Skid row

https://youtu.be/t-njQZQrYQY

Took how many years for the locals to get fed up enough to call the media?

They should be complaining about the poorly-managed BLM campground.  If they had kept it updated with appropriate space to meet demand, they wouldn't have this problem.

If this were Disneyland, they'd find a way to keep the experience while accommodating demand.

Wow, the lead story for the local six o'clock news. What's funny to me is that the majority of the people at Skid Row are in very expensive vehicles (ie., customized Sprinters), many of these people are likely employed, working over the internet from their vans, and are only here to have fun climbing out in Red Rock. Meanwhile, the news story here and other recent articles, refer to these people camping along 159 as down-on-there-luck hobos, victims of the pandemic or whatever, which totally misses the mark. The notion that the Skid Row folks should be forced into homeless shelters is hilarious. 

Anyway, a lot of this problem would fade away if there were dispersed camping options that were available with good quality roads approaching them, with appropriate bathroom and trash facilities. What dispersed camping opportunities exist currently suffers from bad roads and no facilities.

But on the other hand, if all this roadside camping went away, and the opportunities for free camping in the Las Vegas Valley remained difficult or elusive, then maybe the crags would become less crowded as the riff-raff flock to easier areas in which to live for free.

Inconspicuous, responsible dirtbaggin' is good style, this is not.

Charlie S wrote:

If this were Disneyland, they'd find a way to keep the experience while accommodating demand.

If this were Disneyland, they'd keep everything looking spit polished and perfect by charging you over $100/person and quietly running you off with their security guards if you loiter.

Typical news tactic to dramatize the story and fail to deliver the real facts.

What is with the parks these days? Population is exploding, visitation #’s are soaring, yet we can’t get a single new camping option to accommodate a visit. 

The Red Rock Canyon campground hosts told us that there was a plan to expand the campground this summer, to include RV hookups and showers.

But they also said that they expected it to actually be a few years before anything happens, despite the plans.

Lol - I could see CO plates on at least 2 vehicles.

The Unimog style vehicle, near the end of the video, is not what most “homeless” can afford.

NegativeK wrote:

If this were Disneyland, they'd keep everything looking spit polished and perfect by charging you over $100/person and quietly running you off with their security guards if you loiter.

Touche.

The new campground reservation system isn’t working.  Every time I camp there the sign is blinking that the campground is full, But when I get up in the morning 10-30 sites remain empty.  I walked through the campground at 5:00am a few Saturday’s ago and counted 25 unoccupied sites.  They all had reservation tags on them.  I was there for 10 days and saw a couple of prime sites that sat empty the whole time because whom ever had reserved them never showed up.  
people should have the minimum courtesy of canceling when they can’t make it.  Or the BLM should open the site back up after 24 hours.   It’s a joke.

Someone bought a unimog to park on the side of the road? I've utterly no sympathy for those people. GTFO and go out in the desert somewhere. Pathetic.

Jeff G wrote:

The new campground reservation system isn’t working.  Every time I camp there the sign is blinking that the campground is full, But when I get up in the morning 10-30 sites remain empty.  I walked through the campground at 5:00am a few Saturday’s ago and counted 25 unoccupied sites.  They all had reservation tags on them.  I was there for 10 days and saw a couple of prime sites that sat empty the whole time because whom ever had reserved them never showed up.  
people should have the minimum courtesy of canceling when they can’t make it.  Or the BLM should open the site back up after 24 hours.   It’s a joke.

If many campground sites are going unused, that is an issue. It seems wierd to me that so many people would waste so much money on reservations. 

However, correcting this problem, by invalidating unused reservations perhaps, won't likely clear out Skid Row. Even if dozens of campground sites were available, it seems likely to me that Skid Row would still be full of people that don't want to spend $20 a night.

The point of van life, as I understand it, is that you can spend the night for free, wherever you want, because you are stealthy and self-contained. Your rig is super expensive so the idea of spending $20 a night is against your philosophy. 

Van-life works when a few people do it. But when these people become influencers that spew about how great the life is, naturally other people will want to take part and things get crowded and then you arrive at this situation today.

The campground is far from ideal... for example:
** No or terrible cell service
Climbers staying at the campground are often trying to make plans with local friends. They need to communicate to coordinate. Cell coverage would help a ton... in person could work... but...
** No guest/visitor parking
If you want to hangout with your friends at camp and flip through a guidebook and make plans for when and where to meetup the next day, while they cook and eat their dinner, you need to park elsewhere out of the campground, get them to drive you to their site, then get them to drive you back later... and since they don't have cell service at the campground... You often have to drive in, find them, both you and them drive separately out, park somewhere, then have them carpool you back in. Am I making any sense here?
** Consistently very windy in this location
The desert has claimed flying tents every year. Often I wonder why they even bother to have fire pits.
** No real "center of the community" feel.
No message board. Hostile to water fill-ups. Hosts are not climbers.

