Two Years Ago…

“At 6:52 pm on July 10, 1996 two rock masses totaling roughly 30 thousand cubic meters fell from the cliff between Washburn Point and Glacier Point. The rock masses slid along a steeply inclined plane before free-falling 500 m to the talus below, hitting the talus slope 13.6 seconds apart; their separate impacts were recorded by seismographs in western Nevada and central California. The second impact generated an air blast that knocked down or snapped 1000 trees. Falling trees damaged the Happy Isles Nature Center, destroyed a snack bar, killed one person, and seriously injured several others. A rapidly moving dust cloud caused by the impact enveloped the area and blocked out the sunlight for several minutes. Smaller rocks continued to fall from the release point during the following days and weeks.” ~NPS