Any of you guys heard why they added a gate at the top of the dam at porky? Brand new gate with a sign saying gate will close Nov. 15 thru April.
Talked with Chris Penne and he was unaware of it so I don’t think dnr added it.
With the size and number of kokes in Porky right now, that is sad to hear they won’t allow access to at least the boat ramp area. Its no fun treading up and down the dam or areas by the dam. I’m guess Cache County added the gate to minimize road maintenance?
Well that’s a bummer, sounds like another Pineview situation, where we lost easy access to the lake during the Winter. Could be the Church is limiting access to the back to make it harder for anyone to get to that church camping area and what ever they have back there but I also know that some folks chase lions in that area too, so maybe the landowners had some say in it as well :-/
A gate was added on 8700 just above Sporsmans (west of) also that is closed until spring now, there is or was a walk in access up there also so not sure who is requesting these road closures. I’ll ask our irrigation guy when I see him
Where is the gate is it at the cattle gard or farther can you get a snowmobile around it
It’s in-between the top of the dam and the cattle guard. There’s a fence post with a sign on the right side with a couple of feet between the two. I think it will be a pretty tight fit
The gate is on one of two parcels of land; Porcupine Land & Livestock LLC, 1136 E Wilmington Ave, Suite 200, Salt Lake City, UT 84106-2819 or Porcupine Reservoir Company, PO Box 108, Paradise, UT 84328-0108. None of the land in that canyon, including the reservoir itself and all of the adjacent land, is public; it is all privately owned. If anybody wants to pursue it further, contact the owners I listed above. And let us know what you find. Here is a link that shows ownership: Parcel & Zoning Viewer
Search for parcel 16-080-0003
That is sad. Spent alot of time up there since high school. Definently feel lucky. Guessing the dry camp areas in the back are included in that private land also. Wonder if they will be closed off next year possibly
Well that certainly sucks… and that spot sounds like no way to get around it… Thought they had to allow access to other uses up there like the camp up top and land owners shouldn’t be able to impede access… Probably could be beat if someone has money to hire a lawyer and fight it, but it’s not worth that much effort… But really sad for what I’d like to do… Later J
Chris Penne said he would do some calling around the next couple days and see if he can figure out why it got blocked. Looking at the county road department website they have it listed as being closed for the winter so I am leaning towards the county being the reason it got blocked. I might be able to head up Friday and get a closer look and take some measurements to see if we will be able to go around it. From the gate it looked like the cattle guard gate might have been closed as well but I will report back later this week.
The gate is right on top of the dam, before the cattle guard. It will make it so only two or three vehicles could park at the top.
Cant say I blame the private land owners. Between the piles of trash left behind, vandalism, mud bogging and the incessant SXS’s tearing up and down the roads, and off trail, it was only a matter of time. They closed off all camping above the dam for the same reason. Some people never learn. It used to be a nice, quite oasis. Not anymore. I wish outdoor enthusiasts would treat the land as if it were their own… A few years ago it literally looked like someone had dumped and entire dump trailer of garbage up there. A mattress, diapers and everything in between…
Is there anyway to hand launch with the new gate? Walk around with a kayak?
It’s a rough walk down the dam face to the water level with very large boulders to hop across on the open side of the gate. I haven’t been up to see if you can get around the gate, but even so it would be a fairly long walk to get to where you could launch a kayak… They have basically shutdown the reservoir with this closure. I used to hike down the dam face to access the ice, but it was a beast to pull your ice sled up and down… I think if I try it this year, it will be with a bucket and not much gear… Which is a shame because I’d really like to have the Mega 360 up there to find the kokanee… Always been up there if you can get over the fish you can catch them, but seems like the schools only swim by once or twice a day… with the 360 I think you could chase a school and catch more fish… Livescope would probably even work better… I had really been looking forward to ice season up there this year and this change really ruins my plans… Later J