The parking lot up in the Uintas near the trailhead was completely packed. Not a single parking spot. People were even parking illegally or in the middle of the parking lot loop, assuming others would have enough room to back their cars out. The overflow lot was a mile away and was completely packed as well with dozens of more cars parked illegally on the side of the road.

I didn’t let it discourage me because I had a lake picked out that was 4.5 miles away. I intentionally bypassed all the other lakes along the way, knowing that I’d inevitably find some solitude 4.5 miles away from the parking lot. Nope. Finally arrived at my destination and literally every flat area or campsite was occupied. There was a group of 30+ twenty somethings smoking their reefer and cliff jumping. Dogs were roaming all over the place getting into people’s packs and food supplies.

Is there no way to find some solitude in Utah, enjoy some fishing, and get away from all the crowds?

After 48 hours in the mountains, we headed home behind a massive caravan of cars, bumper to bumper, on the Mirror Lake Highway heading to Kamas.

As we passed Jordanelle it was a complete zoo of boats. Not a single place on the lake that was less than 30 yards from another boat, paddle boarder, or kayaker.

Looking down toward the Middle Provo, literally every pull off was occupied with cars and the river was crammed with fly fishermen.

Deer Creek was equally chaotic. The end closest to Midway/Heber had dozens of kite boarders. The lake was busy with boat after boat. The sandy areas near the island looked like Huntington Beach. The Wallsburg arm had 30+ boats. That’s not a large area

As we continued down the canyon, I’d never seen so many people floating the Provo. It was a sea of red and yellow inner tubes by the bus load.

The parking lots at Bridal Veil and Nunns Park were overflowing.

It was discouraging to say the least. I’ve been in Utah for 20 years now. It wasn’t like this 15 years ago. Even 5 years ago wasn’t quite this bad.

And it won’t be getting any better unfortunately. Ever try camping up AF canyon, fishing at Tibble Fork or Silver Lake Flat? Been to Strawberry lately?

I may need to move to Montana.