Mining Camp Parking

[SpiderLegs]

Heard a rumor that Mining Camp has closed off their parking lot to hikers now. Can anyone confirm or deny? About time for me to make my once a year ascent of Flatiron.

[cactuscat]

@hikeaz
I believe your source is from 2009?
I am going by what the agency currently says ...
Heritage Fund money went away years ago. General Fund money - gone. Grants, yes we still receive those.

[hikeaz]

@hikeaz
I believe your source is from 2009?
I am going by what the agency currently says ...
Heritage Fund money went away years ago. General Fund money - gone. Grants, yes we still receive those.

I would be flabbergasted if they were running on 13% (ish) of their former budget. Do you have a more recent tally of the exact (or as close as..) budget balance sheet?

[chumley]

This 2014 article says there's a lot of partnerships.
http://archive.azcentral.com/news/polit ... funds.html

Arizona State Parks funding sources outlined over the past 10 years in the documents attached:

[flagscott]

I would be flabbergasted if they were running on 13% (ish) of their former budget. Do you have a more recent tally of the exact (or as close as..) budget balance sheet?

I'm always curious about these issues, so I did a bit of digging. I did not find anything to contradict what @cactuscat said. So, prepare to be somewhat flabbergasted. If I'm reading the documents correctly, FY2016 expenditures by the parks totaled around $35M, less than half of what it was in 2009. Of that total, $0 came from legislative appropriations from the general fund. http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/17AR/spb.pdf

It looks like $13M came from park user fees, etc. and the rest came from other grants and funds. All of the operating revenue came from user fees. More detail on the other sources is here: http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/17AR/spb.pdf

(Frankly, if you are surprised by those numbers, you have not been paying attention to Arizona politics for the last 10 years. What would you expect when the legislature continually cuts taxes and spending? Where is the money supposed to come from?)

[cactuscat]

@flagscott
Thanks for doing the research for me!
I was about to say I don't know - I just work here, and believe what they tell me. I have seen the "no General Fund or tax dollars" statement on official ASP literature, so I am pretty sure that's true.
Did a quick search myself and the most recent numbers I found were for FY13/14 ... total revenue 26 million, 13.1 million of which was Park-generated. So right in line with what you found.

[cactuscat]

@chumley
Funny that azcentral article mentions the lack of funding to build a gallows at Tombstone - that gallows was just built by the carpenter from our Park ... can't wait to go see it!

[ddgrunning]

Anybody got connections with the powers that be at Mining Camp? Why don't they just require hikers to pick up a parking ticket upon entry, with the option of either paying a nominal parking fee upon exit, or offer validation if you make a purchase at the restaurant? Seems like they could make it a win-win with a little entrepreneurial spirit.

[Tortoise_Hiker]

@ddgrunning
I'd be glad to buy you a root beer, sir!

[Tough_Boots]

It's not as if Tonto went down without a fight. They kept charging even though they were breaking the law.

That doesn't change the fact that fees have been removed and not added-- no matter how much some people these days like to believe facts aren't real.

[SpiderLegs]

Anybody got connections with the powers that be at Mining Camp? Why don't they just require hikers to pick up a parking ticket upon entry, with the option of either paying a nominal parking fee upon exit, or offer validation if you make a purchase at the restaurant? Seems like they could make it a win-win with a little entrepreneurial spirit.

From the little bit I could garner from the conversation posted with the owner, it sounds like the neighbors behind Mining Camp were also behind this. One thing to see 10-15 people stroll past your house on the weekend, another thing to see 50-100 people stroll past your house. Plus with no facilities in the parking lot, I'm assuming more than a few people were answering nature's call in someone's yard. Simply a case of being loved to death and killed by the hike's newfound popularity.

[Jim]

I feel for Sam, who made this his daily beater, but I don't really think I will miss it. If I want it, I'll go to that alternative parking area, or something.

[ddgrunning]

@SpiderLegs
There are only two houses that parallel the trail, and both "yards" are fenced in as I recall, so I don't think anyone would be trespassing or answering nature's call in the yards themselves. There probably are some who answer nature's call in the surrounding area, but I have never noted signs of it being a major issue (i.e., smells, TP, etc.). You are probably right that the neighbors' primary complaint is just the foot traffic volume, though I'm not not overly sympathetic on that front (they live next to one of the coolest hiking areas in the Phx metro area), and in any event, that wouldn't constrain the Mining Camp. Ironically, if it's the neighbors driving this, they may have just made their situation worse, as it seems likely that folks will start parking on the surrounding streets and actually walking through yards now that the Mining Camp parking area is not available ...

[RickVincent]

I get the feeling that there is a lot of "Its Our Mountain"attitude among the neighbors who live here. It's not. The Superstition Mountain neighbors need to come down off their high horse and be a little more welcoming to the people who come to visit this great place. If you want to claim your "peace and quiet" desert-living lifestyle, then maybe choosing a house right next to one of Arizona's top destinations is not the best choice.

For anyone who trespasses, or makes a mess of the trailhead, you're not helping matters. Only takes a few, on either side of this argument, to screw it all up for the majority.

[syoung]

I feel for Sam, who made this his daily beater, but I don't really think I will miss it. If I want it, I'll go to that alternative parking area, or something.

I still hit it once or twice a week but have definitely pulled back from it this year compared to years past. I ponied up for an annual pass. It is what it is and I am just adjusting to the new reality. The past month or so, some weekends when I got there I thought there was an event going on at the Mining Camp. Turns out, that wasn't the case, so this is the next logical progression unfortunately.