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Rangers closed famous Yosemite’s Curry Village cabins back in Oct. 2008, and for good reason: While they offer spectacular views of Yosemite’s classic granite vistas during your front-country stay, there’s also the chance you could be crushed under tons of granite rock fall. Bummer.
No one was injured seriously in the October incident, but since then the 100-year-old cabins have been off-limits and surrounded by a chain-link fence. Now the park wants to decide what to do before elements, varmints, and entropy have their way with the historic site—but they want your help. Yosemite will hold a public comment period to help determine their own environmental assessment. Options include saving and moving some buildings to a new site (possibly near the Wawona Hotel), or dismantling the site as a whole.
“We want to determine what’s worth moving because it has a historical component to it,” said park spokesman Scott Gediman. “We want the public to help us look at this thing from all of the angles.”
Since being closed, the cabins have attracted curious tourists anyway, leading them to a potentially dangerous area. Apparently “rock fall hazard zone” isn’t a strong enough warning for your average Yosemite gawker.
Public comment lasts until April 7—let the park know what you think online or, if you live like the original Curry Village pioneers, mail it here:
Superintendent
Attn: Curry Village Rockfall Hazard Zone Structures Project
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
—Ted Alvarez
via LA Times
Image Credit: Miguel Vieira