BLM reports

The Amboy National Natural Landmark Recreation Area will be undergoing reconstruction and paving of the areas access road beginning June 12 with completion anticipated by June 27, 2010. Funding for the project is being provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The construction project will provide the public with a smooth all season paved road, replacing the current largely un-maintained gravel road. To ensure the publics safety and to increase project efficiency, the road will be closed from June 12 - 27, 2010. We apologize for any inconvenience this closure may cause, but believe that the final product will be well worth the wait.

BLM Needles

Gee I kind of miss being able to drive to the base of the crater.

The road is now finished, an easy ride to the restroom, but a long walk to the crater.

what better way to disallow access to something than to make it almost next to impossible to get there safely. the blm will tell you they haven't closed amboy crater, but you have to hike a long way to get to it. i find that kind of behaviour reprehensible. anyone with any type of disability can no longer access even the base of the crater safely. and please don't be trying to do it when it is warm out. can you tell this kind of stuff pisses me off? make nice bathrooms that stick out like sore thumbs in the natural landscape, but only allow people to view something from a distance. aarrgghhhh!

With any luck, maybe Amboy will erupt again and bury the new restrooms and road.

Say, do they have to have handicapped access to the crater? This sounds like a potential lawsuit.

Edit: And I remember the first time I drove to Amboy Crater; the map showed a straight road to the crater, but when I got there it was anything but straight; we also got a flat and the joke was how many grad students does it take to change a tire?

there are many potential ADA lawsuits on blm and nps land. and why do we call it land owned by the national park service. dang it, WE own the land. but i digress.

we need lawyers that are willing to take ADA laws seriously, but i am afraid there isn't much money in those.

Lara, Great points made! I have been saying similar sentiments for a year now, about desert access in general. When they close an area off to vehicular usage, it prevents many disabled and elderly folks from seeing the better and more scenic parts of the desert. Carrying adequate amounts of water in order to hike the vast areas, is difficult at the least, and prohibitive as well. Many parts of the desert will be then, inaccessible. Plain and simple. One can only carry a very limited amount of water at the 8.32 pounds it weighs per gallon.

I realize that measures must be taken to help preserve the desert for future generations, this obvious. A lot of beautiful areas are close to being ruined. On the flip side, it must be considered that many areas are public land, therefore owned by we citizens of the USA. A perplexing and complicated dichotomy to say the least.