Beach Bag mess

Tiff Mapel

Tiff Mapel

Well-Known Member
Brent said:
I was contacted by beach bags a few years ago to try their new system. Actually reserved the bags last year but was unable to use them for our houseboat could not be launched due to low water.

I was actually very excited to try them.

But to hear that they are now leaving the bags on the beaches and also back pinning the bags is unconscionable. Either pinning is legal or illegal to all or to none.

Im headed up the first week of August. If I see a perfect beach unattended with beach bags I’m going to do my normal thing. Drop off a crew member with an igloo and a chair. Go back and tell the houseboat where we are and anchor away. I’ll then take pics and tell Tiff where I found some trash for her next trash tracker trip.
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Thanks, Brent! I'm excited to get back to work since 2019 was my last "official" Trash Tracker trip. And, I'm curious to see the beach bag situation for myself. My worry is, when the water level starts to drop, these beach bags that are pinned.... Are they going to chase the water down, and have to be re-pinned each time? Like fake Moki steps that idiots sometimes carve into the rock, now are we going to be faced with multiple holes cascading down rock faces toward the dropping water? I wonder if these bags stay in the same location, or if they move around?

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that houseboat owners who want to use the beach bag anchors should have the knowledge and equipment ahead of time to go out and set them up themselves. AND, take them back when they're done. They shouldn't be left on the beaches.

So glad we have a 46-foot houseboat that's easy to anchor.

Tiff
 
Jackalope

Jackalope

Well-Known Member
I was told more than once, 8-10 years ago , that it was OK to drill and pin as long as it was below the high water mark and this was by NPS employees, heck it was debated over and over on this forum. A few years later this became a hot topic and eventually became illegal with a fine of $250 per hole and mandatory court appearance. That even went further now, you can even use the holes that are already there, because "you will open up that hole even more" and "when it rains it fills the hole with water and if that freezes and can crack".

A few years back I counted ~ 50 holes (I have pictures) in a west canyon spot we parked in. The rangers visited us that week to check our lines and see if we were pinned. Nope, but just over the rise on the other side was big HB and he was clearly pinned, but the ranger did not even approach them?
 
S

ScottF

Well-Known Member
Michael Pyle said:
If it was up to me I would come up with another solution to the problem like filling the holes. Sometimes the simple solution is the best but with filling the holes nobody gets rich.



Mike
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Mike, I love your approach of allowing pins if holes are properly filled. As an, imperfect, enforcement measure rangers could levy the $200 file per pin if the boat using the pins does not have cement on board. I think that at least the crews who anchor the biggest boats, which account for the largest share of pin anchoring, would fill their holes with a cement/sand mixture.
 
Jackalope

Jackalope

Well-Known Member
You are required to buy 4 tubes of 2 part epoxy before leaving the dock ... This would be a blend made to be the sandstone mix for Powell, and use some of the loose sand on top to be sure that the colors match ..

ROFL ... :)
 
B

Brent

Well-Known Member
As I mentioned before. I own a bolt company. We could easily make an eyebolt with threads to secure the houseboat into sandstone. The eye would make it easy to turn in and out of hole and secure the houseboat with the rope going through the eye. The only issue is the left over hole. If we fill it up with epoxy/Powell sand then in 100 years we will have little nipples of epoxy filled holes sticking out of the sandstone.
 
Jackalope

Jackalope

Well-Known Member
Brent said:
The only issue is the left over hole. If we fill it up with epoxy/Powell sand then in 100 years we will have little nipples of epoxy filled holes sticking out of the sandstone.
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kinda what I was thinking ... but hey, concrete blend?
 
K

krusty_45

New Member
"Lake Powell is for everyone not just the wealthy" - Fish Finder

"If you need to have a 75-footer for compensation or whatever reason then you better figure out how to park it respectfully and legally." Fish Finder
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This is the bottom line here. People are being DISPLACED by the wealthy and the natural beauty of the public lands are being ruined for the LAZY. What happens when we continue to allow people with money to "jump in line"? Go look at any popular crowded public place..... As a southern Utah local we are seeing it everywhere. What for? $$$$ that is all.....

Our "public lands" are turning into "profit lands"

The NPS needs to wake up. This type of commercialization only grows with time and the lake loses its wonder as it does.

First time poster. Continued family generational user of GCNRA. Clear back to the fiberglass kayaks, no dam, just a river and natural beauty.

I'll continue this conversation with anyone over the phone. PM me and I'll send you my number.
 
C

Chemosabe

Member
If the boats using this service were required to drain, remove and return the bags after their trip, a number of problems would be solved for both LP boaters and the BB company. It seems so plainly obvious.

The only thing preventing this from happening is likely the willingness of their clientele to lift a finger.
 
fishfry

fishfry

Well-Known Member
We found as awesome camp site last week for two houseboats and a piece of rebar was sticking out and not moveable that we did not see until we were beached and tied off. Thankfully our pontoon did not hit it but someone is going to.....
We always find a spot to tie off to rocks and have never drilled a hole.
 
P

Peto

Well-Known Member
fishfry said:
We found as awesome camp site last week for two houseboats and a piece of rebar was sticking out and not moveable that we did not see until we were beached and tied off. Thankfully our pontoon did not hit it but someone is going to.....
We always find a spot to tie off to rocks and have never drilled a hole.
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I would have tied a towel around it to warn the next group.
 
weeds

weeds

Well-Known Member
Jackalope said:
I pull them out when I see them... Some times it's a struggle but we take it as a challenge.
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These were in Escalante a few years ago, on the big island.
Tried to remove all of them...absolutely impossible. Told the law about them don't know what happened.
We wound up using the first one.

1655851832762.jpeg1655851832762.jpeg
 
weeds

weeds

Well-Known Member
Having trouble posting these photos, but the first one was deep in reflection.
I have jumped off the houseboat, just missing a spike like this with my foot (it was a few inches under water).
Forget the pontoon...do not want to get my foot impaled on one of these.
weeds
 
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