Moab bound

Finally cleared by my boss. Girlfriend and I are taking our annual trip down to Utah/Moab on 3/14-3/18. This will be the fourth year we do this.

We normally spend our time in Canyonlands, but will have our dog with us this time. If anyone wants to meet up let me know! Let me know if there is anything I should look out for!

 

That's the plan man! Wanna be well clear of the area come Easter time.

We are going to hang around the BLM land east of Canyonlands, possibly venturing into the San Rafael swell area.

 

I am here now! Just got in tonight. Planning on doing Fins and Things tomorrow and Hell's Revenge if we have a enough time! If you are around send me a PM.

 

Hey. I never been there so I have nothing to add but be safe and have a great time. I plan to make it out there sometime in my future. Post up some pics when you have a chance.

 

Post pics!

 

I'll post pics when I'm out of here.

Still camping tonight, but just a heads up to everyone- called the Moab BLM field office earlier today and they are SHUTTING EVERYTHING DOWN because of the virus. We are camped down in the Montecello district tonight, but are going to be heading back home tommorow. Strange times....

 

Yes, everything is banned in Grand county. I called the Montecello office and it isn't closed (yet). I am leaving tomorrow as I am 12 hours from home and don't trust staying in a hotel in these times

 

Source for this? Not questioning you at all I just want to read for my self.

 

Horses mouth man. Call the moab BLM office and they will tell you.

 

My bro and I are camped out at porcupine rim right now. The front gate was unmanned but was still open. Drove past a few rangers and they didn’t stop us. We plan on staying here tonight and tomorrow and leaving Thursday morning. We will see how it plays out.

 

I would think you're pretty safe if you stay in that spot until you're ready to leave. It wouldn't make sense to expend the time, money, and man power to search for anyone who might be in the back country.

 

Downtown Moab was business as usual today except for a few restaurants that were doing delivery only. We are going to head to town early tomorrow and see if anything is changing. Either way we will go back to our camp and sit it out. We have enough food for about 5 days so not to concerned yet.

 

Primary source:
https://4e6bd201-e3fb-408c-938c-c65...d/0df2c0_495ccbf7f030407e8eab77b6a952836c.pdf

Secondary:
https://www.seuhealth.com/whats-new

https://www.deseret.com/platform/am...vernor-to-close-hotels-diners-arches-covid-19

You're not likely to be cited, but they're moving to shut the tourism down for the next 30 days.

Community spread within Utah is a big line to have crossed for public health: currently we also have community transmission in Colorado, California, and many other high tourism areas. When combined with increased leisure time and press directing tourists to the area (https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2020/03/13/with-coronavirus-travel/), it increases risk to an area with minimal medical resources as well as risk of spreading to all tourists who pass through a high density area, such as a single grocery store.

It's a crappy situation all around, and the whole region's going to take a massive economic hit.... but I understand the actions. Hopefully we keep questioning whether this was an overreaction rather than talking about how Moab became another hub.

 

100% agreed

 

I saw Moab was getting shut down. Hotels ,BLM land, camping etc. Similar thing happening in Colorado, Governor shut down all Ski Areas. In Summit County Co all businesses except grocery stores, gas stations, liquor and weed shops closed by County Government. Restaurants take out or delivery only. It sure is going to hurt a lot of people and businesses financially. March is the busiest month of the year in ski country, but is there another safe choice?

 

Yeah we ended up leaving this morning. Still lots of people out and about today, but we figured we would get back to CA before it started getting more and more restrictive.

 

Was a short trip this time and the feelings from the virus hung like a black cloud. Got some fun in tho

 

It’s a crazy time to be alive, who would have ever guessed Moab would be closed for camping. Not only did Grand, Emery and Carbon Counties ban recreational camping, Canyonlands will no longer be issuing back country permits. This impacts the Maze area and areas in San Juan County. Crazy.

 

I fear we’ve not seen the end of these restrictions.

 

It just would be great to go dispersed camping again. Who knows what the summer holds for us.