While checking the Forest Services web page for info on Grand Mesa, I came across this link about Yankee Boy Basin. It concerns a stewardship fee for the area. I don't know when this went into effect or exactly how the fee will be collected as the info provided in the link is kinda short on specifics. Maybe this is all old info, but it was the first I'd heard of it and I figured I'd share it with you guys.
It's been in place for a few years, and locals even did a "we're not payin'" protest when it was first enacted. Doesn't seem to be enforced, but might not be a bad idea to pay a small fee for paradise.
I'm sure some of you may have read the "Yankee Boy Is Being Loved to Death" article that was released last year by the Forest Service. It basically went through all the info about how what makes Yankee Boy what it is in terms of wildflowers was in jeopardy because of the rapidly increasing volume of visitors to it...they called it "overuse", if I recall.
After our visit to Verde Lakes a couple of weeks ago, and just seeing what our tent did to the 5x7 foot area it was on (and we were the only souls around), I can easily see how the large volumes of people flocking to Yankee Boy each summer could easily start turning the fields of color to fields of brown...and I can see the Forest Service's concern over that.
I imagine a fee is just being put into place to try to offset that. I imagine they don't want to have to do what California does with permits to climb Mt Whitney and things like that where there's like a 2 year waiting list or anything. No one wants to wait 2 years to go to Yankee Boy, so they probably figure that if they dissuade a few people from just dropping in via a fee, it's worth a try.
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3 repliesWhile checking the Forest Services web page for info on Grand Mesa, I came across this link about Yankee Boy Basin. It concerns a stewardship fee for the area. I don't know when this went into effect or exactly how the fee will be collected as the info provided in the link is kinda short on specifics. Maybe this is all old info, but it was the first I'd heard of it and I figured I'd share it with you guys.
Of course, if you really wanted to avoid this fee, you could "sneak" in from the Blue Lakes side.
After our visit to Verde Lakes a couple of weeks ago, and just seeing what our tent did to the 5x7 foot area it was on (and we were the only souls around), I can easily see how the large volumes of people flocking to Yankee Boy each summer could easily start turning the fields of color to fields of brown...and I can see the Forest Service's concern over that.
I imagine a fee is just being put into place to try to offset that. I imagine they don't want to have to do what California does with permits to climb Mt Whitney and things like that where there's like a 2 year waiting list or anything. No one wants to wait 2 years to go to Yankee Boy, so they probably figure that if they dissuade a few people from just dropping in via a fee, it's worth a try.
I'm just speculating, of course.