{"id":2458504,"date":"2020-05-15T22:32:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T04:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/desite-beach-bash-pitkin-county-open-space-distancing-good\/"},"modified":"2020-05-15T22:32:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T04:32:01","slug":"despite-beach-bash-pitkin-county-open-space-distancing-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/despite-beach-bash-pitkin-county-open-space-distancing-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite beach bash, Pitkin County open space distancing good"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">While the beach at the North Star Nature Preserve looked more like a Spring Break bash earlier this month, open space rangers are seeing good social distancing compliance on area trails, an official said this week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In fact, even though the North Star beach was packed the first weekend of May, and boaters also reverted to their scofflaw parking days of a few years ago at the Wildwood put-in, they listened the next weekend when rangers posted signs to try and correct the behavior, said Gary Tennenbaum, Pitkin County open space and trails director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOur rangers were pleasantly surprised,\u201d he told county commissioners Tuesday. \u201cThe parking was much better at the put-in and the takeout.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Beach-goers also appeared to comply last weekend with the group size limit of 10 people, Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI was really happy,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cIt was great to see the public respond in a positive way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Had the public not complied with social distancing guidelines, Tennenbaum said he was considering bringing the issue to commissioners for guidance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThey might have had to react to close it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The issue is important because several local areas are opening this weekend \u2014 including Sky Mountain Park \u2014 and officials want trail users to continue to take social distancing seriously.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis weekend will be big,\u201d Tennenbaum said. \u201cThere are going to be people on the trails.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If the lots are full at the Glassier Trail in Basalt, which also opens this weekend, or the Bullpen near Crown Mountain Park, \u201chave a plan B,\u201d he said. Parking at the Brush Creek Intercept Lot or Town Park in Snowmass are two good options to avoid crowds at trailheads, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In addition, rangers are seeing \u201ca big uptick\u201d in the number of out-of-town visitors on local trails, Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s easy to tell when they ask, \u2018Where does this trail take me?\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">For the most part, however, rangers have not seen large groups and have seen local trail users respect social distancing limits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cPeople are trying to get out of the way for each other,\u201d Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The one thing rangers haven\u2019t seen people using much are face coverings, he said. People have masks around their necks, but most are not pulling them up around their mouths and noses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That, in fact, complies with Pitkin County\u2019s public health order, said Jordana Sabella with Pitkin County Public Health. People do not have to wear masks outside and while exercising unless they will be within 6 feet of someone else for more than 10 minutes, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Both Tennenbaum and Sabella, however, said face coverings and masks should become akin to a wallet or phone that you probably won\u2019t want to leave home without.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIf you\u2019re going out, just stick a mask in your pocket,\u201d Sabella said. \u201cSame with playing golf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">You never know what might happen \u2014 someone could need assistance on the trail \u2014 or you might run into a friend and want to chat, they said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioner Greg Poschman appealed to residents to observe social distancing requirements for the near future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIf they continue to do that, the trails and place will stay open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Other trails opening this weekend include Seven Star and North Rim, which are considered part of Sky Mountain, but are on the other side of Brush Creek Road. Tom Blake, Anaerobic Nightmare and Government trails remain closed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Also, Red Hill Trail in Carbondale will close Monday for a four-to-six week parking lot and road improvement project that cannot be accomplished without closing the trail, Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBasically, get your fix at Red Hill this weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jauslander@aspentimes.com\">jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/desite-beach-bash-pitkin-county-open-space-distancing-good\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the beach at the North Star Nature Preserve looked more like a Spring Break bash earlier this month, open space rangers are seeing good social distancing compliance on area trails, an official said this week. In fact, even though the North Star beach was packed the first weekend of May, and boaters also reverted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2458504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-17 16:00:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2458504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2458504\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2458504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2458504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2458504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}