Sandthrax Campsite

A large number of you currently use the Sandthrax Campsite located in North Wash next to the popular Leprechaun Canyon http://climb-utah.com/Powell/leprechaun1.htm. The BLM has threatened to close the primitive campsite because it attracts a large number of people. Yeah, I know, it doesn't make much sense to me either...

To save the campsite the canyoneering community has promised that we will do a good job of policing ourselves. That we will pick up all trash, including that of others. That we will not drive or camp on vegetated areas. And that we will drive five miles down the road to the Hog Spring restroom http://climb-utah.com/Powell/hogspring.htm for our morning constitutional. The canyoneering community needs everyone to pitch in to save this convenient campsite. Please do your part.

:rockon:

we were down there on friday and it was actually pretty clean.
Kudos to those who are picking up. :2thumbs:

seen this topic floating around lately. sandthrax trashed ? whose butt is the blm trying to blow smoke up ? i have never seen that area anywhere close to being "trashed" any of the numerous times over the last 2.5 years that i have been by there. makes me wonder what is really going on...

I wouldn't conspiracy theorist to much yet. The BLM knows that if they close that area down people will go elsewhere. On the same token the threat could be very real. Trashing is a relative term, compared to what that area was before anybody started camping their it is 'trashed' by some means. If it is kept clean and vehicles stay on the road, fire pits don't show up everywhere, and the white flags get buried then I wouldn't forsee any problems...

I have cleaned up dispersed sights before and it is not any fun, something about picking up other peoples a** wipe :bootyshake: because they can't dig a pit is just wrong. I understand the frustration of the BLM, its a problem easily solved though.

Below is a note I recieved from the BLM. I would be interested in hearing from you if the "no toilet" consensus is accurate or not.

Shane,

We are not threatening to close the campsite, we are just concerned about increased use. I have asked users if they would like a restroom at the site so they do not have to make the trip to Hog but most are not in favor of it. So we will just monitor the area for now. We may delineate camps so the use does not spread out more than it has already but that is about all. If you have questions please e mail myself or Sue Fivecoat. We are both willing to work with the canyoneering community on issues.

John Bierk
Field Staff Ranger
Richfield, Utah

.

It sounds like they are interested in "improving" the site. i.e. rocks or logs defining parking areas, set fire rings, etc.... is the usual. As far as a toilet on site, what would the bad part be? :ne_nau: Their is being one with nature and their is being sanitary.

Maybe a weekend work party to improve the sight??

At the moment the sandthrax campsite is very low key.

Some folks are worried that by improving the site with toilet and such will lead to

(1) drawing attention of more people, not necessarily in the canyoneering community, which could result in greater deterioration of the site

(2) further governmental regulation of the site

[anyone want to add or modify this?]

Toilet goes in and the Sandthrax campsite becomes the "north Wash Campground" and within a few years will be marked on the maps that the stream of boaters from Phoenix, Salt lake, and Denver buy at the Flying J on their way down to Powell after work on friday evening. "Oh we'll camp there, its only a few miles from the lake and then we can launch first thing in the morning." Next thing you know it will be "Hey, theres this cool campground where we can see one of them slot canyon things and then go to the lake. " Boaters see the toilets or see other boaters camped there the next morning and think-- "thats a nice place, next time we're stopping there on our way down." At a minimum it would be hit heavily on holiday weekends by boaters looking for their own little spot away from the crowds that line the lakeside camping possibilities. Anyone who's seen the shores of Powell would be kidding theirselves to think that the place wouldn't get trashed and need a lot more maintenance when the boater crowd comes en force, and then come the fees.

Nothing against boaters, its just nice to have a place that isn't too crowded, and if there is someone else camped there a lot of times you know who they are because they're canyoneers.

I'd passed the spot dozens of times before and had no idea there was camping there just like I had no idea there were slot canyons there.

It could become the next Little Wildhorse, or the Subway that you can hit on your way to Lake Powell...

Sandthrax is currently the most convenient campground for canyoneering that i can think of (Zion campgrounds, with all their regulations, fees, roaming rangers, and perpetual fullness are non-convenient (but they have nice toilets!). ) With the relative seclusion and nearby toilets it'd be a shame to see the crowds take over. Boaters may be using it in a different season than the majority of us, but we'd see the effects when our season started again. Maybe it'll be a few years and we'll still be the primary user group. When Hite opens again down the road and the traffic heats up, kiss our nice campground goodbye.

Or maybe I'm just being paranoid. I think of Hog Springs as a nice luxury and we look forward to the drive down there in the morning. No big deal.

