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Planning to save a few bucks in gas this weekend and go hiking locally? Don't blow the savings on towing fines.
The U.S. Forest Service is cracking down hard on illegally parked cars along the Alpine Loop in American Fork Canyon. After previously placing signs and notices directly on cars, Forest Service employees threw up their hands and called the Utah County Sheriff's Office on Saturday.
The result? Sixteen towed cars.
"Our parking lots are just beyond capacity," said Forest Service spokeswoman Loyal Clark. "They're so full."
The Timpooneke trailhead and to a lesser extent Tibble Fork are seeing the most impact. Clark said parking was even expanded at Tibble Fork, but it isn't enough.
The full parking is blamed on a couple of things. First is that the snowpack melted late, shrinking the available season.
The second reason is that people just aren't travelling this summer as much as they have in past years.
"This is a consequence of people staying home because of the high gas prices," Clark said.
The latest AAA travel survey says that about 343,000 people in Utah are expected to travel 50 miles or more over the holiday, the Associated Press reported. That's a 1.4-percent decrease from last year.
The parking limit at Timpooneke and Tibble Fork is firm with only one real option if it's full when you get there: "Find another place to recreate," Clark said.
There haven't been any accidents along the road yet, and that's the way the Forest Service and Sheriff's Office want to keep it. The only damage so far is from verbal thrashings.
"Of course, the public gets upset with us when they come down and their vehicles have been towed," Clark said. |
