When using terms generically "bad" or "good" it is almost always a comparative. I was comparing a spot along a rut leading to an area specifically designated for rockhounding. True, there aren't ten people in that area inside any week, and maybe not that many on that road in the "busiest" rockhounding month of the year. And reportedly, the exact spot although clearly disturbed would likely have escaped observation unless someone walked within ten feet of it, and only the dogs found it even with a dozen officers combing the area carefully.
there are, nevertheless, a lot of spots that wouldn't have gotten that much attention, say along the old riverbed chanel fifteen miles closer to Simpson Springs, or thirty yards off the road almost anywhere the whole way from Simpson Springs. For example, in the channel of the old riverbed that carried water for a while when Lake Bonneville was drying up. There's some clumps of sage and some twists and turns in the channel, with a lot of sand that could be more easily "restored" to a natural-looking surface and any signs more easily erased by wind, rain, or snow.
The area of the find was hardly an area used by pioneers, cowboys, or even Goshute indians, but has received a great deal of attention by geologists, BLM officers, rockhounds, and sightseers. That's why there's a rut to that area.
A lot of storms pass over this area without dropping a lot of moisture, and the ground probably wasn't actually frozen even at near zero, and all the reasons for not wanting to be seen might have been in play.
I just think it's better to keep in mind that some things are not "established facts" until the evidence is actually in and thoroughly reviewed by some competent trained officers. I don't have any personal stake in this, except in the value the case may have as either a deterrence to more crime or as a public education process. Unfortunately, I have little respect for the judicial process or for juries drawn from contemporatry society. I've been on one where I saw a serious miscarriage of the due process and a judge who refused to do what was right. And then there's some disturbing trends going down in our frontline officers as well. Not to mention a lot of us.