Anyone been to S. UT recently?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Is it still pretty much a "stay the fuck away unless you live here" scenario?

[evdog]

I know a few people who have been to StGeorge/Hurricane recently. Sounds like the trails are all open for business. Not sure about what is open/closed in town though.

[SJG]

I have been 3x, but I dirtbag camp and avoid the towns if at all possible.

[MakersTeleMark]

It died. It then rose up from the dead.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

If I go I would be super careful. Probably load up the cooler here so I don't even have to go to a store down there. Dispersed camp BLM style in the back of the truck etc. Probably ride alot of gravel and mellow singletrack. Not trying to get rad. Trying to get a tan.

[tBatt]

Just got back from 5 days in Moab. Still no camping in Grand County. We camped up Geyser Pass rd which is south of the line. Did all our shopping local in Salt Lake. Milt's is super fucking busy. Bike trails were empty. Saw no one on Bull Run Getaway. Maybe a dozen people on Porcupine Rim from Kokopelli both Thursday and Saturday. A handful of people skiing up in the La Sals. Didn't see many people on Ahab but plenty in the parking area.

Headed to St George area this weekend. Maybe a stop at Thunder Mtn on Friday. Just had a buddy get back from Hurricane and he said no one was in town and no one were on the trails, but the gas stations and grocery stores were packed and no one was wearing masks. Bryce and I think Zion are opening this week, so I can't imagine the towns will get any better.

[MakersTeleMark]

If I go I would be super careful. Probably load up the cooler here so I don't even have to go to a store down there. Dispersed camp BLM style in the back of the truck etc. Probably ride alot of gravel and mellow singletrack. Not trying to get rad. Trying to get a tan.

A tan? You?

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

A tan? You?

lol

[MakersTeleMark]

Trying to grow the mustache out too?

[MakersTeleMark]

This hood is good BTW.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Trying to grow the mustache out too?

Not quite touching my ears yet, so definitely needs more work.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

This hood is good BTW.

I feel good!

[MakersTeleMark]

[MakersTeleMark]

Harry where do you go?

[MakersTeleMark]

Utah of course.

[toast2266]

At least around here, campers (or really, any vehicle) with out of state plates get dirty looks at the very least. Everyone is pissed they're around. Wouldn't be surprised if their tires got slashed / campers got fucked with.

No idea if it's the same mood in Utah, but I'd imagine there's at least some of that same sentiment.

[skifishbum]

i think they threw
in the towel
so to speak
if ya know what i means

[One (+) Sentence]

What area are you thinking about visiting? Sociopolitically, St George (SW Utah area) and Moab (SE) might as well be on different planets.

If Moab plan on being self sufficient and I believe the most common free BLM camping is still restricted. But also still plan on ordering La Poutine carryout from the Muff.

If St George, I think you may be hard pressed to distinguish evidence of a global pandemic.

[smmokan]

At least around here, campers (or really, any vehicle) with out of state plates get dirty looks at the very least. Everyone is pissed they're around. Wouldn't be surprised if their tires got slashed / campers got fucked with.

No idea if it's the same mood in Utah, but I'd imagine there's at least some of that same sentiment.

"Locals" are gonna be locals. If they don't complain about something other people are doing, then they don't deserve to live there.

[toast2266]

"Locals" are gonna be locals. If they don't complain about something other people are doing, then they don't deserve to live there.

Sure. Except locally, our valley (pop. 100k) hasn't had a new Corona case in almost a month. Life has in large part returned to normal - we're (mostly) back to work, restaurants are reopening, and people can gather with some degree of safety / confidence. But everyone here is fully aware that the normalcy ends as soon as a bunch of tourists come rolling into town.

Locals hating on tourists is nothing new, but times are different.

[smmokan]

I get it. But there's always more to it. I've seen multiple people from these "closed" counties in Colorado bitch about visitors, but then they leave to go ride somewhere else all day, and then return home. Yeah, that makes sense.

