Ross Bernards, a Colorado adventure and outdoor lifestyle photographer, told CNN he saw the monolith was removed by a group of four last Friday night.
Bernards, who has about a decade of experience in hiking and orienteering in desserts, set out last Friday to take photos of the world-famous monolith with a group of friends after determining the venue earlier this week.
After his friends reached the site of the monolith and was photographed for more than an hour, they heard the voice of a new group turning around the corner toward the scene. Bernards assumed the group of four was also there to take photos, but that was not the case.
“They immediately started pushing on it, as did their entire body weight,” Bernards said. “Maybe they needed three big shocks to make that thing show up a little bit and start turning to his side.
As soon as they were able to release the entire monolith, it fell straight to the ground and bounced big. It sounded like someone had dropped it off the ladder as much as possible from the ladder, Bernards said.
“Once that was done, one of them said he wouldn’t leave garbage in the desert for that reason,” Bernards said.
The group of four took large pieces of the monolith and placed it in a wheelbarrow and said, “leave no trace,” as they are thrown away, Bernards said.
According to Bernards, the term “don’t leave a mark” is a well-known principle of the outdoor community that encourages people who go outdoors to minimize the impact on the environment with the least possible impact.
Bernards and friends did not prevent the group from removing the monolith because they agreed to remove it because the area was not designed to benefit it and could cause damage that would negatively affect the land, he said. .
“It was a great thing to see, but that, too, had to go,” Bernards said. “The Wilderness Areas – Mother Nature is the artist up there and she has to leave the art.”
“We have removed the Utah monolith because there are clear precedents for how to divide and unify our public spaces, natural wildlife, native plants, freshwater resources, and the human impacts on them,” the group said. in a statement sent to CNN by e-mail. . “The mystery was the passion, and we want to use that time to unite the people behind the real issues – we’re losing our public space – things like that don’t help.”
