It started innocent. A guy I have met a couple times emails and says he has a large group, eight to ten people, and can they camp at the boat ramp. I say yes.
On Thursday eight or ten people show up in four vehicles. They park on one side of the road going to the boat ramp. Thursday evening I see a few more vehicles go by and turn at the road to the boat ramp. I take the trials bike over Friday morning and this area is full of vehicles on both side of the road and tarps and or canvas roofs from the vehicles on the right side to the ones on the left forming sort of a tunnel you walk through and chairs and tables are showing up under the tarps. On Friday a few more vehicles go by and turn at the boat ramp road. Friday afternoon I go over and this whole area is full of vehicles, all young people.
All pictures are taken after the weekend.
We have a conversation about maximum of ten people at a camping spot and vehicles start spreading out. There are some in the gravel pit, more on the bone yard road, and more in a newly created area next to the boneyard. All the required 100 feet from each other but then walking over to the boat ramp. I see three inflatables in the river launching from the boat ramp. As I'm driving around on the Scorpa making sure everything is ok a vehicle approaches and ask if I know where the party is. I tell them there isn't any party. They drive toward the boat ramp.
I'm making one more Scorpa pass around the property as I have a wedding proposal situation at the main house with a little bit of music and I have the boat ramp Woodstock forming. With just a headlamp for light I drive the Scorpa down to the boat ramp. Nobody is there. I drive around to the other sites. I can't find anybody. 30 people have disappeared.
As I'm heading back to the lodge I stop the bike, turn the engine off and listen. The ground is vibrating. There is music coming out of the ground. I can feel it and hear the muffled sound. I see blue lights flickering up by Hull's Place. I drive back to the lodge and get the side by side and head for Hull's Place.
I drive the side by side, Polaris, up the abandoned road and park about 20 feet from the entrance. It's close to midnight. There's a large white dog sitting at the front of the door. I'm hoping this doesn't go sideways and wishing I had some of Il's bear spray. I light it up with the headlamp and say "Lay down." She lays down and rolls over on her back to get her belly rubbed. I do and then enter into Hull's Place.
When I reach the center area of Hull's Place 40 or so feet back into where it turns into a cave instead of an overhang it's crowded. Not much social distancing going on. The music is blasting and lights are going off and on. Four or five couples are lying on rocks groping each other and the lone single girl is in the middle dancing a slow striptease like dance. 10 or 15 more are standing around talking. I watch for a couple minutes amazed at how many people can fit in there and it was like seeing a nightclub at Underground Atlanta if it still exists. I was behind everyone having come in the entrance and while a couple people looked my way it was dark. I figured before the stripper and the gropers got much further I should probably end this so I turned my headlamp on bright and it lit up everything in the cave. Lots of voices were going "Hey man, that's bright. Turn it off." Then one guy says "I think it's the guy that owns the place." Music stopped, lights went dark, gropers got up and the stripper stopped. We were all wondering what happens next. Me too.
I said "You rented the boat ramp. Not the whole 145 acres. Go to the boat ramp. The ground is vibrating and I can hear music at the lodge. Go home." As people were walking by they were picking up the trash and saying they were sorry and they understood and they left it pretty clean. Still I admired their creativity. I thought about hiring all of them but realized I'd have to go to all of Moab's free clinics before I could sit with them to discuss it.
As headlamps, flashlights, and cell phone lights drifted off into the distance headed boat ramp bound the night was nice. The planets were emerging. Venus had long set but Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter were just arriving and following each other. The Milky Way was mostly south to north and it was a stunning night and it was quiet. All the critters sleeping in the protection of Mother Nature's Earth could rest now in the holes they had dug and called home all these nights. Kobae a half a mile away and probably 20 feet back inside snoring away probably wouldn't notice. They're scheduled to check out Sunday just get me through one more day. Just one more.
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