Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Organized Groups face new restrictions at Red Rock Canyon
Our group at the top
When I spoke to one of the rangers that works for the BLM, this was his reasoning for the new change. Red Rock Canyon has a couple rules that most abide by and they are as follows in regards to needing a permit to hike:
1. group is charging a fee to have their members hike
2. group is a large group such as http://www.meetup.com that is accessible to anyone online
The rangers hadn’t really been paying that much attention to the 2nd rule until we had some individuals that were refusing to carpool and taking up the limited parking spaces at the trailhead. That wasn’t the back breakers though that ruined it for us. Those individuals that insisted on posting hikes knowing full well that they might have some that might not finish before the loop closed were the ones that ruined it for everyone.
Here are the new limitations for ANY organized group that wants to go hiking at Red Rock without a permit:
1. There are to be no more that 10-12 people in a group at anything above 5000′ elevation so that includes Turtlehead Peak.
2. There are to be no more than 15-20 people in a group at anything below 5000′ so that would be Calico Tanks, Sandstone Quarry, Ice Box Canyon, and La Madre Springs.
3. No more than 20-25 at the Calico Basin hikes
There are arguments for both sides as shown here: Las Vegas Hiking & Outdoors message board.
As you can see, the majority is on the BLM rangers side. They think that having smaller groups makes for better conversation and getting to know one another better. Then, there is the gentleman who thinks the BLM is infringing on our 1st amendment rights by limiting us. In my eyes, that is taking things a little too far. I don’t see how limiting a group is infringing on anyone’s rights.
(2 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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I find it sort of amazing that there enough large groups of hikers that this has become a problem at Red Rock. Interesting post — keep us informed with what happens from here!
Mark
As you saw if you clicked either link, the LV Hiking & Outdoors meetup has a little over 3, 300 members and the LV Walking, Hiking, & Adventurers meeetup has over 1,300+ members.
Thank you for posting this, Ed!
Just because there might be 3,300 “members” in the LV Hiking & Outdoors Meetup and 1,300+ “members” in the LV Walking, Hiking, & Adventurers Meetup doesn’t mean that there are 4,400+ people going on every posted hike. Many people are members of both Meetups. Many members don’t participate any longer and just forgot to cancel being a member. Many posted events are in parts of town or for events that alot of members don’t want to participate in. For example, there are bicycling events that walkers don’t do, walks that hikers don’t do, I’ve held fencing events for adventurers who want to try something different. It is a rare occasion that you get huge groups, and then there is always more than one person watching out for the group. It is certainly easy enough to post the event for the first 12 and once it is full, post the event with another organizer to begin 15-30 minutes later. Most people in the Meetup events I’ve hiked at pick up other people’s trash along the way. We mostly have a “leave nothing (not even doggy doo) except your footprint behind” mentality. Those who post events that cannot be completed prior to closing should not be allowed to post events (granted, that would be difficult to monitor). Perhaps the BLM should just fine the groups that go past closing time instead!