Saturday, August 7, 2010

Ruby Dome access update

For those of us (ahem) who have keys to the locked gate at the Spring Creek campground - and thus access to the trailhead for Ruby Dome and other destinations in that part of the range - the Spring Creek Association is going to be changing out the lock (boo!) Anyway, a new key will be $5 if you turn in your old key in exchange.

If you don't have a key to the gate you can still crawl over/through and walk up the road to the campground to get to the trailhead. I don't know if it's legal or not but I've never heard of anyone being busted for trespassing. Based on the number of names in the Ruby Dome register that obviously don't belong to Spring Creek property owners, it's pretty apparent that more than one person has gone over that gate.

IMHO it's utterly ignorant that Spring Creek Association locks people out of that trailhead. I can understand Spring Creek wanting to keep the campground and rifle range for its residents - it's their investment, after all. But put in a man-gate already so that people can at least walk in or ride in on the road and access the forest. Sheesh.

2 comments:

  1. I recommend accessing Seitz/Griswold/Ruby Dome from the SCA Campground and not via Lamoille Canyon and the Ruby Dome Ranch as the Ruby Domers may be a bit more sensitive to trespassing than other ranchers in the area. Do you have any. Suggestions for easy to moderate hikes in the Jarbidge area? Also, if an average hiker were to leave the Boy Scout Camp at 7 am, about when would he/she arrive at Echo Lake? Thomas Canyon was nice last week, lots of water still.

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  2. It's odd to say this, but I've never been to Jarbidge! I guess when you have the Rubies in your back yard it's hard to get motivated to leave (unless I'm looking for good mountain biking trails, there aren't any here yet). So can't give you any ideas there.

    As far as Echo Lake via Right Fork goes - I've only done it with a backpack, so with a daypack it'd likely go faster. I'm not much for clock-watching when I'm out there, but I can tell you that last time I got to Echo Lake with a backpack on with plenty of daylight left to set up camp, catch a few trout, cook dinner, and watch a fine sunset while drinking a cup of tea. Just guessing, but I probably got there between 3 and 4 in the afternoon.

    I'm on the slow end of hikers speed-wise, so YMMV.

    Echo Lake tour idea - could be a long day hike but would be better as a backpack - go up via Right Fork, out via Echo Canyon (you'd need to arrange a pick-up). I've done that trip once, a long time ago. Echo Canyon is really beautiful.

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