Gaining Permission

After the fires in the Pecos, the Forest Service had talked about opening the Canyon after October 1 so that cabin owners could get in and winterize their cabins.  That was before the seven-inch rain hit the area.  The road was washed out in several areas, and they weren't sure they could or should let anyone in.  

When we called and talked to the permit administrator, he informed me we needed a permit to get in, since the area is closed.  Before allowing us access, he considered several things.  The road is impassable in many places.  Now I wasn't sure what he meant by impassable, but after seeing it, the road is definitely impassable.  We are lucky.  Our cabin is the second one in.  The part of the road we needed to travel can be maneuvered by a four-wheel drive, high clearance vehicle.  Further on up, that is not the case.  So we had two things going for us:  we have a high-clearance Jeep, and our cabin is below the worst part of the road.  

Second, the weather report for the time we requested was good - 0% chance of rain.  He knew that we could not and should not be in the Canyon if it was going to rain.  After seeing the Canyon, we really would not want to be here in a rain.

Third, he knows that Chris Long is going to be winterizing a number of the cabins.  Yet Chris is also going to be helping to get the road in shape for the winter and next spring.  Lessening the load for Chris is in the best interest of everyone.  And so we were granted permission to come in an winterize our cabin, and I promised that we would not drive our car anywhere in the Canyon except to our cabin.  I was told to pick up our permit on October 1.

Don and I were not counting on a government shutdown, however.  We did not have television on Monday night, since we drove from Clinton and stayed at the Wilderness Gateway B & B in Cowles.  Therefore, we did not know that Tuesday morning, the Forest Service (along with other agencies) temporarily shut down.  Luckily, the Forest Service personnel were still answering the phones.  And we managed to get our permit.  If we could not have gotten it, we would have had to drive back to Kansas without winterizing the cabin.  

Everything worked out, we got in and have had a chance to assess the cabin and our situation.  Then we took a Stroll Up The Canyon.  Read about our stroll over the next few days.