for new members?
Did the organization, which touts itself as America's "most influential grassroots environmental organization" and "Good Stewards of the Environment," really intend to use a photo of a hiker atop Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park?
While Canyonlands doesn't have as many arches as its neighbor, Arches National Park, Mesa Arch is a Canyonlands trademark landmark. Located atop the Island in the Sky District and oriented so that the rising morning sun shines through the arch's yawning mouth, Mesa Arch is a landscape photographer's dream.
The Sierra Club mailer doesn't identify the arch, but you'd be hard-pressed to find another arch that not only is oriented the same as Mesa Arch but which also is backed by a sprawling, horizon-stretching panorama. The striations of the rock in the pictured arch also can be found in Mesa Arch.
The picture does, however, appear to have been flipped, as a range of mountains you'd find on the bottom left-hand side of the arch are on the bottom right-hand side in this image.
"That is Mesa Arch, I am almost certain," Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Monday. "It does appear to have been flipped. I’m looking especially at the contours on the bottom of (the arch) and I can find those in other photos. ... So they printed it backwards, which is not that rare around here.”
Sierra Club officials had no immediate comment; they were looking into the matter Monday to determine if indeed the pictured arch is Mesa Arch.
Oddly, while Canyonlands' regulations prohibit climbing on arches, they say nothing about walking across arches, notes Ranger Henderson, although he quickly adds that, "It's not something I'd do."
Those who do walk atop the arch chance a fall of about 975 feet into Buck Canyon.
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Comments
Donna, I couldn't disagree with you more. If messing up the scene is your intention, humans are exactly what you need. I'm kidding of course, but realistically, if you didn't already know where this arch was, you sure wouldn't be able to identify it from the photo. I hate to say it, but this discussion ( & the National Geographic Photo) will probably get more people thinking about walking on this arch than the Sierra Club will.
I have photographed many arches in the Moab area, including those in and around Canyonlands and Arches. Respecting the integrity of these magnificent monoliths is paramount. I encourage any and all not to climb, but there are circumstances and the rights of others that also must be respected. The rights of climbers who wish to summit these structures, outside NPS jurisdiction must be recognized and allowed but not encouraged. Corona arch, which the picture itself resembles very closely, is one of several natural structures on BLM land which can be climbed. Could this shot be of a hiker a top Corona, maybe, it's not determined where it was shot. Still, the Sierra Club must be more prudent in it's approach. Altho I'm a member of the SC, I am not an active member and at times question the Club's operations. Yet, it's still a fighter at forefront of the climate and ecological war. So you can't throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. It's an awesome shot, our opines are our individual thoughts (not dogma), and the truth is of no matter in this case, becuse what we must do all is allwe can to save what little wild places and lands are left. By the way, the backpack is pretty cheap and not of USA production.
why?? Humans have been out of the natural selection loop for quite a while now...lol
The ultimate goal of the sierra club is to make all lands off limits to the public why else are the supporting radical plans like the WILDLANDS project i mean its founder JOHN MUIR was a biased extremists if they get their way the land will be off limits to hikers,campers,equestrians,mountian bikers,nature enthusists,birdwatchers, and everyone who enjoys the great outdoors