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GRAND COUNTY — "The most weird, wonderful, magical place on earth" — those are the words of famed author Edward Abbey, describing Canyonlands National Park. Featuring dramatic views overlooking huge areas of untouched wilderness, it hasn't been immune from the increased visitation seen at nearby Arches National Park. The Park Service is taking steps to keep those areas untouched, but a business owners in Moab want to make sure those steps are done the right way.

Many tourists come to Canyonlands to take in the immense views from the overlooks, but not everyone is content with making memories from behind a railing. Some want a complete escape from civilization.

That's where Jason Taylor comes in. He runs Canyonlands Jeep Adventures, a Jeep rental company in Moab. If you want to get away from it all, he's the guy to see. For him, protecting the backcountry isn't just good business — it's a passion.

"You go up there and you see the destruction that people do by not staying on the roads," he said. "In certain areas, it's huge."

Stay on the roads

That's why an agreement to stay on designated roads is part of every contract customers sign when they rent one of Taylor's Jeeps.

"We don't want multi-trailing," said Taylor. "We don't want people just going wherever they think they can go. There's areas where you can look out and say, 'Oh, I can drive straight across here, through the bushes. Once someone does that, then someone else follows it and the next thing you know, you have a road going that way. We expect people to protect the backcountry."

Taylor understands the need to preserve these areas for future generations, but he doesn't completely understand some recent changes made by the National Park Service.

Permit changes

Since Sept. 1, the Park Service requires permits for day use on two major backcountry roads in Canyonlands: The White Rim Road through the Island in the Sky District and the Elephant Hill Road through the Needles District. Taylor says he's not sure it was necessary.

"Your average person who comes here isn't going to go there," Taylor said. "They probably don't even know about it."

Kate Cannon, the superintendent of four parks in Utah including Canyonlands says this was a preemptive decision, based on growing interest in driving these dirt roads. Permits for overnight use of the two roads have been required for years, but Cannon says day use — those who want to go out and come back the same day — has been on the rise. She says it's not just a matter of preserving the environment, but saving the solitary experience the overnight campers savor.

(Photo: Ray Boone/KSL-TV)

The need for permits

"Those little bitty two-track roads are attracting a lot of day use," said Cannon. "They're not big enough for people to pass oncoming traffic, and the numbers there for day use threatened to overwhelm the experience we had planned for there and that people treasure when they come for overnight use."

Cannon says many seek out these roads for overnight trips because they're so remote. They want to "get away from it all" and enjoy some time alone, without running into large numbers of vehicles pushing them along the roads, trying to make it back to town before dark.

"What's rare is the opportunity to go and camp there overnight in relative solitude, and not have huge numbers of other people around them," Cannon said.

Cause for confusion

While overnight permits can be reserved four months ahead of time, visitors have to wait until 24 hours before heading out for a day trip. Taylor says that's caused some confusion he and his staff have tried to handle.

"We've had a lot of questions about it," Taylor said.

Taylor says the change hasn't affected his business, but some tourists plan these trips far ahead of time, and they're apprehensive about reserving a Jeep when they can't be assured they'll be allowed to go. Cannon says the Park Service wanted to avoid people taking permits and never showing up.

"Which takes them out of reach of everyone else," she said. "I think now, people have to actually have arrived here to get a permit."

Cannon says they set the number of permits above the current number of those who want to head out on these roads. There hasn't been a day yet where someone hasn't been able to get a permit, but Taylor says he's seen some frustration nonetheless.

Permit deterrence

"Once we tell them that they need to get a permit, a lot of them are like, 'I'm on vacation, I have a computer, but I don't have a printer,' because you're supposed to print out the permit," Taylor said.

Currently, tourists have to apply for a permit online and print it out, or stop in person at one of the two visitor centers inside the park's boundaries. Taylor would like to see the permits available at the Information Center in Moab. Cannon says they're still working out the kinks in the system, and there's a good possibility of that happening.

"We can adjust as we see the need," she said. "We've just begun it, so we'll watch and see, but we can adjust as we see how it rolls out."

Taylor says he and Cannon both agree on the need to preserve these places, and hopes that with time, solutions will be found that work well for everyone.

"We have a vested interest in this area, just as anyone else does," Taylor said. "I want it to be here for my kids and their kids. The Park Service, this is a learning process for them, and they'll figure some of this stuff out, and work with us to better serve our guests — which in turn are their guests, to make it a good experience for everyone involved."

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