Best time for climbers in Cochise?

The last time I was camping in the West Stronghold, the area was swarming with ATV riders. They were mostly camped out west of the fence line near the turn off to the Isle of You area. We were treated with two days and nights of noise, dust and really f'ing loud music until near dawn. To be honest, I am not sure if the music came from the ATV group; it could have been a response from climbers set up at the Isle camping area. I was on the other side of the ridge (to the south) and I never saw who was at Isle of You, so I can't be sure. Anyway, it all made for a crap weekend of camping. The point of going down there was to get away from things like noisy machines and electronics, but we were pretty much surrounded.

So two questions;
Is there an off-season for the ATV users down there, or are they always around? And, how do people feel about loud ass music blaring through the camprounds all night long?

I've ridden my quad out there with a group but never knew of anyone in any group to have pulled some blaring music stunt like the one you described there. However, I would have to say that particular genre of camper would be more prone to such a thing. Definitely more likely than clibers (bean fest not included).

To answer your questions, it seems that it's a year - round thing for quad riders to frequent the area. As far as how i feel about it, there would be some confrontation had it been me out there having to put up with that crap. I enjoy my Testament and Pantera, etc blaring - don't get me wrong - but wrecking the serenity of camping with blaring music is bs. The redneck in me would have come out that night. I'm not trying to get you into a fight next time or anything; just saying that you would not have been out of line to drive over there and ask them to cut the sh1t out already.

How long ago was that? Were you camped out in the practice rock area just before the fence (right turn - campground on the left)?

Thanks for the reply, Daryl. SPOON! Gravity is a harsh mistress.

My wife and our pooch were out there in April, I think. It was a few months ago anyway, before it got super hot. I did consider the reasonable approach you mention, plus a few less reasonable ones, but late on the second night a massive wind storm nearly tore the place apart. Our tent barely survived and we had good protection nestled in the trees near those practice rocks. I think the RV/quad folk were more exposed and probably had to chase a lot of chairs and umbrellas around. They didn't bother chasing after all the paper plates and beer cans though. That pissed me off a lot.

The thing is, I love the Cochise. I have some land at the southern end of the Dragoons and I could always camp there, but it's 25 miles of old dirt track away from the climbing and if I want to climb I'd like to be closer. I am sure quad users like the scenery too, but is it such an important factor to them - enough to make them prefer that area over others that are not popular to climbers, hikers, bird watchers, and families who just want to camp?

Also, I am guessing the Eastern Stronghold is off limits to quads and dirt bikes. Not sure though.

I've wondered about atv'ing on the east side bc i've seen folks out there during beanfest but not regularly like on the west side. Could just be the owners of that ranch there on the left as you come in.

You're spot on about why the heck would they choose to stay there vice so many other riding areas. In fact, heading back up through the gate and heading east on middlemarch turns into much better and more interesting riding. The only reasonable argument i could see for going there regularly is if you had kids and were teaching them to ride out there. Even then you have to worry about all the drunk idiots whipping around corners and such. If enough of us bitched about it to the fs, maybe something would be done(?).

I guess there will always be an influx of white trash degenerate campers wo any regard for others/litter/noise/[insert any camping etiquette] just about anywhere we go. It's just annoying as hell i know - and i sympathize. When i lived in Louisiana, i was surrounded by that brand of people and i came to understand it's a permanent state of mind for them. They don't and never will understand or know any different. They just take inconsideration to a whole new level and that's just it - they don't *consider* anyone or anything other than themselves and having a good time out there. At the cost of whatever; landscape, others' peace and quiet or whatever.

Ok, i'm down off the box now... :)

There is plenty of room on top of that box, D. I've ranted in my blog about the absurdity of this so called American past time. They call it "camping". How is it camping when you drag several thousand pounds of metal out into the wilderness and set up satellite dishes and air conditioners and hole up inside big boxes on wheels? Last summer we went up to Apache-Sitgreaves for a weekend. Try as we might we could not find one single campground in that entire SF that wasn't overrun with trailer-folk. Even way back in some very hard to reach canyons with several water crossings - there they were. I wanted to throw rocks, but the white trash youngins were already doing that. At trees, at fish, at birds, at anything that moved. Meanwhile the adults were sequestered in their campers watching some sporting event and yelling at each other. This is what they do at home anyway, so why don't they just stay there?

Oh well. Just makes me want to walk farther off into the distance.

Next time you go, my wife and i will meet you out there and we'll sneak off and pull some 'hills have eyes' stunts on them. Freak 'em out real bad so they don't come back... lol.

Sounds like a plan, Daryl!

I will bring my winger.

Metrozen,
As a climber for 30 years I've spent many a night sleeping in the dirt. Now I own a 17 foot HiLo trailer, which I've dragged into places using 4 low on the Toyota.
I'm not white trash, and I don't have kids. I do love the trailer when the rain or snow moves in, and so do the other climbers when were playing cards and drinking beer in the comfort of the HiLo. Not holed up in a small tent, cold and bored.
If you want to get away from the trailers you got to get away from the road. That means spending more time walking and less time talking about all those damn trailers.
I do agree with you that it seems totally absurd to haul your fifth wheel out into the boonies to watch TV. What up with that!!!
Maybe we'll run into each other on a rainy day at some crag. Your invited to stay for dinner and cards.

Thanks, Jimbo. I appreciate the invitation. My wife and have actually talked about getting a pop-up some day. For now I am happy sleeping on the ground, whatever the weather.

Good point about the roads. Where there's a road, there's probably going to be someone who figured out how to get a trailer there. I have teetered on the line, I must admit, since I am in the habit of dragging too much gear out in my truck and staying within '100 feet of it, if not sleeping in the bed. I guess that's closer to a trailer than a tent. Time to start hiking it in. I actually haven't done that since moving back to Tucson a year ago. For shame!

:D

Jimbo wrote:I do agree with you that it seems totally absurd to haul your fifth wheel out into the boonies to watch TV. What up with that!!!

I can see the merits of Skampin', but only if you are really on your own in the bc. I can't see calling it a campground when it's all concrete slabs and electric sockets. Doesn't it bug you when you are surrounded by other skampers?

Thread drift... sorry.

Does it bother me to be by other people? Depends. The photo above is in Red Rocks. Unless we wanted to drive 45 minutes to not get tooled it is the ONLY choice. We're in our own little Skamper™ world.

There are lots of other places where you could camp for free or away from "organized camping". Unfortunately, to be even remotely close to the crags it's a necessary evil. Zion... Hueco to name a few.

Speaking of electrical sockets. Hueco has heated bathrooms, showers, water & electricity on demand. If ya gotta pay, it's pretty nice.

That said, we'd much prefer to be more isolated but it's just not always in the cards.

Thread redirect - metrozen... We've Skamped-it™ on the westside of Cochise a few trips in Jan/Feb. No loud music or ATV'r to speak of. However, we did have a helicopter for a rescue that was pretty loud.