[touron]

And all day long they hunted...

[ADrewzki]

[peltoms]

So this is where the Truffula trees were that the Lorax tried to protect from the oncelers?

[Stones]

Quark- how about another clue? Or more creative guesses from the peanut gallery.

[Quark]

Hell, I don't know what the damn thing is. I made that part up about installing one once. I was just hoping someone would offer me a hundred bucks for the answer. It's driving me nuts, though, wondering what it is.... My real and true guess is that it's something to do with a temporary place to hang samples of creatures, winged beasts or flora...? It's on Reservation lands, right? Could be a modern dream-catcher or something wonderful like that.

[treasureblue]

I love this. NWHikers has their own version of "Lost"!

[Stones]

It's freaking driving me nuts, too. We have here one of the world's greatest repositories of useless knowledge and not one of our world renowned trivia experts knows what this thing is. It's on BLM land and I'm sure that will be a tremendous help.

[GeoTom]

Stones- Did you try asking the thing what it was? Maybe it would have told you if you asked nicely. Maybe it is a hitching post for very small horses. Edit- More Cowbell already suggested a hitching post for small dogs. Hmm.

[Quark]

Good point. Perhaps it speaks.

[Stones]

I would've talked to the post but I had my kids with me. It would only confirm with them what I suspect they already know, that dad is about a half-step removed from the real world.

[seawallrunner]

how tall is this thing?

[More Cowbell]

It's an oracle. 5 seconds of silence means yes, 10 seconds of silence means no and anything longer means ask again later.

[Nomad]

I think we should take it. Then read the police reports to see what was reported stolen.

[Bhaladog]

[Mtn Dog]

Well, I have one semi-plausible explanation. We had a board very similar to this in scouts when we went swimming, always with a partner. I think it was called the buddy board. If you have a SAR activity or a fire to fight in the wilderness it becomes quite important to know who is still on the trail and who is not. So if each person places their own tag on this board when going into the trail system, fire, or whatever and removes it again upon returning the post would always reflect a current picture of how many individuals are still out. If each person was assigned a number and used the respective hook for it on the post, they would also know specifically who was still out. In the Horse Heaven Hills it could also be used for similar purposes. If there are riding trails then it could be used for a Poker Run, Orienteering Meet, or other event that had lots of participants spread across miles of terrain.