Another Utah Area Shut Down

While on vacation this week we tried to take the Harris Mountain trail from Coral Pink Sand Dunes to Mt. Carmel Junction in southwest Utah (near Kanab and east of Zion Nat'l Park). This is a medium skill trail and has been posted in the past to stay on the trail which we always abided by. Now the trail is blocked and has a sign posted saying that it is designated wilderness area. No public input was used and the trail has even been graded in some areas. My great grandfather blazed this trail well over 100 years ago and now I can't take my kids to see this and other sights such as the elephant buttes along the way. There are other harder trails in the area but I don't know the disposition of them although some friends said that some of them were closed also. What do we do and who do we contact to get this undone. Most of the trails I rode as a kid are closed and the area is becoming less and less accessible to even the locals. Happy trails to you all.

Ed should be better at this than I, but I'd guess that Step 1 would be to determine who controls the land (i.e. BLM, National Forest Service, National Park Service, etc), then contact them to inquire when the trail was closed, and under what authority, and what process was followed in effecting the closure.