Mount Timpanogos and Parking

Last weekend our crew was headed up American Fork canyon to do some work on our campsite inventory at Silver Lake. While en route, we saw a search and rescue in progress on Timpanogos. We made our way to the Timpooneke trail head to see if our help was needed. Upon reaching Pine Hollow, 1.5 miles before Timpooneke, we found several emergency vehicles staging. Some of the emergency personnel informed us that the parking lot at Timpooneke was inaccessible for their vehicles. We continued up the highway and upon arriving at Timpooneke found a big mess. An estimated 50 vehicles were parked in well signed 'No Parking' zones and approximately 20 vehicles were either double parked, blocking access, in campground parking, or in handicapped parking without a permit. Campers in the campground and hikers coming off of the trail informed us that the trial head parking lot was full around 3:00 am. Campground campers complained of little sleep due to noise at the trail head throughout the night. A few of the vehicles parked on Timpooneke Rd. were damaged as other vehicles (camp trailers) tried to squeeze through in order to exit. At least one vehicle parked on Hwy 92 was damaged as well. Citations were issued to those in obvious violation and some vehicles were towed to re-establish access. At one point, a recently arrived vehicle parked and blocked a Sheriff in, who was unable to respond to an emergency call in the valley.

In order to prevent a repeat of this scenario yesterday, we decided to be at the trial head at 4:00 am. Before leaving the office to head up the canyon we printed off a handout on Wilderness management and Leave No Trace. We made it to Timpooneke around 5:00 am and found the trail head already full, with several vehicles double parked and restricting access. Four cars had parked at the entrance to a campsite in the campground, blocking the campers in, who happened to be part of the Timpanogos Emergency Response Team (TERT). I took a position at the campground entrance and began directing hikers to park on Hwy 92, IN DESIGNATED TURN OUTS, should they still choose to hike Timpanogos. I offered suggestions to alternative trails, but of all of the people I talked to that day only one group was willing to try hiking somewhere else. The Sheriff's Department arrived shortly after sunrise and dispatched several tow trucks.

Shortly before noon, Wilderness Ranger Poslusny contacted me on the radio to let me know he had arrived at Community Flat, where he would be spending the night to work on campsite inventories for the Deer Cr.- Dry Cr. trail along with a volunteer. He told me that he had seen only one group that day, which happened to be five hikers who were issued a citation at Timpooneke two weeks earlier. They had chosen to try another trail this time and told Poslusny that they preferred this trail to Timpooneke.

I often remark at the difference of visitation between the Lone Peak Wilderness and Mount Timpanogos Wilderness. Why the remarkable difference? Is it the age old tradition of hiking Timp? Is it that Timpanogos is a constant visual presence to those living in the valley? Is it the natural beauty of Timpanogos? Is it ease of access or the availability and amount of literature related to the mountain?

I believe that the culture and tradition of hiking to the Timpanogos summit plays the greatest role. I have spent far more time working on the Lone Peak Wilderness than on Timpanogos and have not yet met a group who traditionally hikes to any location in Lone Peak, except hunters. I myself grew up in Orem and participated in an annual church group hike of Timp. I didn't know about the 15 person group size limit or understand the reason for Wilderness areas. I didn't know what Wilderness areas were or how they are different than other National Forest lands. I didn't know why Wilderness areas deserve extra protection or why they are special. Discussing issues such as these was never part of the tradition. Why are the Timpanogos trail heads full on Saturday morning and not on Sunday morning? I see a major disconnect between spirituality and nature.

Timpanogos is increasingly not a place to find solitude and peace, but instead a place to train for ultra marathons; to be on then off the mountain in record time. When asked what complaints visitors have of their Timpanogos experience, hikers usually say that the parking lot is too small, the toilet too dilapidated and the presence of garbage cans too limited. Only after specific questioning do I hear about the amount of human noise pollution in Timpanogos Basin and around Emerald Lake, the amount of toilet paper littered on the side of the trail, and the number of shortcuts on trail switchbacks.

Wilderness areas are our last wild places. They are our last place to find solitude and to be free of human impact and development. They provide habitat to many animals whose habitat has disappeared and us humans with much of our drinking water. It is not only important for us to protect Wilderness for its sake, but also for our own. I believe that people need a Wilderness experience to stay connected to the land and to recognize our role in the environment we rely on. Wilderness is a place to be challenged and to remind us of the beauty and power of nature. It is a place to be more mindful of our resources.

"(c) A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. An area of wilderness is further defined to mean in this Act an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions and which (1) generally appears to have been affected primarily by the forces of nature, with the imprint of man's work substantially unnoticeable; (2) has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation; (3) has at least five thousand acres of land or is of sufficient size as to make practicable its preservation and use in an unimpaired condition; and (4) may also contain ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value."
- The Wilderness Act of 1964
(http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm?fuse=nwps&sec=legisact)