Ben,
i absolutely agree w/ your post, but, when i see these types of threads on enthusiasm boards, it always seems to me like it's "preaching to the choir". and in fact i would bet that most people here or in the yahoo groups or on the ACA board all feel and act in the same manner. it's the uneducated 90%ers that ruin it for the rest of us.
i was at north wash last week, and the few people i spoke with never heard of any of these web groups (they know now). :nod:

in addition, we took my little ones through little wild horse on sat. and oh man what a Joke. talk about a chaotic mess. the one saving grace was that 90% of the people there were either afraid to get wet or didn't know how to stem, cause at the first sign of water, it was a mass exodus. so i can relate to the LWH reference.

I'll jump on the ACA bandwagon and say the education is obviously the best resort, but most of the spew you see on the web about hiking/ canyoneering often does not recognize the impact portion of their adventure.(Shane and tom's site are among the few that do)

I'd hate to see northwash exploited by LP boat snobs, but unless everyone else that uses that area keeps their shit in check, it's all for not. maybe some subtle signs and steel ring'd fire pits aren't such a bad idea to keep everyone on the same page. i just think that people are lazy by nature, and if they see a pit they'll use it. but if some wingnut decides to make another, chances are it will continue to be used.

unfortunately, we all end up becoming our own worst enemy, the more people use the area, more people know about it. The less precious it becomes.
(stepping off soap box)

Clearly sandthrax campsite will gain dramatically more usage in the near future as it is a positive feedback loop. More people are being turned onto canyoneering and the campsite is mentioned/graphically-indicated in a few places. This means more and more people will use the site and of course more and more people driving by will see people using the site.
:blahblah:

Preaching to the choir is a good thing, because it raises the awareness of those in the know, who will do their best to maintain the site, especially when they bring friends along or see others camped there who don't know. Hightened awareness, i think, can make someone more likely to caution others about problems/issues, instead of just letting them slip by, which you know will happen!! [Also it reaches some of those not in the know.] Firerings and subtle signs should help a great deal too, and it sounds like they will be put into place.

But while the bathroom would be more convenient and would help to sanitize the site, it will clearly attract many more people since it would be a beacon, especially for the boating crowd. They, of course, can and do use the dirty devil river site, but the point benny makes is a good one, since they'll be able to see, at least a small part of, a really good, dark, tight slot canyon with minimal effort.

As a long time Powell boater (since the late 60's) I think your worries about boaters taking over the Sandthrax Campsite are completely unfounded. Nearly every boater I know sleeps in their boat. The standard model is to pull down late at night, pull into the boat parking , everyone jumps in the boat and falls asleep until first light and then they are up and launching the boat. Powell boaters do not camp in campgrounds, they sleep on their boats or on the lake.

YMMV.

You're right, shane.

I should replace boaters with the general highway traffic.

I guess the point is that when we usually camp primitively all over the CP, it's usually in places which are very unobvious to the general highway traffic. so this, i think, is what is more appropriately being talked about, since the campsite is so obvious to the general 95 traffic.

of course there are other unobvious sites nearby.

i am not necessarily taking a stand here, one way or the other. i am just trying to clarify what one side of the issue is.

How about we all just take an oath to bring a shovel and bury our crap, clean up the trash if it is yours or not, and keep on the main roads already developed.

I hate to see the nice overlooked campsite go to waste as much as anybody else, but I also know what it will be in a few years, if it is publicized or not. The last three times I have been their I have turned around and gone .2 miles back down the road to where their is nobody and the best camping in the area.

Like it or not people want to be outside, it some sort of trend we are going through, and for the most part they could care less what they leave behind. Sad but true.

Quote:

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Sandthrax is currently the most convenient campground for canyoneering that i can think of (Zion campgrounds, with all their regulations, fees, roaming rangers, and perpetual fullness are non-convenient (but they have nice toilets!). )

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You forgot to mention the fact that camping inside Zion is like sleeping in a wind tunnel...

But seriously - who camps inside Zion? Unless you are meeting up for a canyon fest or something, there are at least two other options for free camping very close to Zion's south entrance - and you can find places to camp near the North entrance too... All of these are wind-tunnel free camping... (although there are no potties there) Oh - and golf-cart ranger free spots as well.

"Best-kept secret" camping spots rarely last very long. At one of the spots outside of Zion - the BLM floodplain area - I saw two strange things when I pulled in this past weekend. Directly ahead, I saw a full-on family camp setup (complete with the little sun-shade over the picnic table, four trucks, lots of coolers, and gigantic arabian-knights sized tents that could probably house a small army)... directly to my left was an $100,000+ RV. Normally all I would see would be clusters of small tents or people sleeping under tarps or under the stars... I hope that in the summer this area isn't going to be overrun when I want to use it.