2023-03-05, 06:17 PM
(This post was last modified: 2023-03-05, 06:31 PM by Beardilocks.)
I'm doing a quick follow up here as well, in part to inform people and in part to kinda show where NPS is currently with the new permitting system in these areas of the park. IE: They haven't thought it through all the way yet.
When we got back to our trucks, we both had LEO warnings for parking illegally. We were absolutely parked perfectly legally: just off the road, in a wash, not over the wilderness barrier signs, less than 2ft from the road. This is exactly where everyone parks to do these hikes.
I inquired at the SPW Ranger kiosk and the Ranger on duty was one who knows me well enough to know I would not park like an idiot. His answer was... disconcerting at best. He said that I was parked perfectly legally for any road i the park, but... Now that you need a permit to camp in Cottonwood AND need a permit to hike it, LEOs are dropping warnings on anyone parked in the area. It is NOT listed as no parking or anything of the sort. He really had no answer to this problem. His suggestion was essentially to park at the trailhead or in Stovepipe. Which is ludicrous. It would add 6mi to the roundtrip to park at the canyon mouth and 12mi round trip to park in SPW or on 190. That is not a valid answer in my opinion. He also said we might need to get a Cottonwood hiking permit to park in the parking area at the entrance of Cottonwood/Marble. That's silly because I'd be taking a permit from someone that wanted to hike Cottonwood/Marble and then NOT hiking it.
THIS ALSO APPLIES TO Echo and Hole in the Wall. So if you parked on those roads to hike you are currently in danger of getting a warning/ticket.
NPS clearly needs to sort out what is ok where and make the rules very clear and published somewhere. But I know that the number of people hiking either the Princess Bride Canyons or north to other canyons in the Cottonwoods (hidden bridge for instance) will need to park in these places.
I'm going to send an email to NPS and see if I can get a better response or advice on this matter. Having failed to find Humperdinck Bridge (since it doesn't exist lol), I might want to take another crack at that and already having been given a "warning" I would likely get a hefty fine the next time...
When we got back to our trucks, we both had LEO warnings for parking illegally. We were absolutely parked perfectly legally: just off the road, in a wash, not over the wilderness barrier signs, less than 2ft from the road. This is exactly where everyone parks to do these hikes.
I inquired at the SPW Ranger kiosk and the Ranger on duty was one who knows me well enough to know I would not park like an idiot. His answer was... disconcerting at best. He said that I was parked perfectly legally for any road i the park, but... Now that you need a permit to camp in Cottonwood AND need a permit to hike it, LEOs are dropping warnings on anyone parked in the area. It is NOT listed as no parking or anything of the sort. He really had no answer to this problem. His suggestion was essentially to park at the trailhead or in Stovepipe. Which is ludicrous. It would add 6mi to the roundtrip to park at the canyon mouth and 12mi round trip to park in SPW or on 190. That is not a valid answer in my opinion. He also said we might need to get a Cottonwood hiking permit to park in the parking area at the entrance of Cottonwood/Marble. That's silly because I'd be taking a permit from someone that wanted to hike Cottonwood/Marble and then NOT hiking it.
THIS ALSO APPLIES TO Echo and Hole in the Wall. So if you parked on those roads to hike you are currently in danger of getting a warning/ticket.
NPS clearly needs to sort out what is ok where and make the rules very clear and published somewhere. But I know that the number of people hiking either the Princess Bride Canyons or north to other canyons in the Cottonwoods (hidden bridge for instance) will need to park in these places.
I'm going to send an email to NPS and see if I can get a better response or advice on this matter. Having failed to find Humperdinck Bridge (since it doesn't exist lol), I might want to take another crack at that and already having been given a "warning" I would likely get a hefty fine the next time...
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