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D. Inscho
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D. Inscho
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PostMon Feb 10, 2020 8:26 pm 
As many probably already know one of the sea stacks at Rialto was toppled during the 2018/19 winter. I just wanted to share a couple of before and after comparisons. I was finally able to return there in January to document the Pacific's remodel properly smile.gif
A lesson in impermanence.  The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.
A lesson in impermanence. The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.
A lesson in impermanence.  The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.
A lesson in impermanence. The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.

http://david-inscho.smugmug.com/ The key to a successful trip is to do the planning during work hours. -- John Muir “My most memorable hikes can be classified as 'Shortcuts that Backfired'.” --Ed Abbey
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Malachai Constant
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PostMon Feb 10, 2020 9:09 pm 
So it goes.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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contour5
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PostMon Feb 10, 2020 10:20 pm 
That was one really iconic tree perched up there. Our coastline is a violent demolition zone of rugged, fragile ephemera. Superb photos, chronology and documentations.

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moonspots
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moonspots
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PostTue Feb 11, 2020 2:37 am 
D. Inscho wrote:
As many probably already know one of the sea stacks at Rialto was toppled during the 2018/19 winter. I just wanted to share a couple of before and after comparisons. I was finally able to return there in January to document the Pacific's remodel properly smile.gif
A lesson in impermanence.  The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.
A lesson in impermanence. The top photo was taken in 2014 and the bottom one this January.
This is quite interesting. If I were taking a geology 101 quiz, I would have selected "C - the rocks will topple bit by bit over multiple centuries", or the like. I'm a bit surprised to see such a large piece of rock topple all at once. So much to learn! Thanks for this! I *really* would have loved to been there (somewhere nearby) to see the event.

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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IanB
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PostTue Feb 11, 2020 10:40 am 
moonspots wrote:
I *really* would have loved to been there (somewhere nearby) to see the event.
Whenever I stand at the toe of a landslide or rockfall I imagine that I could have been precisely on that spot when it came down and been safe. (Like just this side of that saddle-shaped rock in the foreground.)

"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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RumiDude
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PostWed Feb 12, 2020 1:30 am 
IanB wrote:
moonspots wrote:
I *really* would have loved to been there (somewhere nearby) to see the event.
Whenever I stand at the toe of a landslide or rockfall I imagine that I could have been precisely on that spot when it came down and been safe. (Like just this side of that saddle-shaped rock in the foreground.)
In 2007 I was hiking the Tonto Trail nearing Bass Creek. I had just come out of Serpentine Creek and stopped to have a snack and drink some water. As I stood there eating and looking back, I witnessed a rock slide at the end of the canyon. I heard the noise, and saw the section of rock come down, then a billow cloud of pink dust coming towards me. It was surreal. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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joker
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PostWed Feb 12, 2020 11:38 am 
Yeah, not quite as dramatic, but while enjoying a quiet breakfast at Chetwoot Lake one clear and quite calm morning in the middle of a clear and calm stretch, we heard and then saw a truck sized block of rock tumbling down from a steep talus slope along the peak above the far side of the lake. Some geology happens very slowly. Some happens quite quickly. Thanks for sharing these photos - that's an interesting change to see from one year to the next.

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Bernardo
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Bernardo
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PostWed Feb 12, 2020 7:09 pm 
So are there new ones being made or are we going to turn into the Jersey Shore. Nice and smooth.

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puzzlr
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PostWed Feb 12, 2020 8:16 pm 
Thanks a lot for pointing this out. I didn't know that rock had fallen. We visit La Push every Thanksgiving and sometimes head up to Rialto. Those two mirror-image rocks were extremely picturesque. I'm sorry to see one of them go.
Rialto Beach, 2010
Rialto Beach, 2010

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D. Inscho
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PostThu Feb 13, 2020 7:12 am 
All very interesting. I'm wondering if anyone has a fine Puzzlr photo perspective closer to the topple season of 2018/2019. It might show more of the erosion progression. Jan 2019 was the first time I documented the loss but didn't really understand what was wrong with the scene. I thought my compositional disorientation was due to a higher tide. This was the only photo I got illustrating it:
Alder
Alder

http://david-inscho.smugmug.com/ The key to a successful trip is to do the planning during work hours. -- John Muir “My most memorable hikes can be classified as 'Shortcuts that Backfired'.” --Ed Abbey
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Slugman
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PostThu Feb 13, 2020 11:12 am 
Thanks for the photos, I didn’t know about this. But I did know the lesson, from the loss of Elephant Rock. https://www.thedailyworld.com/news/elephant-rock-crumbles/

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Sallie4jo
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PostThu Feb 13, 2020 8:31 pm 
And who all remembers the arch at shi shi's n beach when u 1st come down the bluff? Winter 90/91 i think is when it collapsed. Terrified me..as i had taken refuge in it as well as just walking through it to the beaches to the north of it. And my bet is still that wedding rock will become a sea stack as the land slides away. Nothing is permanent..yes?

I choose to live in a landscape of hope. Terry Tempest Williams
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Malachai Constant
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PostThu Feb 13, 2020 10:36 pm 
Like sands through the hourglass so pass the days of our lives. clown.gif

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Brushbuffalo
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PostSat Feb 15, 2020 2:52 pm 
moonspots wrote:
If I were taking a geology 101 quiz, I would have selected "C - the rocks will topple bit by bit over multiple centuries", or the like. I'm a bit surprised to see such a large piece of rock topple all at once.
We have a near-sighted perspective most of the time. Modern geologic thought includes both very rapid change and very slow change. Toppling of a sea stack is a reasonable example of both rapid (the moment of failure) and moderately slow (again, from our short-time perspective) change. It takes much more time to weather and erode the base of a formation that ultimately leads to its toppling. There are examples all around us, and these pictures are excellent illustrations of this. Thank you, David. I have long wondered why a particular rock tower remains while under virtually identical internal ( rock type) and external (weathering and erosion) conditions, other parts of the same rock formation erode away. Moreover, if the same conditions would occur again, would the result be identical? Maybe we have an example of the so-called butterfly effect.

Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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moonspots
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moonspots
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PostSat Feb 15, 2020 3:32 pm 
Brushbuffalo wrote:
. It takes much more time to weather and erode the base of a formation that ultimately leads to its toppling.
I also wondered if all the sand surrounding these rocks were removed, would the rock pillars be observed to be just "sitting" on top of a base of rock (and being partially supported by the sand) or is it just the tip of a larger piece of rock which broke off and toppled over? Interesting all around either way.

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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