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You're absolutely correct. Many of us who have visited that area know that Horseshoe Bend is unchanged and unprotected. There are no guardrails or guidelines to keep the overly curious or careless from going over the edge.

We all mourn the loss of innocent lives here. This is a horrific accident. The family will never recover from such a needless loss.

Regardless, there would have been no difference made had the government been open. We never saw any sign of rangers in the area, it was all tourists, many taking stupid chances stepping out on unsupported, brittle rock ledges.

I have a photo of one fat lady who walked out on an outcrop. You can guess why I took the photo. I've taken many photos of strangers I felt would serve as 'before' photos for the purpose if identifying the body later. She was fine, but the ledge was so thin, had it been any weaker the whole thing might have broken off and gone in. Sometimes it is dumb luck that protects people. I wish it had played a role the day of this incident.

I have a photo of one idiot at the Grand Canyon. On the bright angel trail there is a stone portal. About 30 feet out on the ledge is a circular hole. The drop is about 400 feet there by my estimate. This fellow decided to crawl through the hole from the other side. My wife and I watched as he crawled through. His GF was screaming at him the whole time and he was laughing. Once he got through he had about 15 feet of ledge to cross to get back to the safety of the trail.

About 5 feet from the hole the ledge under his feet crumbled and fell into the canyon. He barely, and it was a long second... barely caught a handhold before falling into the canyon. His GF went silent. He caught himself and terrified, made the last few feet feet to safety. He got back to the trail. A small crowd had gathered watching horror. No one said a word to him. His GF simply turned her back on him and walked up the trail. Wish I had it on video...frosty!