Here are some sobering thoughts for this Independence Day weekend - as hordes flock to the outdoors -
Crowded Parks - Leave No Trace
and
Crisis In Our National Parks
Crowded Parks - Leave No Trace
and
Crisis In Our National Parks
Well Craig, as a fellow Sactown local, I'd be hard pressed to consider anything near Ice House Reservoir to be "out by yourself."craig333 said:That comfort level being alone may have a lot to do with it. My brother and I took the dogs out of town to avoid the fourth and camped near Ice House Reservoir. My brother commented to me "don't you get nervous being out by yourself"? I think there is something different about us and being comfortable by ourselves (or as near as you can nowadays).
And those two stories are PRE-pandemic and we all know that things are much worse now.ski3pin said:Here are some sobering thoughts for this Independence Day weekend - as hordes flock to the outdoors -
Crowded Parks - Leave No Trace
and
Crisis In Our National Parks
Definitely agree. Not a place I would normally go for camping, Just a quiet place for a few hours.daverave said:Well Craig, as a fellow Sactown local, I'd be hard pressed to consider anything near Ice House Reservoir to be "out by yourself."
I'd guess that you may have been, per your brother, by your lonesomes but it likely was not more than two or three miles to pavement and a steady stream of traffic.
I find that people that get nervous for us alone in the outdoors have maybe seen too many horror films and often think in terms of "what if some psycho with a machete came upon you????"
I guess there's always a LOOP HOLE in life.dennis 221 said:Yes I talked with a lady ranger in Sheridan wy, an they do have a ranger shortage however she stated that it is a loop hole in the 14 day rule that people are using/ abusing...
I'm not refuting your experience AWG but I assume, other than at Cathedral Gorge, you did not attempt to camp at any of the more popular locations such as Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, or Kodachrome Basin. I would expect National Forest and BLM campgrounds to be relatively empty in the fall. Nice shot from Butler Wash BTW.AWG_Pics said:We spent 3 weeks in southern Idaho, eastern Nevada and southern Utah. Never had an issue with overloaded campgrounds.
Had a similar experience at Goblin Valley SP. And yes, we did get there before noon.daverave said:We managed to get a spot in Valley of Fire because it is FCFS and we know how to game it but all 72 campsites there were taken before noon and there was a steady stream of site-seeking traffic the rest of the afternoon and early evening until the park closed.