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← Mission 22 · Tensleep Canyon climbing
MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·22
Mission 22 · Bighorn National Forest, WY

Tensleep Canyon climbing

Bighorn National Forest

The agency files it as “Tensleep Canyon Climbing Management Plan”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on October 16. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“Surveys indicate that several dispersed campsites on Road 18 are currently within 100 feet of Tensleep Creek”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under Effects to recreation. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Drive Road 18 along Tensleep Creek and find the pull-off camping spots closest to the water. Photograph the fire rings and bare tent ground with the creek in the same frame. Photos showing camp spots and fire rings a stone's throw from the creek, or showing the nearest spots sit well back from the water.

The decision

The Powder River Ranger District wants to develop a Climbing Management Plan for Tensleep Canyon. The plan would define where future climbing route development may or may not occur and identify new system trails and parking areas.

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the trailhead or access point with the vehicles in it. Count them and note the time and day.
  2. 02Photograph the pull-off camp spots outside any campground, the fire rings, and the worn paths that show people come here.
  3. 03Sit for a fixed time and count people passing and what they are doing.
  4. 04Write down what you know about how this place gets used across a year.
What would count
  • A vehicle count with the day and time. Weekends and weekdays both, if you can.
  • Fire rings and sites the document says aren’t there.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.