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COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — If you're headed up to Utah's canyons for skiing or snowboarding, know the rules about where and when you can camp.
Most overnight parking or camping in the Cottonwood canyons is illegal, but every winter, the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office sees a lot of it.
"Some people like to go up, camp overnight so they can get out on the slopes early on these slopes or places where they try to do mitigation early in the morning, and if people are down there camping, officers and employees have to do their due diligence to try to make sure that everybody's safe before any kind of mitigation can happen," deputy Arlan Bennett said.
The rule states that sleeping in your vehicle overnight is prohibited within a 1/2 mile of any road in the Cottonwood Canyons, except for designated campgrounds.
Bennett said, especially this time of year, law enforcement finds vehicles illegally parked on the side of the canyon roads, in resort parking lots, and at the mouth of the canyons. He said about 10 vehicles were cited over the weekend.
"We've seen them anywhere between $600-$700 a pop, so it is quite a hefty fine," he said.
The rule comes from Salt Lake City public utilities. To protect the watershed, camping is only allowed in designated campgrounds.
Bennett said the issue is mainly about safety.
"Those that have been up in the backcountry know very well that Mother Nature can change her mind in a split second," he said. "You may have forecast for this, but something else happened. So it's always just best to follow the rules as it goes and just plan to make sure that everyone is safe."
