We wanted to do one more camp out before it got really cold out. Since we were going to be camping over Halloween and the next two days after, we had to find a campground that was going to be opened after October 31. Most of the National Forest campgrounds close up for the winter after Halloween. Our friend Sherri lives in Prescott and wanted me and Nunya to go up there somewhere.  I looked online for an open campground and could only find one in Payson.  Luckily Sherri got on the job and found a couple of option in the Prescott area. We had the choice of one just south of town and one just west of town. The west of town option sounded really interesting to me as it involved a trail from the camp that would take you to a lake nearby. Also, I love going to Prescott anyway.

Prescott was officially incorporated in 1883, named after historian William H. Prescott. Today the city has 39,843 residents (U.S. Census 2010) and is a wonderful small town with a town square and courthouse surrounded by shops, restaurants and bars.

Prescott Courthouse

I have Fridays off so I went up to the campsite first. I got a late start as I work until 1 in the morning and really needed to sleep in. I keep all my camp gear in the car for a fast getaway so all I really needed was clothing, ice and food.

The directions to the campground were rubbish. Very vague and I had no idea where to really go. Thankfully I was in text range and Sherri helped me out. The directions started you in Prescott saying to take Iron Springs Road going west out of Prescott, the take Forest Road 337 to the campground. That was it. I was way off. Finally Sherri called me and guided me to Iron Springs Road, which I never would have found. After that I was looking for Forest Road 337 and drove way past it because it’s really called Granite Basin Road. I turned around and finally found the right road.

I found the campground and picked out a spot. I thought it was going to be perfect as there were three spots for three cars, three flat spots for three tents and three tables! Perfect!

I started setting up my tent and the camp host, Doug, stopped by. Later I would be referring to him as Lt. Neidermeyer. He came off as soft spoken and all natural. He asked if I had paid for the site and that it was a double site. I said yes, I know and I have two friends coming later and we would pay up then. He then tells me that they are very strict with the noise level at the campground, that the grounds were like a bowl and sound travels far. Huh? Anyway, I started suspecting the guy was a little weird and passive aggressive. He said that some campers called the police on some others the previous night.

Sherri arrived when I was out for a walk around the bowl, uh, campground. She was setting up opposite of where I was set up. I mentioned that it was great that we had three tables, we could really spread out, like having our own little campground to ourselves!

We started a campfire and chatted away until Nunya finally got there and I turned in. The next morning I got up and the others were up and making coffee and getting breakfast ready. They then told me that someone called the cops on them last night. I was out cold and missed all of this. They said the Sheriff deputy came by saying someone called in for noise! When he got there they were just sitting by the fire and quietly chatting! They said the officer looked bewildered and frankly this was a complete waste of his time.

So the camp host, Doug, comes by and Nunya in her blunt style just asks him point blank if he called the cops on us. He then said several people did. Okay, so, there were two other camping parties nowhere near us, and we couldn’t hear them so it goes to say unless we’re screaming they can’t hear us chatting. Doug was the closest to us, so it was him.

Personally, I never understood why people go to the wilderness to listen to loud music and scream and holler. I go there for serenity.

Then Douggie asks us if we’ve paid for the second site. Again, huh? Turned out that the site Sherri was at was a separate site. I mean, it was totally glaumed on the the “Double Occupancy” site where Nunya and I were. The campground was empty except for us and the two other camping parties a ways down. So Doug either wants us to pay for the site Sherri was in or, she had to move her tent and her car, so our cars were now all blocking each other. All this because this douche-canoe couldn’t have the heart to just blow it off since it was cold out and there were no other people coming to camp. Even if there were, there were plenty of empty sites.

So we did as he said lest he come around and kill us in our sleep.

After that we took a short hike to Granite Basin Lake and had a good time joking around about the “noise ordinance”. Doug had told us we could be fined $200 per person if the cops wanted to cite us. I then said, “Well, when the cop comes out tonight I’m going to clarify that with him”. I’m such a smart-ass.

Granite Basin Lake

Turned out we were good doo-bees that night and no cops showed up.

Until next time, your out of control friend

The ScubaJedi

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