We decided to go up Trapper's Loop towards Pineview Reservoir and Monte Cristo, since that was pretty close and I knew there was plenty of Forest Service land up there. As we pulled into Morgan, we had a surprise waiting for us: the Ragnar. The Ragnar is some big time relay running thing that apparently goes all night long, from Ogden to Provo or something like that. Not really that big of a deal, except that it made for slow going and we were fighting daylight. When we finally reached the top of Trapper's Loop, there was a sign at the turnoff to Snowbason Ski Resort that said Forest Service access, so we made the turn. Well, the Ragnar was going that way too. (Of course it was, right?) Anyway, we got up to the top and where the Forest Service access was, there were barricades set up to guide the traffic and runners past the turn off with a sheriff parked there as well to guard the way and we were forced up to the resort lodge.
I wasn't coming all this way just to turn around and not go camping and it was getting pretty dark now, so we came back down, pulled off the to the side of the road, and I went over to the sheriff. Apparently he wasn't too stoked on sitting up there that night because he wouldn't even roll down the window! I knocked on the glass and he finally rolled down the window with a less-than-jovial: "What?" I told he were had come up to go camping and all he'd say was: "Where?" I told him we just wanted to go up into the trees around the corner and go camping. He reminded me that the road was closed into the National Forest with all the flooding (as if the cement barriers with the bright orange ROAD CLOSED sign wasn't obvious enough) and I told him again we just wanted to drive up the side road into the trees and that was all. He ended the conversation with: "I don't care." and rolled up his window. So I opened the barricade, drove the truck and trailer through, and we drove up the short road into the trees.
There was a long gravel area that resembled a parking area with more cement barriers at the far end. I got out and explored the area and there were plenty of fire pits around and even a place where I could easily drive around the barriers and into the trees. With Officer Grumpypants just up the road, though, I decided we'd be better off just parking near the end of the lot and roast our marshmallows in the nearby fire pit. We had a great time!
After our campfire, we all climbed into the trailer and watched "Brother Bear" and then fell asleep. Everything was going great until 2:00 a.m. when I woke up to Amber saying: "Jake! There's somebody out there!!!" Sure enough, bright lights were shining through the window and someone was knocking and saying: "Hey! You need to leave now!" I'm like: "What??? Why?!" Mystery guy: "You can't park here! This is mountain security. You need to leave!" Amber told him: "We asked the sheriff and he said it was fine!" Security guy: "Okay fine you didn't know. You can't park here over night. You can park in the lower parking lot, but not here. You need to leave." I tried to get out to talk to him and tell him that we would be leaving early in the morning, but he got in his truck and took off. I was really annoyed because there were no signs posted anywhere and we weren't near anything or anybody, much less the resort. We decided that we'd go down to the other lot and finish the night, so I got in the truck and started down the road. I could see the other guy's taillights about half a mile ahead of me as we drove towards the lower parking lot and I saw him turn off the road towards the lot... and he locked the flipping gate to the lot so we couldn't pull in! Yep, locking the gate and locked us out. Freaking LAME. Lame, lame, lame.
Instead of searching for another camping spot at 2 in the morning, we just came home. It was still a really fun outing and I'm glad we were able to go, but for real?! I'm still pretty miffed about it. Oh well. Next time will be better. Oh, and the teardrop was SIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!! Thought I'd better mention that.
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