Woster: Greenpeace's Moonlight Hike up Rushmore

Count on Kevin Woster to get the story: the Rapid City Journalist gets some good background on last week's Greenpeace Rushmore protest. Not that he had to work too hard: I suspect the Greenpeace folks are happy to tell their story. Among the salient details Woster provides in this morning's feature:

1. The protesters hiked in to the monument overnight, mostly by moonlight.
2. The hike took several hours, through thick pine and over boulders—no simple stroll up a trail.
   
3. Despite several days of serious scouting, the protesters faced one critical unknown: whether "the climbing anchors and related equipment in place on the monument would do the job." If the Greenpeacers had found insufficient anchors, they had no intention of installing their own or doing any other damage to the mountain. Their planning and climbing would have been for nought. (National Park Service staff, take note: look into removable climbing/maintenance equipment.)
4. Greenpeace called park officials just before the climbers popped over Abe's head to say, basically, "Peaceful protest! Don't shoot!"

Meanwhile, Greenpeace is enjoying the press, drawing attention to its opposition to President Obama's climate change legislation. Hmph: who says Obama supporters are all Kool-Aid drinking sheep? Mountain goats, maybe, but definitely not sheep.