We spent the last week hiking in the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming. While a little late for peak wildflowers, it was great uncrowded hiking and nice escape from the heat.
One thing that was really unusual was the large number of abandoned campers (trailers and fifth wheels) in certain areas of the forrest. This was particularly the case of FR 14 towards Bucking Mule Falls TH in the NW section of the forrest as well as FR17 to Paint Rock and Edelman TH, but was also just generally the case. It was not just one or two trailers here and there, but hundreds of them, to the point where finding an unoccupied dispersed camp site was challenging. Most of the campers appeared to have been there for at least a few weeks based on the grass around them, but not for the winter. I am assuming people use them as a cabin and come up for the weekend. However, we did spend one weekend in the area, and good fraction still did not appeared occupied.
Is this a new trend, or a regional thing in the Bighorns? I have only seen this a few times in CO and UT, and mostly around hunting season. Is this something that happens in your area?
One thing that was really unusual was the large number of abandoned campers (trailers and fifth wheels) in certain areas of the forrest. This was particularly the case of FR 14 towards Bucking Mule Falls TH in the NW section of the forrest as well as FR17 to Paint Rock and Edelman TH, but was also just generally the case. It was not just one or two trailers here and there, but hundreds of them, to the point where finding an unoccupied dispersed camp site was challenging. Most of the campers appeared to have been there for at least a few weeks based on the grass around them, but not for the winter. I am assuming people use them as a cabin and come up for the weekend. However, we did spend one weekend in the area, and good fraction still did not appeared occupied.
Is this a new trend, or a regional thing in the Bighorns? I have only seen this a few times in CO and UT, and mostly around hunting season. Is this something that happens in your area?