Plus, I don't think normalcy has to end if/when people start visiting again. With social distancing practices in place, changed social habits, and what we now know about the virus (specifically the vulnerable populations), there are a lot of built-in controls to prevent the numbers from going back up. I don't know where you live, but maybe you're in a unique spot in the mountains where your town doesn't need tourism in order to survive? From what I've seen around CO/UT, even with towns/counties opening back up, the number of visitors is significantly down. People still aren't flying or traveling long distances, which is a large majority of visitors to these big-name locations.

Edit to add: I'd also like to think that most of the people on this forum are pretty smart about the way they travel and impact the communities they visit.

[Canada1]

I’ve ridden in Moab a lot. It is empty. City Market is open and people are wearing masks. I haven’t been to any other place in town. I see a few Colorado vans in the early am that must be camping. I’ve seen a few fifth wheels in the non campground dispersed camp sites. My only interaction with DNR, or authorities of any sort has been them saying hello and me saying thanks for your work. So, with local plates, I have had no negative feedback.

On the news, they have closed park access to some of the southern Utah attractions because of crowds. I haven’t gone down there because the extra drive time doesn’t fit with my day trip mode I’ve self justified. I think if you went, were considerate and friendly, camped isolated and no impact, no one would say a word to you.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Maybe I will check out St. George since I haven't been yet. Gonna be super hot next week anyway so who knows. Might find somewhere with a little more elevation. I would gladly staycation for a week, but I have to do a quick stop in Denver for a business thing and then I was just gonna bounce immediately, not visit anyone I know or even stay on the front range and get as far west as I can before stopping to camp.


Don't need to sidetrack totally on the mountain town economy thing, but I can't think of anywhere that can just be like, "Lets not have the bulk of all of our income which comes from out of state come in at all for 24+ months until there is a vaccine." May as well just call the banks now and have them come and take over the town if anyone thinks that will work unfortunately. I get it. If anything I shouldn't leave my nice bubble town with hardly any cases and come back in a week either, but it's not like I would be heading south and going out to dinner with 6 friends. I live alone and travel alone, etc.

I guess there are perks to being a single dork sometimes lol?

[toast2266]

Plus, I don't think normalcy has to end if/when people start visiting again. With social distancing practices in place, changed social habits, and what we now know about the virus (specifically the vulnerable populations), there are a lot of built-in controls to prevent the numbers from going back up. I don't know where you live, but maybe you're in a unique spot in the mountains where your town doesn't need tourism in order to survive? From what I've seen around CO/UT, even with towns/counties opening back up, the number of visitors is significantly down. People still aren't flying or traveling long distances, which is a large majority of visitors to these big-name locations.

We definitely have a big tourism industry, but tourism brings new Covid cases, which means everything goes back on lockdown. Back in late March, our cases were doubling on a 3-4 day timeline. Then they shut down the hotels and short term rentals and we haven't had a new case since. So all of those hotels, restaurants and guides can either be nominally open and limp along with local business, or the tourists can show up and all businesses (both tourist and non-tourist oriented) have to shut down again. Don't get me wrong - both options suck. But that's the world we live in, and it's not going to change until there's a broader solution / vaccine / herd immunity.

And sure, a few guys off in the woods with their campers aren't going to hurt anything. But it doesn't really work like that. The people that are legitimately staying low key and keeping to themselves aren't talking about it on internet forums. If the mood in this forum shifts towards "it's ok to travel," that's representative of the mindset of the broader population. Everyone thinks they're capable of "traveling, but safely," which is largely bullshit. Once people start moving around the country, mountain towns and touristy areas are going to get completely fucked by the virus. I'm fairly confident that our second wave is going to be far, far worse than our first wave.

[Terrapin Ben]

With social distancing practices in place, changed social habits, and what we now know about the virus (specifically the vulnerable populations), there are a lot of built-in controls to prevent the numbers from going back up.

I think the issue is even though we understand vulnerable populations better, if numbers spike - vulnerable populations affected or not - things will get shut down. And unfortunately, things being shut down is not normal. So yeah. Tourist towns and destinations and with low numbers are between a rock and a hard place. They can choose to have out of state tourists benefit the economy and risk having everything being shut down when there is a new flare up of covid cases, or close the doors to out of staters keeping case numbers low and risk a year or two of earning a fraction of normal revenue.