theboondork's RV blog

I finally made it to tincup

7/30/2022

A lot of pic clicking today

One of the streams that feed into Taylor reservoir. This is cold, clear, mountain water, and it's popular with the local fishermen. Some folks even drag their boats all the way up the pass just to fish in real mountain water. Like we always say about Colorado water, "we drink it first."

I've been running around the mountains all day so all I have for everyone is pictures.

On the road to Tincup.

Tincup is at the foot of those big peaks in the background.

Before you get to Tincup there's an old log building that is a country store, gas station, and restaurant. And it's a gathering place for a lot of the off-road guys that meet up here before they head out for the trails. This area is a very popular destination for ATVs and dirt bikes.

Making plans for the ride. A lot of off-roaders meet here because there's two huge parking lots where they can leave their ATV and motorcycle trailers.

This is a boondocking area where I've stayed before, but I've never seen more than two or three RVs here in the past, and now it looks like an RV Park.

This is another place I've boondocked, and actually I've never seen anybody stay here before. I don't know what's going on, I keep looking at my calendar thinking it must be a holiday or something, but it's not, its just an ordinary Tuesday.

The Tincup general store, where you can buy an actual tincup, which is guaranteed to burn your lips off if you ever try to drink hot coffee out of it.

The Tincup courthouse.

4 Comments

Larry Worsham

8/1/2022 06:50:08 am

Looks like my kind of place.....except for all the people. I suspect we are seeing the aftermath of COVID lock downs which initiated the increase of RV and ORV sales. To make up for the higher cost of fuel folks are seeking low/no cost camping. I've heard from folks in Oregon that you can't get a spot in a State Park unless reservations were made months ago. I imagine everything is booked up everywhere. I recently read that RV sales of trailers has slowed dramatically. Class B's are still hot.

More tradtional vacations for folk have gotten very expensive. Disney charges $100.00 per day per person. I imagine lodging is upwards to several hundred a night in most tourist locations.

Interesting time in which we live................

Tom

8/1/2022 08:07:22 am

Well Larry, that sounds like about as good a theory as any, I just wish whatever it is it would be over soon... But somehow I don't think so.

I consider it bad news to hear that class B's are still selling well. To me it means that small, highly mobile RVs, that are designed for boondocking, are becoming more popular and I will have even more competition for boondocking spots and more crowds when I find one. And the lack of availability of state parks, which I'm rather fond of because there often only one small step above boondocking, will cause more people to consider boondocking when they can't find a state park reservation.

None of this bodes well for my current chosen lifestyle, and yet fits perfectly with what me and other baby boomers have experienced our entire lives.

My schools were crowded because there were so many of us that I often wasn't even in a classroom. There was so many of us in the Air Force that I spent over a year in Japan in a dilapidated World War II Japanese barracks. There were so many of us looking for jobs after getting out of the Air Force that I had to work for almost nothing just to be employed. Things people always did, like overnighting in a parking lot in your RV, had to be stopped because there was to many of us doing it. And now boondocking, which hardly anybody used to do, is now considered good for various reasons, and there's so many of us doing it that their closing off public lands to boondocking.

Yes it's interesting times all right, but I would be more satisfied with the peaceful quiet times back in the 70s when I could sleep in my van anywhere I parked it.

Tom

8/1/2022 09:41:19 am

History has proven the "old timers" have always been able to overcome the problems before us. You are fortunate to be as mobile as you are and have the ability to go just a little further to get past the crowds. I think a little more work but doable.

The thing that I am afraid of is that the govt. will start closing down so called public lands due to the impact of more crowds. There are always a small group of folks that abuse the land in the way the operate the ORV's and leave trash around. I drove a jeep in the back country for years but didn't see the need to tear up the land (plus if it broke it was a long walk)

The govt. always like to exercise control to deal with a problem instead of policing those who abuse the land. Several area's in the Cascades that we used to boon dock in have been closed and folks are forced into the public campgrounds that are contracted to private companies that require reservations and of course higher fees.

I lived and worked in cooperation with the Forest Service several years ago. They used to hire summer intern folks to manage the campgrounds when they were open. They would collect the fees from the iron ranger, empty the trash and sweep the pit toilets. The Sheriff was contracted to patrol through them.

The Forest Service is divesting itself of the recreation mission IMHO and go after the $$ by selling contracts.

My rant is over.....I offer no solution other than lay low and keep moving. Have a great trip!

8/1/2022 03:05:33 pm

You're right Larry, and your comment stands alone with no help from me.

Rant on Larry, rant on.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

I finally made it to tincup

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