Tourists visiting national parks are not always great at following signage placed there. Whether they’re flat-out ignoring them because they believe they know better, or simply aren’t paying attention and miss a sign, doing this can lead to injury or even death.
A Redditor shared a photo of a man doing just this in the r/JoshuaTree subreddit with the caption “Someone needs to come get their dad.”
Photo Credit: iStock
In the photo, a man is walking around a rock shelter. In the foreground of the photo is a sign reading, “No Climbing in Rock Shelter/Sensitive Cultural Area.”
People in the comments varied in their responses to the photo, with some suggesting that he could have missed the sign, while others thought it was intentional and that the man should be fined.
“Call him out,” wrote one Reddit user.
Another disagreed and said, “That sign is actually easy to miss. You can walk straight through on the path to that and not see the sign until you walk away from it.”
If you zoom in on the photo, you can see the reason the sign is there — there are petroglyphs covering one side of the shelter, ones that appear to be the rumored Disney petroglyphs.
Whether the claim is true or not, rumors exist that in the 1960s or 1970s, Disney was filming a movie in Joshua Tree and wanted these glyphs to really pop, so they painted over them so they would show up better on film. That said, whether someone previously damaged the glyphs or not, people should still take note of the sign and refrain from walking around the area.
Not only do human interactions put the petroglyphs at risk, as well as any other cultural resources in the area, but the man climbing the rocks could easily fall. While he isn’t terribly high up, he’s high enough that he could break a bone if he fell, which would place him in a bind.
The rock shelter also wouldn’t be a great place to run into a wild animal, as there’s nowhere to escape to. If this occurred, the wild animal could attack, leading to the man’s injury or death. Additionally, this could result in the animal’s death as well, as wildlife officials often euthanize wildlife if they attack people.
Remember, it always pays to check an area in a national park for signage to ensure your own safety and that of the environment around you.
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