Over the years several on WTW have shared stories about misadventures with other campers. The Lady and I have had our share. Last weekend we had another one.
We live close to Lake Tahoe and we tend to stay away from our area during summer because of the heavy use. Our local National Forests are now - within the management guide lines of the USFS - designated as "Urban Forests" meaning that they are close to and used by major population centers.
We should have stayed away last weekend.
We just wanted to do a simple day hike, summit three peaks, the first, second, and fourth highest in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Our access was out of Hope Valley on the dirt USFS Willow Creek Road on the Toiyabe National Forest. We found a nice useable campsite about a half mile above the Armstrong Pass trailhead early Friday evening. We'd start the hike from there and relax after completing the hike Saturday afternoon and spend another night. The road continues up past our campsite.
Our hike route was a circle and our route back took us back down the road above our camp. At the end of a spur road was a group of young people with tents and an ez-up, cases of beer, smoking cigarettes (fire restrictions prohibit smoking outside a vehicle with the windows up), and some young people over playing in the shallow creek. My wife, the middle school teacher, estimated their age around 16. No vehicle was parked. They had been dropped off, to hold the area? This was approximately .75 mile above us.
Vehicles started driving in shortly after our return to our camper. The first group was 6 including pickups loaded with tables and equipment, not the usual camping stuff piled in the back of a pickup. The vehicles continued coming in. There were some very nice cars driving by. Mom and Dad are doing well or carrying a great deal of debt. It was obvious a party for kids was planned. A big party. The last car went up the road around 3 am. I'd estimate 30 plus vehicles, all packed with kids. A couple of groups parked lower and walked up.
Full on festival sound system. It could strip the needles off of pine trees, maybe did.
I expect this event was promoted over social media with the possibly of a cover charge and this being a money making event.
The people doing the sound appeared experienced insofar as they drove out with two loaded pickups at 6 am Sunday morning, ahead of when they thought authorities might show.
If you're curious about the location, copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth -
38°50'20.82"N 119°53'05.8"W (using the historical imagery icon move to 6/15/2013)
Welcome to our urban forests.
We live close to Lake Tahoe and we tend to stay away from our area during summer because of the heavy use. Our local National Forests are now - within the management guide lines of the USFS - designated as "Urban Forests" meaning that they are close to and used by major population centers.
We should have stayed away last weekend.
We just wanted to do a simple day hike, summit three peaks, the first, second, and fourth highest in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Our access was out of Hope Valley on the dirt USFS Willow Creek Road on the Toiyabe National Forest. We found a nice useable campsite about a half mile above the Armstrong Pass trailhead early Friday evening. We'd start the hike from there and relax after completing the hike Saturday afternoon and spend another night. The road continues up past our campsite.
Our hike route was a circle and our route back took us back down the road above our camp. At the end of a spur road was a group of young people with tents and an ez-up, cases of beer, smoking cigarettes (fire restrictions prohibit smoking outside a vehicle with the windows up), and some young people over playing in the shallow creek. My wife, the middle school teacher, estimated their age around 16. No vehicle was parked. They had been dropped off, to hold the area? This was approximately .75 mile above us.
Vehicles started driving in shortly after our return to our camper. The first group was 6 including pickups loaded with tables and equipment, not the usual camping stuff piled in the back of a pickup. The vehicles continued coming in. There were some very nice cars driving by. Mom and Dad are doing well or carrying a great deal of debt. It was obvious a party for kids was planned. A big party. The last car went up the road around 3 am. I'd estimate 30 plus vehicles, all packed with kids. A couple of groups parked lower and walked up.
Full on festival sound system. It could strip the needles off of pine trees, maybe did.
I expect this event was promoted over social media with the possibly of a cover charge and this being a money making event.
The people doing the sound appeared experienced insofar as they drove out with two loaded pickups at 6 am Sunday morning, ahead of when they thought authorities might show.
If you're curious about the location, copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth -
38°50'20.82"N 119°53'05.8"W (using the historical imagery icon move to 6/15/2013)
Welcome to our urban forests.
!
