Utah County man upset over camping ticket

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A Utah County man is cautioning others to be careful where they camp after he got a ticket he calls ridiculous.

Martin Wilkins took his family up American Fork Canyon about 10:00 at night on July 3. He found an area where some others were camping, so he set up camp there as well.

"Park rangers were actually up in there and saw us. One of them said ‘hi' to my son," Wilkins said.

In the morning, a ranger came by and gave Wilkins what he says was a $125 ticket for camping in a day-use-only area.

Wilkins says when he asked if he could appeal, the ranger told him there were "two addresses on the paperwork we gave you of where you can go to appear if you want to contested it: Georgia and San Antonio, Texas."

The Forest Service responded to KSL Newsradio saying its rangers aren't out at 10:00 at night, so it could have been a sheriff's deputy.

Forest Service officials also say they mark camping and non-camping areas well and campers are responsible to find out where they can and cannot camp.

E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com