how close is too close in an empty canyon?
I backpacked Coyote Gulch this past weekend with my sister, wife, and our two boys (4 and 7). We started and chimney rock and packed down to Jacob Hamblin Arch and set up camp under the huge alcove near the bathroom. The next day we day hiked down canyon and we saw our first people 26 hours who were not camping just day hiking the lower loop.
We worked our way back up the canyon to our campsite and once we got there some people had set up camp right next to us. That really pissed us off, I am all for being friendly and whatnot but come on..... Who in the hell sets up camp in what I would consider the same campsite while the canyon is completely empty. There was 5 unoccupied campsites within a 1/4 and they still set up right next to us.... no trees or bushes in between us... just us and them under the alcove.
So we broke down our camp and moved up canyon near hurricane wash to get some privacy....