Another criminal idiot in the National Parks

Now.. He left the van.. I've seen many cases where someone took the license plates to disguise ownership but he did not even do that (We still know who the owner is) So Dumbass applies no matter what the reason
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That would only slightly delay ID. The VIN number is linked to the registration

The damage won't disappear for years.:( I belonged to a 4wd club, thoroughly enjoyed many of the activities, but left and removed the decals because of the irresponsible actions of a few who ruined it for everybody. Their idea of fun was charging through streams and spinning donuts in the mud flats.

This is why we have all the laws and regulations that we have. We just do not handle our freedoms very well. SO SAD!

^^^^Yeah, I've seen way too many dirt bikes and ATV's tearing up fantastic riding areas, and then being barred from them, simply because they didn't seem to be thinking about how badly they were trashing the trails.

Pedal powered mountain bikes were also banned because the powers-that-be deemed it easier to just ban everyone rather than the ones doing the actual damage. Not too hard to understand how ATV's and dirt bikes have such a bad image.

I remember a park that was closed down due to bikes tearing it up, with the reason that it was closed "to heal". A year later, it was sold or leased, and is now a golf course.

Stuff like the vandals here just encourages government to sell of the land to private parties, making it inaccessible to pretty much everyone.

While I don't condone the damage, it is just salt, right?

No, it is not just salt.
Driven on areas can take many years to recover the same as the tundra in the far north.

Back in the 1950's from what I've heard from Rangers. The NPS used to dynamite the salt beds at DVNP, and they used to build a big pile of whole trees at Glacier Point (Yosemite), light it on fire, and then use a bulldozer to push the pile off the cliff. All this done for the visual enjoyment by the visitors.

But that was those days. Nowadays several million people will see those tire tracks (and the worse tracks from the dozer used to remove the van) for the next 4 or 5 years. And they won't like it.

Probably illegal aliens.

azdryheat wrote:
While I don't condone the damage, it is just salt, right?

Agreed. Not that any of us would condone such foolishness, its ashame what some people get upset about. There are far more pressing complaints than an idiot who drives onto a salt flat. Part of the problem is that neither a $5,000 fine (which likely wouldn't be paid anyway) nor 6 months in jail solves anything. Part of the problem in our society is that we either fine offenders (for which the money goes to some general fund) or we incarcerate them instead of making them right the wrong. All along the way, we will have to expend monumental resources so that "justice" can be done. Old school justice (really old school) would have this dumbo ceasing to live life as he/she knows it, and instead making full restitution for the problem caused. But instead, we'll slap them with a fine they won't pay and maybe some probation and send them on their merry way.