Trump protest climbers hang upside-down U.S. flag from atop Monkey Face at Smith Rock State Park
(Update: Added video)
TERREBONNE, Ore. (KTVZ) – A group of Smith Rock climbers opposed to the Trump administration's policies decided to hang a U.S. flag upside down – a well-known sign of protest or distress - on the famed Monkey Face feature at the state park on Tuesday, hours before the president's address to a joint session of Congress.
A friend of those who affixed the flag at the well-known climbing spot took photos of the high-profile protest and shared some with KTVZ News, also posting them on various Facebook pages.
In the accompanying note, “Cat Kevin” of Terrebonne said the flag was placed on Monkey Face around noon “in protest of the current administration’s assault on public lands.”
Kevin later told us that “some people I know did it,” and he went up to take pictures because he was “sympathetic to their message.”
It’s apparently not a common protest site. Kevin recalled a time back in the 1990s when opponents of a proposed resort development in the area hung a protest sign from the Picnic Lunch Wall, across the Crooked River from the parking lot.
As you might imagine on social media, “we certainly had some people who were objectionable to it," "Kevin" said. But there were few people at the park on a weekday, so there wasn’t much reaction on scene, he added.
“Kevin” said he was particularly upset by President Trump’s recent executive order that declared a national emergency that he fears will allow “logging on national forests without any environmental review whatsoever,” as well as in national parks.
The photographer said it was a windy day and that while the idea was to leave the flag up until evening, there was a chance it might have blown over the top of Misery Ridge, so it was only in place for about 90 minutes.
He said no damage occurred: “It was all hooked on anchors that existed there for climbing. No harm was done, no damage to the rock – all temporary. Just a statement.”
KTVZ News has reached out to park Manager Matt Davey to see if any rules were violated. But coincidentally, Kevin said he ran into Davey later in Terrebonne and showed him the photos. We're told by a State Parks representative that Davey went to the park to check the site, but the flag already had been taken down.