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

Someone bought a unimog to park on the side of the road? I've utterly no sympathy for those people. GTFO and go out in the desert somewhere. Pathetic.

I am sure they are just passing through Red Rock and there for a night or two.

Terry E wrote:

I am sure they are just passing through Red Rock and there for a night or two.

Nah I’m pretty sure that thing’s been there off and on for at least a month.

Jeff G wrote:

The new campground reservation system isn’t working.  Every time I camp there the sign is blinking that the campground is full, But when I get up in the morning 10-30 sites remain empty.  I walked through the campground at 5:00am a few Saturday’s ago and counted 25 unoccupied sites.  They all had reservation tags on them.  I was there for 10 days and saw a couple of prime sites that sat empty the whole time because whom ever had reserved them never showed up.  
people should have the minimum courtesy of canceling when they can’t make it.  Or the BLM should open the site back up after 24 hours.   It’s a joke.

Anyone who wants to stay at Red Rocks any length of time has to reserve and pay for a spot as soon as the reservation window opens (i.e., 6 months in advance). A fair bit can happen in the 6 months between making the reservation and actually getting to the campsite, so it wouldn't surprise me if people are just blowing off the reservation if anything comes up and they can't make it. Any cancellations are going to be subject to a cancellation fee, and you have to go through recreation.gov to get the refund. Hopefully the hosts are then notified that someone has cancelled, and the site is now available.  It wouldn't surprise me if the hosts were just ignoring any notification that someone  had cancelled (if they get notified at all). The hosts have no motivation to re-open the site, since more guests means more work for them and they presumably don't see the extra revenue if a campsite gets re-sold. Keep in mind that anyone over age 62 pays $10/night instead of $20, so the motivation to go through the refund process is correspondingly reduced.

TLDR: You're right, the reservation system isn't working.

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

The campground is far from ideal... for example:
** No or terrible cell service
Climbers staying at the campground are often trying to make plans with local friends. They need to communicate to coordinate. Cell coverage would help a ton... in person could work... but...
** No guest/visitor parking
If you want to hangout with your friends at camp and flip through a guidebook and make plans for when and where to meetup the next day, while they cook and eat their dinner, you need to park elsewhere out of the campground, get them to drive you to their site, then get them to drive you back later... and since they don't have cell service at the campground... You often have to drive in, find them, both you and them drive separately out, park somewhere, then have them carpool you back in. Am I making any sense here?
** Consistently very windy in this location
The desert has claimed flying tents every year. Often I wonder why they even bother to have fire pits.
** No real "center of the community" feel.
No message board. Hostile to water fill-ups. Hosts are not climbers.

How much would it cost to bring cell service to that location? Would some kind of public wifi be easier or cheaper to do? I'm assuming that the campground hosts have some way of getting internet or phone service for themselves, how hard would it be to expand that to include wifi for the whole campground. 

On one of my visits, a local Boy Scout troop solved their visitor parking problem by parking in my campsite. I don't think they ever figured out why I didn't share their enthusiasm for that idea. 

No message board sucks, a message board would help create a little more community feel. 

Having hosts who climb would be nice, but I suspect that the BLM just wants someone who will work for free and has their own RV to live in.

Desert Rock Sports wrote:

The campground is far from ideal... for example:
** No or terrible cell service
Climbers staying at the campground are often trying to make plans with local friends. They need to communicate to coordinate. Cell coverage would help a ton... in person could work... but...
** No guest/visitor parking
If you want to hangout with your friends at camp and flip through a guidebook and make plans for when and where to meetup the next day, while they cook and eat their dinner, you need to park elsewhere out of the campground, get them to drive you to their site, then get them to drive you back later... and since they don't have cell service at the campground... You often have to drive in, find them, both you and them drive separately out, park somewhere, then have them carpool you back in. Am I making any sense here?
** Consistently very windy in this location
The desert has claimed flying tents every year. Often I wonder why they even bother to have fire pits.
** No real "center of the community" feel.
No message board. Hostile to water fill-ups. Hosts are not climbers.

The opportunity I'm hearing is: Red Rock needs a Rock Ranch. Amirite?

M P wrote:

The opportunity I'm hearing is: Red Rock needs a Rock Ranch. Amirite?

I've entertained this idea and started looking into buying land off the 160 but at $500k-1m per acre I could never make it happen financially (and it's probably not worth it financially except for the value of the land). If anyone reading this thread has an extra couple mil that they don't need, I'll make this happen...