[beaversmom]

Video and Article at link

[beaversmom]

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Drive around it...

[driftless2]

The wife and I have gone through the park on that road three or four times. A great drive, but I'm always thinking about falling rocks. Falling rocks are an ever present danger in many of the western state parks.

Or just driving down the interstate through the mountains. One time about six or seven years ago we were caught in a traffic jam ten thousand feet up on I-70 fifty miles west of Denver. We found out the next day a large boulder had fallen on some guy's car and killed him. That's the risk you take when driving in the mountains.

[glock rocks]

UDOT is saying it will open this afternoon.

Incident Road damage - SR 9 at MP 45
Direction: Both Directions
High (more than 15 minutes delays)
Estimated Duration: 16 Hour(s)
Details: Road damage SR 9 CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS THROUGH ZION NAT’L PARK
EST. CLEARANCE TIME: 9/24/2015 6:00 PM
Last Updated: 09/23/15 02:50 PM
http://commuterlink.utah.gov/

The Park Service is saying the same ...
http://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/news/zmchighwayclosed.htm

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Looks like the one that almost nailed us between Silverton and ouray co 25 years ago.

[randita]

ping

[Oatka]

The largest boulder is around 19 feet high, 20 feet long and 15 feet wide and officials said it weighs around 200 tons.
Road crews used a machinery to break up the boulders, but the road has not yet been cleared.

Shoulda got the Egyptians or the Incas to move it. :-)

OR

Friends of this guy:

[Don W]

Zion is a mind-numbingly beautiful area, and Bryce canyon is incredible. The Grand Canyon is nothing but a big ditch in comparison.

[EternalVigilance]

1959 Hebgen Lake, MT earthquake; magnitude 7.5

The Madison Canyon landslide, six miles below Hebgen Dam, was the most devastating result of this earthquake. Nearly half of a mountain fell to the canyon bottom, covered part of Rock Creek campground, blocked State Highway 287, and dammed the Madison River, causing Earthquake Lake to form. Twenty six people were killed by this landslide, but only seven bodies were found. The remaining 19 are presumed buried under the landslide. This photo was taken the day after the earthquake.

[Elsie]

"The area that the rock fall occurred in is a part of the Springdale Sandstone rock formation. There are cliffs that are near the road and because the road is carved into the side of the mountain, rock falls can and do occur." –Dave Sharrow, Zion National Park hydrologist

Engineers with Zion National Park, the Utah Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration will be assessing the section of cliff face above the rock fall for immediate hazards and it's possible that additional rock will need to be removed from the cliff face before the road can be reopened, officials said.

This particular section of state Route 9 has seen several rock falls in the last 20 years.

"The area that the rock fall occurred in is a part of the Springdale Sandstone rock formation," according to Zion National Park hydrologist Dave Sharrow. "There are cliffs that are near the road and because the road is carved into the side of the mountain, rock falls can and do occur."

---

The Department of redundancy Department has been notified.

[Elsie]

Road crews used a machinery to break up the boulders, ...

HMMMmmm...

At LEAST it wasn't Mormon missionaries; disobeying rule #54!