East Mountain county high point, Road Closure

[madsjim]

I tried to get to East Mountain on Saturday and the road past Indian Creek campground has been closed to motor vehicles. Only hikers or mountain bikers could get past. The forest service has built a log fence barrier with only a small opening to get by, thus barring access by vehicle to the starting point described in "High in Utah" and further along for the other route at the end of the road.

A notice posted on the fence said the closure is temporary but will be considered for permanent closure. The reason stated is that "full-sized" vehicles had damaged the wet meadows further along and that possibly only atv's would be allowed later in the future when a decision is made.

For anybody whose goal is to get the county highpoints this makes the trip considerably longer by up to 6 more miles roundtrip. I was ticked off after driving so far and finding it closed, I had not prepared for a longer hike, and I turned around to go home.

The Ferron/Price BLM office is accepting calls for ideas on what to do with the road and I think anyone who is interested should contact them. I personally think the road shouldn't be closed and that if there are any meadows that need time to grow back they should be fenced off from access just not the whole road.

[Udink]

Thanks for the update. I spend a lot of time in that area, and I don't think there is a persistent problem with people driving off-road. I will definitely call the Price ranger district and let them know that I'd prefer to see that road remain open.